- Subject: Part 3 -- It all began in New York
- From: T*@aol.com
- Date: Sun, 13 May 2001 06:53:58 EDT
- Full-name: TheBynums
"Corruption is often the price of progress."
Reverend Emanual Cleaver II, Mayor, KC, Mo.
(Starbeam--Kansas City Star, 1996)
Maybe -- but before we follow a sludge train to west Texas we need to look at
the situation which allowed it to happen. Congress had enacted all the
necessary environmental laws to prevent the sludge train from ever leaving
New York City. In fact, in 1984 Congress enacted the Hazardous and Solid
Waste Amendments which mandated disposal in a sanitary landfill. It would
appear that some smart young fellow at EPA figured
out that if hazardous waste was considered to be a fertilizer CERCLA and they
could find a farm to dump it on then it wasn't necessary to comply with the
other laws as long as EPA had a policy on sludge use.
In 1989, EPA did propose a written policy, Part 503. However, the policy
acknowledged 21 organic and inorganic chemicals and 34 primary disease
organism groups which could, after exposure on the farm or home lawn, cause
death, disease, cancer, and other assorted physical and mental health
problems. The policy warning reflected those in the environmental laws and
noted the EPA Administrator had this information on file. The policy also
noted that disease organism regrowth was a major an expected problem.
However, these bright young men with Ph.Ds behind their names were so far out
of their field of expertise that they didn't have a clue as to the terrible
plagues they were about to release on transporters, farmers and the public's
food, air and water supply. Or worse yet, did they know? As an example: As an
example: Coccidioides immitis (C. immitis) is a fungus so dangerous that
all research is regulated under the U.S. Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death
Penalty Act. Yet, many people in the Pacific Southwest, especially California
are infected each year. The primary path of infection is by inhaling airborne
dust particles. For the most part, symptoms are mild and the victim may not
even be aware they are really sick. However, according to biologist John
Taylor, about 10% of the victims will become seriously ill and about 1% of
the victims will die from a fatal lung disorder. “According to an article in
Newsday and republished in the Kansas City Star, “-- C. immitis is viewed as
a potential lethal agent that could be dispersed in warfare or in an act of
terrorism.” The findings that this deadly disease organism spread in human
and animal feces could be used to trace the path of ancient human migration
through the Americas was recently reported in the Proceedings of the National
Science Academy by Taylor and his colleagues at Roche Molecular Systems in
Alameda, California.
The major problem for EPA and the sludge producers was that the policy was to
conservative, it was too protective concerning food crops, water supplies and
the proposed buyers -- farmers and home gardeners -- and worse of all, it
talked about some of the disease organisms which could kill them.
There is no doubt, the ocean dumping ban did create a major problem for New
York City where there was very little available landfill space. In a letter
to EPA Administrator Reilly, dated June 5, 1989, Commissioner Harvey Schultz
of New York City's Department of Environmental Protection, explained the
economics of New York City's situation, if the Part 503 rule was adopted as
it was proposed. "...compliance with the pollutant standards would be
difficult, if not impossible, to achieve." "...no disposal option covered by
the proposal would be allowed or feasible for eighty percent of the City's
sludge." In closing, Mr. Schultz urged Mr. Reilly; "Considering the economic
and environmental importance of these regulations, the large volume of
potentially beneficial sludge affected, and the cost and paucity of landfill
space, I urge you to devote the necessary resources to revise 503 in
accordance with the best available technical information."
As is evident from the documents, for some cities it would have been
impossible to meet the standards for beneficial use in the Proposed Part 503;
and many sludge
application sites could have already far exceeded the regulated level.
As a result of these backdoor political shenanigans, the EPA created the
final Part 503 regulation; it is a unique regulation, it is based on several
exclusions and exemptions in the laws: 1) the domestic sewage exclusion for
hazardous waste in the sewer pipes to the treatment plant; 2) the exemption
for commercial fertilizer in the Superfund Act; 3) the statutory exemption
for contaminated agricultural surface water run-off; and 4) the lack of any
enforceable soil standard for pollutants -- particularly, disease organisms.
Based on these exclusions, EPA is authorizing the clean up of toxic and
radioactive hazardous waste Superfund Sites by piping the waste into
treatment plants. Denver is a good example. The concentrated toxic sludge
from the treatment process will either be disposed of on food crop production
land or perhaps on your lawn.
At the New Hampshire conference, EPA's Hugh Kaufman pointed out how economic
interests had caused the revision of the 1989 proposed 503 Sludge Rule which
he said were similar to the rest of the developed world--Canada, Germany and
other
European countries. He says:
As a result of that proposed regulation, politicians
from all over the country started to pressure EPA--a
young senator, Al Gore from Tennessee, the head of the
Environment Protection Agency in New York City--all of
them implying and/or stating directly that they could
not land apply their sludge if EPA promulgated the
regulations that were similar to the rest of the
developed world. So what EPA did was, they did a survey
of most of the big city sludges to determine the highest
levels of contaminates in those sludges, and then they
modified the proposals so that all the big city sludges
would be allowed to land apply their sludge."
