Los Angeles' (L.A.) waste disposal scientists did the original research on chemicals and
pathogens in Class A sludge for EPA's proposed Part 503 sludge regulation in 1988. The
L.A. scientists could not identify the organic chemicals in sludge. L.A. scientists did
identified some pathogens in sludge and noted the processes did not destroy pathogens or
keep the pathogens from regrowing in Class A sludge biosolids. Federal, State and Los
Angeles have totally ignored the 21 known cancer causing chemicals EPA identified in the
1989 Proposed Part 503 regulation.
It is the position of Los Angeles, and the court, that it is perfectly all right to poison the
environment with chemical and pathogen contaminate sludge under the federal "commerce
clause" even though it violates not only the intent, but the word of the environmental laws
concerning sewage sludge.
L.A. court paves way for sludge
Popular Measure E on hold for now; Kern may appeal ruling
BY GRETCHEN WENNER, Californian staff writer
e-mail: gwenner@bakersfield.com | Monday, Aug 13 2007 10:40 PM
Last Updated: Monday, Aug 13 2007 10:44 PM
Kern's voter-approved sludge ban stumbled in a Los Angeles federal courtroom Monday when a judge
overturned a year-old ballot measure meant to stop imports of Southern California's treated sewage
sludge to local farmland.
PDF:
Read the judge's 55-page ruling for yourself
http://static.bakersfield.com/smedia/2007/08/13/17/sludgeruling.source.prod_affiliate.25.pdf
The final ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Gary Allen Feess, for now, invalidates Kern's Measure E,
which local voters overwhelmingly passed in June 2006. The measure stops use of treated sewage
sludge as fertilizer on unincorporated land in Kern.
Feess' 55-page ruling found Kern had legitimate environmental concerns about sludge spreading. But
Measure E failed scrutiny under the so-called "commerce clause" of the federal Constitution, his ruling
says, because it did not apply to the whole county and therefore discriminated against Los Angeles.
(Kern's incorporated cities, which are not subject to county rules, are not bound by Measure E.)
The ruling also agreed with sewage generators' assertions that sludge spreading falls under state solid
waste policies meant to promote recycling.
The latest decision in Kern's decade-old legal battle isn't the end of the line, however.
"It's dead only if we give up," said Bernard Barmann, Kern County's top lawyer.
County supervisors will decide later this month whether to appeal Feess' ruling to the federal 9th Circuit
Court of Appeals, Barmann said. The board will likely discuss the matter in closed session at its Aug. 28
meeting, the first date Barmann can put it on the agenda.
"It's too important an issue to let (the ruling) stand," Barmann said.
Outside lawyers helping with Kern's side, including a San Francisco firm hired by the Kern County
Water Agency, will confer on what to do next, he said.
A decision by the appeals court could take two years or so to come down.
In the meantime, Barmann said, the Measure E sludge ban is on hold.
Supervisors could ask the appeals court for an injunction to halt sludge imports while the case is being
decided, he said.
Monday's ruling didn't surprise sludge opponents, who said Feess' earlier rulings indicated he would
side with the agencies on his turf.
"This is a judge who probably wears an L.A. Dodgers cap six days out of the week," said state Sen.
Dean Florez, the Shafter Democrat who spearheaded Measure E.
"This is not the right venue for us, period," Florez said.
REACTION
Los Angeles officials, meanwhile, touted the ruling in a news release issued by the city shortly after 5
p.m.
"An adverse ruling would have dramatically increased the costs of managing biosolids and increased
pollution in our environment," Cynthia M. Ruiz, president of the city's Board of Public Works, said in the
release.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said in the release he hoped the decision "will permit us to
work together to address the best interests" of Kern and Los Angeles residents.
The city of Los Angeles trucks about 99 percent of its treated human and industrial sewage to a
4,700-acre site south of Bakersfield. Crops grown on the so-called Green Acres farm are mostly sold to
local dairymen.
Sludge from Orange County, Los Angeles County and other areas is also trucked into Kern. Hundreds
of thousands of tons of imported sludge are disposed of on local farmland each year.
Supporters of the practice call the mudlike end product "biosolids" and claim it is an environmentally
friendly way to recycle waste.
Opponents, however, say sludge threatens soil and groundwater. Tens of thousands of industrial
chemicals along with pharmaceutical in the domestic supply are concentrated in goo that is applied
over and over again to the same patches of farmland.
LONG TIME COMING
Land application was promoted by the federal Environmental Protection Agency in the early 1990s after
ocean dumping was outlawed in 1987. The city of Los Angeles' sludge, for one, had created an
underwater desert seven miles from shore.
For a time, cities were stuck hauling sewage sludge to landfills. Disposal costs rose dramatically. After
land application was standardized in 1993 it turned out to be far cheaper.
In 1994, locals started complaining to supervisors about smells and messes as imported sludge showed
up on about 24,000 acres across Kern.
Ever since, Kern has been battling with Los Angeles and other Southland agencies over the sludge,
first by imposing stricter treatment standards and more recently with the push for an all-out ban.
In 2004, the Kern County Water Agency pushed to get sludge-spreading operations moved to western
Kern, away from valuable underground water banks.
The bid failed but ended up kick-starting what was to become last year's Measure E.
In the meantime, Kern has become a key player in the sludge debate nationwide as other locales fight
to stem an ever-growing influx of urban sludge.
A ruling in a separate suit two years ago by a state appeals court in Fresno, for example, was an
important legal decision strengthening local control over land use.
"So many other rural areas all over the country don't have the money to afford this kind of fight," said
Caroline Snyder, professor emeritus at New York's Rochester Institute of Technology and founder of
Citizens for Sludge-Free Land.
It's a worthwhile fight, Snyder said, that will help other municipalities "in every state" faced with similar
problems