[GreenYes] Bio Solids The National Sludge Alliance Another view Eco point 2001

[LWheeler45@no.address]

The National Sludge Alliance calls on Congress to halt  the land disposal of 
sewage sludge  
The National Sludge Alliance calls on Congress to halt the land application  
of sewage sludge because current federal and state laws governing this 
practice  are not protective of human health, agricultural productivity, and the  
environment. We call on Congress to do all in its power to protect public health  
and safety and the environment by halting the land disposal of toxic 
industrial  waste-laden sludge that now includes plutonium and other atomic wastes on 
any  American land-farmland, gravel pits, deforested areas or stripped mines.  
EPA has not done a peer-reviewed study that includes farmers and the  general 
public who are being exposed to toxic sludge. We call on  Congress to end the 
disposal of radioactive wastes to sewage treatment plants  anywhere in the 
country. In addition NSA calls for an end to taxpayer funding  for the National 
Biosolids Partnership a government backed PR group organized to  promote the 
dangerous practice of sludge land disposal, despite mounting  evidence that the 
policy is unsafe and despite widespread public opposition.  The National 
Sludge Alliance - a coalition of grassroots organizations  opposed to spreading 
sludge on land and to any reference to it as  "fertilizer" - calls it an 
unpredictable hazardous waste that must  always be treated as a pollutant.  
Under the leadership of Congressman Sensenbrenner, the full House Science  
Committee hearings on March 22nd last year revealed a pattern of retaliation and 
 intimidation of whistleblower scientists within the EPA, a scientist from  
Cornell, and from a California diary farmer. Further, the Inspector General's  
Audit report entitled "Biosolids Management and Enforcement" said," the  EPA 
does not have an effective program for ensuring compliance with land  
application (of sewage sludge) requirements of the Part 503 rules,  issued by the 
Office of Water. Accordingly, while EPA promotes the application,  EPA cannot 
assure the public that current land application practices are  protective of human 
health and the environment."  
Specifically, NSA calls on Congress to prohibit land application of sludge  
that contains pathogens and persistent pollutants, including radioactive waste. 
 These requests have become more urgent since the recent judicial decisionÊin 
a  federal whistleblower caseÊinvolving questions over whether plutonium and 
other  atomic wastes are safe fertilizer additives. Adrienne Anderson, 
appointed to  represent the sewage plant workers' safety and health concerns on the 
Metro  Water Reclamation District in Denver, Colorado was awarded nearly half a 
million  dollars in damages, including $150,000 in punitive damages, among 
the largest  punitive damage awards on record in whistleblower case law, 
according to the  National Whistleblower Center. Judge David W. DiNardi of Boston 
concluded that  the Metro Water Reclamation District had engaged in at least a 
five-year  campaign of illegal, retaliatoryÊand outrageousÊacts against Anderson 
one its  own board members who had publicly disclosed critically important 
information,  vital to occupational and public health.  
The matter at issue involved the sewage districtÕs plan - since enacted,  
unfortunately, despiteÊwidespread public controversy and unanimous citizen  
opposition in public comments of record - flushing a plutonium-contaminated  
Superfund Site in Colorado, the Lowry Landfill, to public sewers to a  
non-NRC-licensed facility whose workers are not even protected under OSHA, for  
redistribution as "fertilizer"on farm land growing crops for human consumption,  and in 
bagged material marketed commercially as "MetroGro", for use on home  
gardens.ÊThis precedent setting permit to allowÊatomic bomb wastesÊto be  discharged to 
the sewage treatment plant will open the door for disposal of  radioactive 
wastes around the country in blatant disregard for public health and  safety.  
NSA alsoÊurgently requestsÊthat the National Biosolids Partnership no longer  
be funded with tax dollars. This coalition of the regulator (EPA) and the  
regulated (WEF, AMSA) is using public funds to mount a massive public relations  
campaign to change "public perception" regarding toxic sludge as a suitable  
material for land disposal on agricultural lands. Instead, these funds should 
be  used toÊresearch and implement safe alternatives for the management, 
treatment  and disposal of toxic sewage sludge that do not compromise human health, 
our  environment or the safety of the nationÕs food supply. The term 
"biosolids" is a  public relation agency-coined term used to linguistically detoxify 
sludge and  convince the public that it is safe. Grant money earmarked for 
hazardous waste  cleanup was used by the partnership to "debunk" rather than 
investigate cases of  harm. Metro Wastewater Reclamation District (MWRD),Êunder the 
leadership  ofÊRobert H.ÊHite, has waged an illegal smear campaign against 
Anderson after  she disclosed evidence of plutonium in a waste stream MWRD had 