One of the selling points in the EPA/WEF's promotion to farmers is their
claim that the farmer and his family will not be harmed by the use of sewage
sludge and there will be no liability under the Comprehensive Environmental
Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) (Superfund Act), if the
Part 503 is followed and sludge use is considered to be a "normal application
of fertilizer."
In spite of all the EPA/WEF rhetoric about the lack of danger to the health
of the farmer from sludge use, sludge, fertilizers containing hazardous waste
put farmers at risk. In the book, TOXIC DECEPTION (1996) Dan Fagin and
Marianne Levelle, and the Center for Public Integrity, cited research done
by Aaron Blair and Sheila Hor Zahm, at the National Cancer Institute, "who
have conducted at least seven studies of farmers (a population that by most
measures is healthier than the rest of us)," which showed increased cancer
among farmers. They quoted the researchers as saying, "we found
unexpectedly high rates of lukemia, Hodgkin's disease, non- Hodgkin's
lymphoma, multiple myeloma, and cancers of the bone, brain, connective
tissue, eye, kidney, lip, pancreas, prostate, skin, stomach, and thyroid."
(p. xvi)
EPA's Chief Saleman appears to be USDA's Rufus Chaney who appears to believe
toxic and hazardous waste is good for the farmer and home gardener. The
December 1992, Water Environment Federation Washington Bulletin noted there
was some discontent in the sludge industry with the proposed Part 503 rule.
Rufus Chaney, USDA, didn't think the EPA limits for cadmium, chromium,
molybdenum and selenium were in the best interest of agricultural. He claimed
there was no technical basis for cadmium at 39 mg/kg and it should be 25
mg/kg. He did not think chromium should be regulated, molybdenum should be
double the current 18 mg/kg and selenium should be less than 36 mg/kg. It
was also his contention that the "clean sludge" concept "is a whole lot
different regulatory approach and it needs to be honest." (p. 3)
The EPA released "A Guide to the Biosolids Risk Assessments for the EPA Part
503 Rule" in September 1995 which acknowledged that the risk assessment was a
sham. The only cancer risk assessment was based on the organics that were
proposed for regulation, but were never regulated.
According to the writers, EPA's John Walker, Linda Stien, Robert Southworth
and James Ryan, as well as USDA's Rufus Chaney, "--the Part 503 metals were
considered noncarcinogens (they do not cause or induce cancer) for the
exposure pathways evaluated." (pp. 110-11). The government has known for
years that these metal were carcinogens. The fact is that no federal agency
offers any rules to protect the farmer -- OSHA only protects employees in the
commercial workplace.
These bright young Ph.Ds also seem to be clueless about the nature of PCBs
which are not biodegradable. In 1992, the Madison (Wisconsin) Metropolitan
Sewage District (MMSD) proposed to EPA that it would clean up a PCB
contaminated sludge lagoon on the Superfund list by using the toxic sludge as
a fertilizer on farmland. According to MMSD, it had mass-loaded soil with
170 ppm PCB's and found that they disappeared from the soil. It claimed
there was no plant uptake or groundwater contamination. (EPA weighs PCB
levels, (Sept. 7, 1992), ENR `Engineering News Record')
"It (the research) documents that land treatment can be done in a way that is
still protective of human health and environmental quality," says David
Taylor, manager of MMSD's Superfund clean-up and its Metrogro fertilizer
program." Not only that, "But signs already indicate that EPA's future
regulation of PCBs in soil will focus less on TOSCA's rigid 50 ppm limit and
more on MMSD's type of risk based, mass-
loading criteria of pounds per acre." The MMSD and it's Metrogro program
have been furnishing farmers with TOSCA "approved" sludge since 1979.
It would appear that that may not be all MMSD was furnishing farmers in the
Madison area. The 100+ pathogens can be genetically modified by other toxic
pollutants in sludge and they can survive for long periods of time in the
environment. Most of these pathogens, including Salmonella and E. coli, are
not inactivated by any temperature less than 121 degrees Celsus. However,
lower temperatures will cause them to create spores (hard outer shells) which
makes them non-detectable for a short period of time. EPA and USDA have known
for 30 years that even lime causes the same phenomenon. While these bright
young Ph.Ds may not have done their research, EPA and USDA have also known
for years that lime causes Chromium 3 to convert to the very carcinogenic
Chromium 6.
