Sludge Watch ==> Pennsylvania - Synagro in trouble over food processing sludge

[Maureen Reilly]

"A DEP notice forwarded by Community Relations Coordinator Mark Carmon said 
waste hauler Synagro Inc. was sent a compliance order for "illegal storage 
and/or dumping of solid waste, to wit Food Processing Waste and/or Food 
Processing Sludge, on the surface of the ground without a valid permit..."

"However, Carmon said Synagro cooperated fully with the department supplying 
all necessary information about the material which Hill described as "99 
percent pig manure."
"
The department cited the waste hauler for storage of a "putrescible residual 
waste" outside a container creating odors and other public nuisance. "

(Thanks Helane..admin)
................................

http://www.republicanherald.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18300047&BRD=2626&PAG=461&dept_id=532624&rfi=6


DEP says East Brunswick farm in compliance with ordinance
BY SHAWN A. HESSINGER
TAMAQUA BUREAU CHIEF
shessinger at republicanherald.com
05/04/2007

NEW RINGGOLD - The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection says 
an issue with the dumping of waste on an East Brunswick farm has been 
resolved.

The department issued a notice of violation in March after a Texas-based 
waste hauler dumped 570 tons of " food processing waste" in a community 
already concerned over land application of sewage sludge.

There's no fines issued or anything," said East Brunswick tree farmer Jeff 
Hill, who raised the ire of township residents in 2006 when he proposed 
applying waste from sewage treatment plants called "biosolids" to his and an 
adjacent farm prompting an ordinance against use of the material.

A DEP notice forwarded by Community Relations Coordinator Mark Carmon said 
waste hauler Synagro Inc. was sent a compliance order for "illegal storage 
and/or dumping of solid waste, to wit Food Processing Waste and/or Food 
Processing Sludge, on the surface of the ground without a valid permit..."

The department cited the waste hauler for storage of a "putrescible residual 
waste" outside a container creating odors and other public nuisance.

In early March, newly appointed East Brunswick Township supervisor Jeff 
Faust used the application of the material as an example of why the state's 
monitoring is not sufficient to protect local residents prompting passage of 
a local ordinance.

"There are a lot of issues along with this that haven't been implemented 
properly," said Faust, appointed to replace former supervisor Glenn Miller, 
the second member of the board to resign over the contentious sewage sludge 
issue.

However, Carmon said Synagro cooperated fully with the department supplying 
all necessary information about the material which Hill described as "99 
percent pig manure."

"It was not biosolids," Carmon added.

Carmon said the department eventually granted the company permission to 
spread the material over what Hill estimates were 24 acres of an adjacent 
farm belonging to Susan Smith.

The sewage sludge issue has concerned county residents, leading to 
ordinances seeking to regulate the material in communities as diverse as 
Rush and West Penn Townships and Tamaqua.

A farming regulation ordinance which contained a section on sewage sludge 
was rejected by Washington Township Supervisors.

The East Brunswick ordinance has even drawn attention from the Pennsylvania 
Attorney General's office, which says it may challenge the ordinance in 
court.

In a letter to the township supervisors in February, executive deputy 
attorney general Louis J. Rovelli warned the township that a review of the 
local ordinance banning corporate application of biosolids in the township 
may violate a state law against interfering with agriculture.

Farmers argue the controversial 2005 Agriculture Community and Rural 
Environment legislation is necessary to protect generations old farming 
operations in the face of a growing residential community brought on by 
sporadic rural development.

Opponents say the legislation leaves communities defenseless against an 
evolving agriculture industry replacing small family farms with larger 
operations using questionable practices and having no local accountability.