Court decision expected soon on local sludge ban

From an article in yesterday's Allentown Morning Call:

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.

Other Schuylkill County communities that have enacted similar bans or announced support of East Brunswick's ordinance include the borough of Tamaqua and the townships of Mahanoy, Packer and Rush, where Hometown is located. Elsewhere across the state, communities in Lancaster and York counties have also taken action against sludge dumping.

Officials say sludge is no concern for drinking water

Jerry Pillus of the state Department of Environmental Protection has assured the public that the sewage sludge being dumped next to a feeder creek for Tamaqua's drinking-water reservoir is not a problem. Furthermore, he's tired of citizens raising concerns about the water. Read all about it in the April 17 post at DANTE7.com.

Sludge dumped near Hometown's drinking water reservoir

Tamaqua Borough Council member Cathy Miorelli has raised concerns about the dumping of sewage sludge on land drained by a stream that feeds the Still Creek Reservoir, the local drinking water supply, according to the Times News. The land in question is in Carbon County's Packer Township.

Miorelli's experience in trying to bring the problem to the attention of the proper authorities illustrates why many area citizens have little faith in government regulators.

After she learned about a "brown substance" piling up on the land in question, Miorelli called the state Department of Environmental Protection's complaint hotline and spoke with Tim Craven, according to the paper. Asked whether the dumping was permitted, Craven -- who is DEP's Northeast regional biosolids coordinator -- said he didn't know, and that "it would be difficult for him to find out," she said.

Craven eventually called the farmer, who reportedly said the material was lime. Craven then told Miorelli to call the farmer and verify that it was in fact lime. She told him she didn't think that was her job and requested an inspection. He said he would "really hate to do that," she told the paper.

Then on April 2, Miorelli got a phone call from Craven, who told her that it was in fact "biosolid material," and that it had come from Phillipsburg, N.J. On April 10, officials with the DEP and Tamaqua Borough and Water Authority met at the property in question but declined to check the feeder stream. The paper reports:

Mayor Christian Morrison took issue with the fact that the DEP officials apparently lied and did not perform the appropriate inspections.

"This community has lost faith in DEP and this just doesn't help,'' he said.

It would be interesting to know where specifically in Phillipsburg the material comes from. The town is home to Hydropress, a company that processes sewage sludge from New York City and elsewhere into materials spread on farmlands. In 2003, the company sued Pennsylvania's Upper Mount Bethel Township over an ordinance requiring sludge dumpers to pay a fee for road improvements and a substantial bond to ensure compliance with local regulations; the Pennsylvania Supreme Court eventually ruled that townships do not have the authority to impose such regulations.

Despite the high court's ruling, Tamaqua as well as neighboring Rush Township, where Hometown is located, have passed similar restrictions on dumping. So has nearby East Brunswick Township, which is now having its regulations challenged by State Attorney General Tom Corbett, who formerly served as an attorney for sludge hauler Waste Management Inc.