'Don't Believe Everything That You Read in the Reading Eagle'

Part of yesterday's post about tonight's meeting in Tamaqua on the anti-sludge ordinance drew an objection from Dante Picciano. Besides being director of the Army for a Clean Environment, Picciano is also a very smart attorney, so I am posting his e-mail to me in full:

Your article is very good but the following section is not exactly
correct:

"Tamaqua Borough Solicitor Michael S. Greek has been criticized by local environmentalists for saying the ordinance is unenforceable and could even subject the borough to lawsuits. But if challenged by sludge-dumping interests, the ordinance probably does face an uphill battle in court. That's because at least two decisions -- one from the U.S. District Court and the other from the Penna. Supreme Court -- have held that the state DEP is solely responsible for setting rules for sludge use (for more details, see "Local unease over sludge fuels debate," Reading Eagle, June 7, 2006)."

The U.S. District Court in the Synagro case and the Pa. Supreme Court in the Hydropress case did not hold that the state DEP is solely responsible for setting rules for sludge use. In fact, the courts held that local communities are not preempted from regulating sludge as long as the regulations do not exceed the DEP regulations. There are only three areas where the legislature has preempted local control: alcoholic beverages, anthracite strip mining and banking.

The moral is don't believe everything that you read in the Reading Eagle.

Mea culpa!