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a bill passed the Senate that would have prohibited counties from banning the application of sludge. However the sponsors of that bill went across the hall and “picked up” the bill from a House Committee, thus killing it.
In his closing argument for the county, Neal L. Walters referred to the General Assembly’s action and Virginia Supreme Court decisions, which suggest that when the Assembly fails to take a specific action, the reverse holds true: that is, the county must have the right to act as it did.
Although both sides in this case presented technical experts to buttress their positions, the most telling testimony occurred Wednesday afternoon.
One of the county’s last witnesses was Valerie A. Ford, senior environmental engineer for the Department of Environmental Quality at its northern regional office in Woodbridge.
She told the court that she is the permit writer for all sludge applications within the 12 county area that includes Rappahannock, Loudoun and Fauquier counties. ,
She stressed that her department does not consider sludge a contaminant and does not test the stuff, instead relying on the haulers to provide the analysis.
In earlier testimony, Jane B. Forste, who is a technical vice president for Bio-Gro (a sludge hauler), admitted that her firm does not test sludge for heavy metal concentrations or for its Nitrogen/Phosphorus/Potash ratio. Instead BioGro relies on private testing labs and the sludge provider, normally the Blue Plains Sewage Treatment Plant in Washington, D.C., for analysis data.
Ms. Ford also told the court that her department inspects the sludge haulers once a year, and these inspections “are not surprise inspections ... the haulers are usually notified in advance.”
Ms. Ford had difficulty identifying forms and reports from her own office files when they were presented to her by Mr. Walters. She appeared unsure of her duties as the only person responsible for ensuring that the complex rules and regulations concerning the manufacture and handling of sludge are followed. She also appeared unsure about the history and followup on sludge spills within her area.
The other key witness was brought in for rebuttal by the plaintiffs.
Dr. Rufus Chaney, who has been with the U.S. Dept, of Agriculture in its Environmental Chemistry Laboratory for decades, is known throughout the country as the pre-eminent expert on sludges.
A large man, he filled the witness booth in the courtroom as he firmly explained why heavy metals in sludges do not pose a significant health risk.
“In fact,” he said, “If you have urban soils heavily contaminated with lead, you will actually reduce the amount of available lead in the soil by adding sludge to it. The metals in the sludge will help bind up the existing lead in the soil so it is less available to be adsorbed by young children.”
Dr. Chaney believes firmly that properly prepared Class I and Class 11 sludges can be applied
See Sludge, Page A-6
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