Excerpt from May 20 article by Sarah Ruby and Gretchen Wenner:
Kern County, California
“From a distance, Honey Bucket looks like any other truck yard. Incoming haulers put their load on a conveyor belt,
where it's mixed with pathogen-killing powders and dropped into truck beds headed for the fields. Spreaders fling the
mixture high into the air and let it settle on the ground.
(Note: This description of pathogen treatment does not comply with any US EPA authorized Class A pathogen
reduction methods described in 40 CFR Part 503
Also . . . could these “pathogen-killing powders” be the caustic BP Oil Refinery fly ash stockpiled in Wasco/Oxnard,
which had to be removed because it was determined to be hazardous waste . . . ?)
another dynamite story by Sarah Ruby and Gretchen Wenner . . . .
"The federal agency has no vested interest in whether local sludge meets Class A or lesser requirements. That's up to
the county, Fondahl said. " (Lauren Fondahl, EPA Region 9 Administrator)
“Two farms, Honey Bucket and the city of Los Angeles' Green Acres, spread more than 420,000 wet tons of sludge on
fewer than 10,000 acres last year.”
Some sludge protocols not met
BY SARAH RUBY AND GRETCHEN WENNER, Californian staff writers
e-mail: sruby@bakersfield.com
e-mail: gwenner@bakersfield.com | Friday, Jun 2 2006 8:50 PM
Last Updated: Friday, Jun 2 2006 10:48 PM
Despite signed declarations to the contrary, at least one local sludge farmer hasn't submitted monthly tests showing on-
site treatment killed bacteria, viruses and worms before workers spread the sludge on Kern farmland.
Video:
From L.A. to Kern: Follow that sludge (4:30)
The tests are required under a federal law that sets standards for so-called "Class A" sludge -- treated human and
industrial sewage used as fertilizer.
With much of Southern California's sewage sludge shipped to Kern for disposal, some local farmers, soil scientists and
residents already worry about sludge's unknowns. Tens of thousands of industrial chemicals combine with heavy
metals, pharmaceuticals and human waste, they say, creating a potentially toxic brew that varies with each load trucked
over the Grapevine.
Kern residents will vote Tuesday on a ballot measure that would end the practice on unincorporated land here.
Sludge testing is supposed to show that what ends up on the ground is safe. Its handlers sample for heavy metals, a
few toxic compounds and pathogens.
No one knows if sludge at Honey Bucket Farms, one of Kern's two remaining imported sludge farms, meets the federal
standard for viruses, bacteria and worms because it doesn't submit monthly tests to the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency. It also fails to meet certain other testing protocols, which call for testing before sludge is treated, said Lauren
Fondahl, sewage sludge coordinator for the agency's regional office in San Francisco.
Honey Bucket Farms does submit quarterly results, all of which meet the EPA's standards for pathogen kill, Fondahl
said. Without monthly testing, the sludge can't be certified as Class A -- a must for all sludge spreading operations in
Kern.
The testing discrepancy surprised county officials, who thought the EPA was making sure sludge at Honey Bucket
Farms merited Class A status.
"It was our assumption they were meeting the requirements set out" in federal regulations, said Matt Constantine,
director of the county's Environmental Health Department.
Kern doesn't require sludge operators to fulfill all of EPA's Class A rules, Constantine said. Local sludge handlers must
test quarterly, not monthly, he said. The county also requires a few tests of its own.
The federal agency has no vested interest in whether local sludge meets Class A or lesser requirements. That's up to
the county, Fondahl said.
But since Honey Bucket's owner signed statements verifying sludge on his north Kern farm met federal Class A
requirements, EPA officials are evaluating whether they need to track down additional paperwork, Fondahl said.
"It's not the same level of priority as somebody who's actually exceeding a pollutant limit," she said.
Shaen Magan, the sludge farmer, said he was "unfamiliar" with the monthly testing requirement. He signed a
declaration in February guaranteeing "under penalty of law" he'd followed federal guidelines for "Class A."
A spokesman for his biggest customer, the Orange County Sanitation District, said Magan follows Kern's testing rules,
and county officials have always been OK with his procedures.
"We will gladly comply with whatever requirements they deem fit," said Layne Baroldi, legal affairs liaison for Orange
County Sanitation District. "We have been doing this since 2003 and Kern County has been satisfied it meets ... their
ordinance."
The Orange County district sends more than 80,000 wet tons of sewage sludge to Kern for disposal each year.
Two farms, Honey Bucket and the city of Los Angeles' Green Acres, spread more than 420,000 wet tons of sludge on
fewer than 10,000 acres last year. County officials shut down Kern's third sludge farm in February after the state found
its operator, U.S.A. Transport Inc., had stockpiled more than 70,000 tons of hazardous waste near Wasco. The farm,
owned by the city of Oxnard, also failed to meet certain testing protocols for "Class A," EPA's Fondahl said.
On Tuesday, locals will decide whether to ban sludge spreading here. Measure E is widely expected to pass, although
it's unlikely to be the final word on sludge in Kern. Sanitation districts and sludge farm operators have pledged to fight
the ban in court. If unsuccessful, they'll have six months to find another place for their treated waste.
Story so far
• 1987 — Sanitation districts are forced to stop dumping treated sewage into the ocean; many start hauling
concentrated waste to Kern for use as fertilizer. • 1999 — After years of complaints and controversy, county
supervisors ban all but the most highly treated sludge starting in January 2003. • 2004-05 — Farmers and water
officials raise concerns about the safety of spreading sludge on cropland; state Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter and other
leaders launch a campaign to ban sludge by referendum • 2006 — Kern residents to vote on the sludge ban Tuesday