Sludge Watch ==> Virginia : Barbara Rubin to the Virginia Assembly on Sludge Regs

[Maureen Reilly]

You do realize this [the small changes proposed in Virginia to allow a 
little supervision of sludge spreading- admin] is all hogwash and is a slap 
in the face to the public.
It is business as usual. Protect industry and make it appear that you are
doing something.   Please see my attached letter which places blame squarely
where it belongs, the Assembly.  Barbara


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From: Barbara L. Rubin


To: 2007 Virginia Assembly

I hoped to be able to address this Committee in person, but my health has 
been deteriorating steadily since my original sludge exposure in August 
2001.  That illness left my immune system greatly impaired, leaving me 
susceptible to any opportunistic pathogen in my path.  Shortly after my 
initial sludge exposure I also developed numerous neurological problems.  
Medical care has become a full time job for me

I, and the many other sludge victims I work with around Virginia, have to go 
to multiple doctors who do not understand what they are up against.  Our 
illnesses may not appear on the normal standards of care protocols because 
we have been exposed to a toxic soup of pathogens, toxic chemicals and their 
interactions, never encountered before.  Doctors want to know what is in 
sludge.  However, EPA, this Assembly, and the Virginia Department of Health 
(VDH) have absolutely no idea what is in sludge.

Undaunted, VDH puts itself in the indefensible position of claiming a 
product whose contents and interactions are unknown, is “safe.”   In an 
escalation of the absurd, they further claim, without a shred of medical or 
scientific proof,  that this complex material which all agree contains 
pathogens, endotoxins, and up to 90,000 chemical toxins “did not cause” 
citizen illnesses.

EPA Assistant Administrator Paul Gilman said: "I can't answer it's perfectly 
safe. I can't answer it's not safe.” Callously rejecting reasonable caution, 
this Assembly intentionally plugs their ears to the hundreds of health 
complaints around the state.  Instead they pocket their industry political 
contributions and come up with bills clearly not protective of public health 
, and obviously written and blessed by the industry, to which they have sold 
out.

Since the responsible government bodies refuses to institute an immediate 
moratorium, two more lawsuits have recently been filed.  The first is a 
Virginia lawsuit which alleges negligence, private nuisance, and trespass 
caused by defendants slinging and dumping sludge on land adjacent to 
plaintiffs’ homes.  The suit also alleges plaintiffs are denied the 
fundamental right of use of their property, and links their emerging 
physical and emotional problems to exposure to sewage sludge.   The second 
lawsuit filed in Georgia, is a qui tam claim.  It alleges fraud against the 
federal government.  This lawsuit will have enormous impact if it prevails 
because it will prove victims and activists claims that the so called 
science behind the sludge rule is a sham.  The Georgia plaintiffs are two 
farmers who prevailed in prior legal actions claiming sludge ruined their 
dairy farms and killed their cattle, and David Lewis, senior EPA scientist, 
forced out of his job by EPA and industry for his criticism of sludge.   
They allege they have documentation that the EPA, in conspiracy with the 
local governments, knowingly used fraudulent data to dispute their earlier 
sludge lawsuits.  This allegedly fraudulent data has been cited ad nauseam 
to “verify” sludge is “safe.”

Citizens will continue to hold this Assembly and it’s members accountable 
for this easily avoidable fiasco.

Barbara L. Rubin, Loudoun Neighbors Against Toxic Sludge (NATS)
www.LoudounNATS.org