Researchers from the University of Wisconsin--Madison's veterinary medical
teaching hospital studied an outbreak of drug resistant salmonella anatum in
horses in 1991. An epidemiologic investigation was done. A number of horses
referred to the University were found to have the drug resistant salmonella
strains from several locations in Illinois and Wisconsin. They also found
several other drug resistant strains of enteric bacteria, including E. Coli.
According to the study, "After may 1991, several horses from which S anatum
was isolated were admitted at various time from various geographic
locations, suggesting S anatum may have been endemic in the horse population
in the area surrounding the veterinary medical teaching hospital and private
veterinary clinic. Extensive bacteriological surveys of horses in the area
would be require to document this possibility." (Control of an outbreak of
salmonellosis caused by drug-resistant Salmonella anatum in horses as a
veterinary hospital and measures to prevent future infection. (August 1.
1996) JAVMA Vol 209, No. 3, p. 629.)
MMSD's request for the use of hazardous PCBs contaminated sludge on food
crop production land has the backing of Rufus Chaney. "Public interest and
common sense dictate that [MMSD's request] be granted," says Rufus Chaney, a
research agronomist and consultant to the U.S.Department of Agriculture."
In a series of articles in the Seattle Times, FEAR IN THE FIELDS, reporter,
Duff Wilson, on July 3 & 4, 1997, exposed what could be also be a
contributing factor to not only farmers adverse health, but damage to animal
health and environment. It also illustrates the EPA's handling to toxic and
hazardous sludge. According to the article, farmers in the little town of
Quincy, Washington "were wondering why their wheat yields were lousy, their
corn crops thin, their cows sickly." An investigation led by Quincy Mayor
Patty Martin, revealed the fertilizer used by the farmers was made from
hazardous waste. "It's really unbelievable what's happening, but it's true,"
Martin said, "They just call dangerous waste a product, and it's no longer a
dangerous waste. It's a fertilizer."
Wilson gave several examples where EPA allowed hazardous waste to be used as
a fertilizer--with a simply name change. In one case, toxic metal waste went
into the top of a Bay Zinc Company silo under an EPA hazardous waste storage
permit
and emerged out the bottom as an unregulated fertilizer. Bay Zinc's
President Dick Camp said, "Don't ask me why. That's the wisdom of the EPA."
Wilson found that in Gore, Oklahoma, radioactive waste was licensed as a
liquid fertilizer and sprayed on 9,000 acres of grazing land. Unsuspecting
farmers in Tift County, Ga. loss 1,000 acres of peanuts when they used
hazardous waste mixed with lime.
Wilson found that. "Canada's limit for heavy metals such as lead and cadmium
in fertilizer is 10 to 90 times lower than the U.S. limits for metals in
sewage sludge. "He stated, "The United States has no limits for metals in
fertilizers." Canadian Regulator, Darlene Blair, says, "Sorry, but we won't
compromise our health." Unlike the Canadian regulatory agency the EPA and
USDA take the opposite approach. USDA's Rufus Chaney followed the EPA line,
when he spoke to Wilson, He said. "It is irresponsible to create unnecessary
limits that cost a hell of a lot of money."
Canada may not compromise the public's health on metals, but it sure did with
disease organisms in sludge. Now it has to contend with the dead and dying
from contaminated well water in Walkerton and other small communities.
Chaney also revealed the real nature of the 1989 Peer Review hatchet job on
the proposed Part 503 when he told Wilson, "Recycle and reuse, that's our
national strategy," said Chaney...."It costs so much more to put it in a
landfill." In Wilson's article, Maryam Khosravifard, staff scientist for
the California Department of Food and Agricultural, revealed what everyone
else has failed to recognize. Maryam said, "EPA is in charge of getting rid
of these materials. They do reuse and recycling."
In fact, EPA is doing its best to phase out landfills -- because they are too
dangerous -- they actually contaminate the environment!
Edward Kleppinger, a former EPA employee who wrote hazardous waste rules,
told Wilson, "The last refuge of the hazardous-waste scoundrel is to call it
a fertilizer or soil amendment and dump it on farmland."
Hazardous waste in fertilizer is not new Milwaukee has been selling this
dangerous material to the public since 1926. Before 1985, the tannery waste
chromium in Milwaukee's sludge fertilizer, Milorganite, was "Listed" (known)
by EPA as a hazardous waste. In 1985, EPA began promoting the use of
hazardous waste as a fertilizer without warning the farmers or the public of
the adverse human health effects associated with the dangerous materials.
As the state agencies have slowly realized how skillfully the EPA has led
them into becoming a partner in the destruction of our environment, the
states have cut back
on their enforcement efforts. As we noted earlier, Missouri and Washington
are examples of states who cut back on enforcement personnel. Wilson also
discovered that many states are cutting back on their laboratories. According
to the article, "Testing for heavy metals would cost $50,000 to $150,000 in
capital investment for the typical state lab. plus additional staff, plus $10
to $60 per sample. Some
states, like
