Sludge Watch ==> Concern Over Sludge Poisoned Farms Spreads Through USA

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

This story and this court case illustrates to farmers the dangers of putting 
sludge on farmland.
This is also a food contamination story. Milk has been contaminated and may 
still be finding its way to the marketplace

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http://www.republicanherald.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19372575&BRD=2626&PAG=461&dept_id=532624&rfi=6


Sludge concern spreads in U.S.
BY BRANDY RISSMILLER
AND MARIA HERNE
STAFF WRITERS Repulblican Herald
brissmiller at republicanherald.com
mherne at republicanherald.com

03/08/2008


The national controversy over a Georgia farmer whose land was poisoned by 
sludge from a waste treatment plant has Schuylkill County sludge opponents 
taking notice.





East Brunswick, Rush and Mahanoy townships, and Tamaqua Borough, have 
ordinances designed to limit the use of sewer sludge as fertilizer.

The East Brunswick ordinance was passed by the township supervisors in 2006 
and challenges the rights of corporations to spread sludge — called 
“biosolids” in the sewage treatment industry — and allows individuals to use 
it only if they pay for environmental testing and take on all personal 
liability for environmental damage.

Last week, a federal judge ordered the Agriculture Department to compensate 
a Georgia farmer, whose cows had died by the hundreds after grazing on hay 
fields where sludge had been spread.

According to The Associated Press, some of the same contaminants showed up 
in milk that regulators allowed a neighboring dairy farmer to market, even 
after some officials said they were warned about it.

“I really hope that people start opening up their eyes and giving some real 
thought to what’s going on around them,” Tamaqua Mayor Christian P. Morrison 
said. “I have lost a lot of faith in the DEP and EPA, agencies that have 
done nothing but cover this up, push it down our throats and tell us it’s 
okay.”

“This is deadly stuff,” said Donald Rubinkam, an East Brunswick Township 
supervisor who supported a township ordinance that challenges the rights of 
corporations to spread sewage sludge, and allows individuals to apply the 
materials only if they will pay for necessary environmental testing and take 
on all personal liability for environmental damage.

Rubinkam said the ruling last week — in which U.S. District Judge Anthony 
Alaimo ordered the Agriculture Department to compensate a Augusta, Ga., 
farmer whose land and cows were poisoned by sludge from the waste treatment 
plant that he spread on his fields — sent an important message.

“Finally, we have a federal judge throwing the book at the authorities ... 
no judge is going to do that, write a 45-page ruling like that- unless he’s 
convinced that what’s going on is wrong,” Rubinkam said.

The controversy over sewage sludge is a serious health and environmental 
concern, he said.

“This stuff has tainted crops, it’s killed cows and the next thing you know, 
it’s going to kill people,” Rubinkam said. “This is a serious problem that 
goes much deeper than Pennsylvania. It’s a national problem.”

Annette Etchberger, whose property borders a proposed 300-acre site for 
sewage sludge application near River Road in East Brunswick Township, said 
she hopes the Georgia case brings a greater public awareness to the 
increasing problem of sewage sludge.

“There are stack and stacks of evidence that pose so many unanswered 
questions, that show it’s just not safe,” Etchberger said. “I’m glad for the 
national attention, if it will bring more attention to the situation that’s 
going on here. More and more municipalities are facing this problem and it’s 
not going to go away.”

Etchberger said the Georgia ruling does bring up serious concerns about 
whether the agencies that are in place to protect the health and welfare of 
the public are really doing their job.

“I think the Georgia court ruling clearly shows that the two farmers 
involved in this case were mislead and misinformed,” she said. “They were 
given guarantees that this (sewage sludge) was safe, and they ended up with 
dead cattle, tainted crops and farmland that was no longer usable anymore.”