Sludge Watch ==> Virginia - Sludge Expert panel convenes

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin

Al Rubin - sits on committee in Virginia as a 'citizen rep'.
Give me a break.

Ever since he left the EPA - where he helped draft the Part 503 sludge regs 
- he finds no forum to small to promote sludge spreading.    Now he is 
sitting as a 'citizen rep' in Virginia's sludge expert panel.

Al Rubin will now help evaluate whether the sludge practices of Virginia - 
sludge practices he put in place - are adequate to protect public heath and 
the environment?  His favorite distraction ploy is to try to tell people 
that animal manures are the true danger - hoping to lead people into 
incorrectly assuming that sewage sludge is somehow  safe.

Al Rubin: Fox guarding henhouse.

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

State biosolids panel convenes


By Sarah Watson
swatson at newsadvance.com
September 18, 2007




RICHMOND - A wide spectrum of experts convened for the first time Tuesday to 
begin discussing numerous probing questions related to the safety and 
effects from using biosolids.

The unfunded expert panel was established in a joint house resolution 
sponsored by Del. Kathy Byron (R-Campbell County) during the last General 
Assembly session.

“We’ve tried to put together as broad an expert panel as possible,” said 
Preston Bryant, Secretary of Natural Resources. “I can assure you we won’t 
always have like agreement.”

Byron’s resolution lists five major questions panel members must address in 
the next 15 months, though they can expand on the topics. Topping that list 
are questions related to citizen-reported health symptoms and whether odors 
impact health and property values.

Additionally, panel members will discuss how using treated sewage sludge on 
farmland affects water quality and if associated contaminates accumulate in 
crops, livestock and wildlife.

The first report is due at the end of November with the final report due in 
2008.

The panel is comprised of medical doctors, academics, environmental 
scientists, foresters, agricultural scientists, wastewater treatment 
engineers and wildlife experts.

Tuesday, panel members presented their concerns and what sort of information 
will be needed. Additionally, members plan to compile published studies, 
with the goal of introducing those with opposing viewpoints to peer-reviewed 
literature supporting different claims.

“The challenge will be to review the literature and determine what’s 
applicable for Virginia,” Bryant said. Henrico County Health Department 
Director Mark Levine asked the panel to look beyond documented illnesses and 
health concerns.

“We may fool ourselves if we look for literature proof. We have an 
incredible array of stories, some in this room and throughout Virginia that 
we need to identify,” Levine said. “I don’t think we’ve catalogued all 
that’s out there.”

Another request was to determine the full chemical composition of the 
material.

“It’s a compendium of waste materials that come together,” said Virginia 
Institute of Marine Sciences scientist Robert Hale. “By its nature, it’s 
uncontrolled. You’ll never be able to determine all the constituents in it.”

Alan Rubin, one of the panel’s citizen representatives, suggested looking at 
similar impacts from using animal manure. There are numerous reports of 
people being ill from it, he said.

“It’s the animal equivalent to biosolids.”

Despite the careful planning, several citizens protested the appointment of 
Rubin, a former top national Environmental Protection Agency official who 
helped author current federal guidelines.

“At present, there is no way to tell if the members (of the panel) will be 
fair and unbiased,” Concord resident Mary Graf said.

Graf has been a strong opponent of a proposed permit modification in 
Campbell County that would increase the number of acreage allowed to be 
treated with sludge to more than 2,800 acres. She was the only citizen at 
the meeting from Campbell County.

“They have been handed a very big job to do,” said Charles Hooks, Virginia 
Biosolids Council director, after the meeting. “They seem determined to take 
a very scientific approach to it. We are prepared to help them any way we 
can.”

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