Who Can Ban Sludge? Who Decides?

themorningcall.com

Who can ban sludge? Court to rule

Jurisdiction: Township in Schuylkill County outlawed the fertilizer. State sued.

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-b1_5sludge.6479242jun29,0,2929572.story

By Matt Birkbeck of The Morning Call

June 29, 2008

Just weeks after receiving letters in 2006 from the state Department of Environmental Protection that a local tree farm would be spreading sludge on hundreds of acres, residents of East Brunswick Township in Schuylkill County responded by lobbying their supervisors to enact a no sludge ban, which they approved that December.

But the tree farm, J.C. Hills, complained to the state attorney general, who filed suit against the township claiming the ordinance violated a 2005 state law that prohibits municipalities from regulating sludge.

A decision on the suit, now before the Commonwealth Court, is expected within weeks if not days. But whatever the verdict, the question of who decides on the use of sludge -- commonly known as biosolids -- is an emerging controversy in Pennsylvania and one that is gaining traction with its municipalities.

Over the past month, more than half a dozen municipalities, including Tamaqua Borough and Rush, Mahanoy and Packer townships in Schuylkill County; Eden and Hamilton townships in Lancaster County; and West Manheim Township in York County, have either passed no-sludge ordinances or publicly announced support for East Brunswick's initiative in defiance of the state Agricultural, Communities and Rural Environment law.

Known as ACRE, the law was signed by Gov. Ed Rendell in 2005 following heavy lobbying by the biosolids industry, which for years sought to strip local governments of any authority over agricultural sludge use. ACRE also gives the attorney general authority to bring suit against municipalities that challenge the law.

''Ultimately this is about people living in a community making their own decisions,'' said Annette Etchberger, whose property adjoins the J.C. Hills farm.

Sludge, mostly human waste, has been used legally for decades by farmers as cheap fertilizer for their crops. But in recent years farmers throughout the nation have been using biosolids -- which is wastewater treated by municipal sewage systems.

In addition to human waste, biosolids can often include toxic metals, pathogens, hospital waste and hundreds of other chemicals from cities such as Philadelphia and Baltimore, which pay companies to take the waste. Those same companies then distribute the waste, usually free of charge, to farms throughout the nation.

One of the largest waste companies, Synagro, transported over 13,000 tons of biosolids onto Pennsylvania farms in 2007, said Charlie Young, a DEP spokesman.

Mark Carmon, a DEP community relations manager in Scranton, said the state's regulatory program on biosolids mirrors that of other materials that could affect the soil.

Facilities at companies like Synagro are tested once every year, with particular interest in metals, pathogens and PCBs -- items above and beyond what federal regulators test for.

''If done according to regulations, we feel [biosolids] are safe,'' Carmon said.

But opponents like Etchberger say a single, annual test isn't nearly enough to close a potential loophole they believe leads to the transport of potentially lethal chemicals, including industrial, mortuary and hazardous hospital waste. Etchberger points to the 1988 congressional ban on ocean waste dumping as a sign that even treated waste can have a harmful effect on the environment.

''You don't need a medical mind to understand that if it caused a dead zone in the ocean the size of Connecticut, it can't be safe next to human beings,'' said Etchberger.

Ben Price, a project manager with the Community Environmental Defense Fund, a Harrisburg-based nonprofit that provides free legal service to local governments, cited instances where biosolids have caused illness, and even death.

''Anything flushed down a drain in home, factory or hospital, it ends up as sewage sludge and the ill-effects are common,'' said Price. ''People regularly report having eye irritation, respiratory problems and skin lesions.''

But Price pointed out that the argument before the Commonwealth Court isn't about potential ill-effects of biosolids.

''It's about who decides if we have to accept it into our community,'' Price said.

matthew.birkbeck@mcall.com

610-820-6581