secretly agreed  to accept, while subsequently issuing a permit to discharge 
plutonium and other  radioactive wastes into the public sewer lines. Robert Hite 
heads both the NBP  and Metro Wastewater in Colorado. Ironically,ÊMetro 
Wastewater is one of the 27  plants chosen to illustrateÊ"good management 
practices". Continued use of  taxpayer money to support this partnership run by a man 
whose own agency has  engaged in illegal and retaliatory acts against its own 
workersÕ representative  concerned about the safety of nuclear waste in toxic 
sewage sludge is a clear  example of abuse of the public trust.  
At a time when the safety of our food supplies is of paramount importance, we 
 ask our elected officials to stop the destruction of our valuable productive 
 farmland with a policy that allows toxic chemicals, heavy metals, pathogens, 
and  radioactive wastes as "fertilizer." Further, we request that Congress 
use its  legislative power and protect public health and safety from this 
controversial  EPA policy and discontinue public funding of the "National Biosolids  
Partnership" in the public interest.  
We, the members of the National Sludge Alliance, thank you in advance for  
your consideration of these requests and await your prompt reply.  
Sincerely, 
Charlotte Hartman, Coordinator  
Sources:  
National Biosolids Partnership,_ statement of Robert H. Hite_ 
(http://biosolids.policy.net/welcome/) ,  Chairman  
Recommended Decision and Order, District Chief Judge David W. DiNardi, U.S.  
Department of Labor Office of Administrative Law Judges, in _Anderson v.  
Metro Wastewater Reclamation District_ 
(http://www.oalj.dol.gov/public/wblower/decsn/97sdw07c.htm) , Case No. 1997-SDW-7, September 18,  2001. The Department of 
Labor has now posted Chief District Judge David W.  DiNardiÕs September 18, 
2001 ruling in the whistleblower case Anderson v Metro  Wastewater Reclamation 
District at its government website, for those who wish to  review the entire, 
80-page decision. The matter at issue involved the sewage  districtÕs plan - 
since enacted, unfortunately,Êdespite widespread public  opposition- to flush a 
plutonium-contaminated Superfund Site in Colorado, the  Lowry Landfill, to 
public sewers to a non-NRC-licensed facility whose workers  are not even 
protected under OSHA, for redistribution as "fertilizer" on farm  land growing crops 
for human consumption, and in bagged material marketed  commercially as 
"MetroGro", for use on home gardens.  
For more information about MWRDÕs plan to turn plutonium-contaminated Lowry  
Landfill Superfund Site wastes into "beneficial biosolids":  
_Dirty  Secrets"_ (http://www.westword.com/webextra/lowry/index.html) , 
3-part Special Investigation by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist  Eileen Welsome  
For general sludge information and links:  
The National Sludge Alliance _Sewage Sludge  Homepage_ 
(http://www.ejnet.org/sludge/>http://www.ejnet.org/sludge/)   
_VA Land Application  of Sludge, the Uncensored Story,_ 
(http://www.safer-world.org/e/topics/sludge.html)  by Henry J. Staudinger  
_ReSource Institute for Low Entropy  Systems in Boston_ 
(http://www.riles.org/index.html)   
_"Potential  Health Effects of Odor from Animal Operations, Wastewater 
Treatment and  Recycling of Byproducts,"_ 
(http://www.penweb.org/issues/sludge/health-odor.htm)  Journal of Agromedicine, Volume 7, Number 1  2000-ISSN: 
1059-924X. In the conclusion, the report in the Journal of  Agromedicine says: "Our 
current state of knowledge clearly suggests that it is  possible for odorous 
emissions from. . . recycling of biosolids to have an  impact on physical health." 
("Recycling of biosolids" refers to land spreading  of sewage sludge.) Some 
symptoms related to inhaling the vapor of sewage sludge  mentioned in this 
report are: eye, nose, and throat irritation, headache,  nausea, hoarseness, 
cough, nasal congestion, palpitations, shortness of breath,  stress, drowsiness, 
chest tightness, an alterations in mood.  
_Out  of Control: Ten Case Studies in Regulatory Abuse"_ 
(http://members.aol.com/lewisdavel/>http://members.aol.com/lewisdavel/)  by David L. Lewis. Lewis  
works as a research microbiologist for US EPA Ecosystems Research Division 
and  is an adjunct professor at the University of Georgia. Excerpt from ÔSludge  
MagicÕ at the EPA "according to scientists working for EPA Office of Research 
 & Development, the sludge rule on land application of municipal wastes (40  
CFR Part 503) promulgated in 1993 may be the most scientifically unsound 
action  ever taken by the agency. Rather than being protective, the rule actually  
threatens public health and the environment."  
The Waste Management Institute at Cornell University published,_ "The Case 
For Caution,"_ (http://www.cfe.cornell.edu/wmi)   Recommendations For Land 
application of Sewage Sludges and An Appraisal of the  US EPAÕs Part 503 Sludge 
Rules by Ellen Harrison, Murray B. McBride and David  R.Bouldin, Working Paper 
August 1997 Revised February 1999.  
_Joanne  Marshall's statement _ 
(http://www.whistleblowers.org/statements.htm#state4) to the EPA regarding the death of her son from sludge  poisoning.
 
Leonard  E. Wheeler, Jr.,


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