Sludge Watch ==> Sewage sludge spreading in Maine down- but papermill lime mud still spread

[Maureen Reilly]

"He said the Kennebec Sanitary Treatment District in Waterville has 
discontinued the practice of spreading sludge in favor of composting. King 
said about 17 percent of treated biosolids now are spread on hay fields in 
Maine, down from 76 percent 10 years ago. "


..........................................................

http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/3745273.html

CLINTON -- The practice of spreading residual lime on farmland for 
fertilizer makes its spring return Tuesday night with a public hearing on 
renewing four permit applications.
The hearing and subsequent vote by the Board of Selectmen on approving the 
permits is set for 6:30 p.m. at the Town Office on Baker Street.

Permit applications stipulate the lime products must be from state-approved 
facilities.

Applicants are The Wright Place farm on Wright Road, Misty Meadows Farms on 
McKenney Road, Caverly Farms on River Road and Flood Brothers farm on River 
Road.

Spreading so-called lime mud or lime cake on hay fields was first proposed 
in 2002 by a group of farmers who asked selectmen to amend the town's 
ordinance to allow use of inexpensive lime from paper mills.

Selectmen heard from residents who cited the needs of dairy farmers facing 
low milk prices and safety concerns over the spreading of lime byproducts 
for fertilizer.

The fertilizing method was approved by the Board of Selectmen in April of 
2003 and has returned each year in late March or early April, when the 
season approaches to fertilize fields to grow feed corn for dairy cows and 
grass for hay.

Farmers said the cost for commercial lime fertilizer was $38 per ton at the 
time. The cost of a ton of lime mud was $6-10, plus spreading costs.

A handful of residents have opposed the practice since it first was 
proposed, saying first that the acid content was harmful and then insisting 
the material is laden with heavy metals from paper mill waste.

Mark King at the state Department of Environmental Protection said Friday 
the lime mud is a safe, and less expensive alternative to commercial lime 
for fertilizer.

"It has a very minute amount of metals in it," King said. "It has very 
little contamination, if any."

King said the lime-mud byproduct being proposed for use in Clinton is 
nothing more than calcium carbonate, the active ingredient in agricultural 
lime.

The material is gathered wet from a process in the "pre-bleach" side of the 
mill at Sappi Fine Paper in Skowhegan and is handled by a professional 
company.

Selectmen in previous years have said that as long as farmers keep to their 
nutrition and land management plans, the town had no problem with the 
process.

Lime permits in Clinton include required setbacks of 50 feet from property 
lines and public roadways and 100 feet from dwellings and open water. Other 
restrictions stipulate that the material cannot by stockpiled for longer 
than six months and cannot be spread on frozen or very wet ground, 
stipulations that residents say have been violated.

Farmers also cannot spread lime on slopes greater than 15 percent.

King said the lime mud should not be confused with treated biosolids -- 
sludge -- generated at sanitary district processing plants.

He said the Kennebec Sanitary Treatment District in Waterville has 
discontinued the practice of spreading sludge in favor of composting. King 
said about 17 percent of treated biosolids now are spread on hay fields in 
Maine, down from 76 percent 10 years ago.


.............................

Only organic farmers
tend to keep public safe

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Wednesday, March 7, 2007


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You call spreading on frozen snow covered ground "Dressed For Success"? It 
should be called "Dressed for Disaster." Out of control Non-Organic 
corporate farms are violating the Clean Air and Water Act and creating 
adverse effects on public health and environment.
This waste will run off and not be absorbed by the frozen soil further 
contaminating Maine's waters. The Department of Environmental Protection has 
stated that farmers are allowed to put a certain amount of sludge in their 
manure pools. We have questioned this as people were complaining of 
headaches, nausea and respiratory problems. The Flood farm does spread 
sludge in Benton and is permitted to spread lime mud; a heavy metal-laden 
paper mill sludge.

Variance or not, the ambient air became noxious creating an unreasonable and 
unhealthful environment for people in several towns for several weeks. Do 
people think creating a noxious atmosphere is a healthy learning environment 
for the students of the Benton Elementary School?

The World Health Organization's definition of "health" is "...a state of 
complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence 
of disease or infirmity." Thus, a symptom that diminishes physical, mental, 
or social well-being would be a "health effect." Research titled: Potential 
Health Effects of Odor can be found at: 
http://www.pmac.net/AM/sludge_excerpts.html.

Good stewards of the Earth are organic farmers, not farmers using toxic 
wastes.

Ken Ray

Waterville

nowastemaine at gmail.com

http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/view/letters/3617101.html