Regulatory Alert 08-03

In the past few weeks several Associated Press (AP) articles on biosolids management have been published online and in newspapers across the nation.  The articles have made claims that human and animal health have been adversely impacted by biosolids land application, have alleged organized government cover-ups, and raised environmental justice concerns.  Most of the claims and statements in these articles have already been shown to be untrue by those closely involved with the cited court cases and research studies, but the articles nevertheless are having an impact locally and at the national level, including potentially influencing the recent announcement by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Chair of the Environment & Public Works (EPW) Committee, that she will hold a hearing on biosolids by the end of the summer.

This Regulatory Alert provides the NACWA membership with additional information on these recent articles and developments and lays out steps that NACWA is taking at the national level to address these and related issues.

Issue Overview and Background
NACWA reported last fall that Senator Boxer had written a letter to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Stephen Johnson asking the agency to provide her office with a detailed account of all the actions it had taken in the biosolids area for the past five years.  EPA responded with a comprehensive list of the activities that the Agency is taking on the biosolids program.  NACWA is concerned that biosolids opposition groups, armed with the recent press coverage, may have a more receptive audience this year and going into the 111th Congress and a new Administration.  NACWA also understands that the Center for Food Safety Coalition, which unsuccessfully petitioned EPA to ban the land application of biosolids in 2003, is encouraging Boxer’s investigation.

Perhaps of greatest concern is the hearing that Senator Boxer is planning that could take place as early as mid-May.  The recent national press coverage by the AP will no doubt be a key discussion topic for the hearing and NACWA is working to ensure that the clean water community’s perspective will be represented during the hearing.   It is important to note that NACWA’s President Chris Westhoff was interviewed by the AP reporters last year, providing valuable information on the safety and importance of the land application of biosolids.  His and the Association’s views have not been included in any of the AP stories to date.

NACWA will be coordinating with the Water Environment Federation (WEF) and other biosolids stakeholders as we work on your behalf to ensure that land application remains a viable option for communities.  NACWA cannot comment on the specifics of the studies cited in the recent AP stories, but the information below may be helpful should you receive any questions about this issue.

National Press Focuses on Local Stories to Question Biosolids Safety

Georgia Biosolids Case
NACWA reported last month via a March 10, Special Edition Current about an AP article based on a recent U.S. District Court decision regarding claims that biosolids land application resulted in contaminated pastureland and illness in livestock.  The district court’s decision made several harsh statements questioning the safety of biosolids and land application, and the AP story used those statements to support its article.  More recent local press stories involving biosolids issues in Maryland have also referenced the Georgia case.  NACWA’s Special Edition Current provides more details on this story and outlines what NACWA understands are the facts in the case.

Baltimore Study on Using Biosolids to Remediate Lead Contamination
The most recent AP article focuses on a 2005 report from a study funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) evaluating whether a biosolids compost product could reduce potentially harmful lead dust levels in residential yards.  The AP story focused on the fact that the homes where the study was conducted were those of low-income families, raising environmental justice concerns.  The story has now generated several follow-on articles in the local media that reference the Georgia case and other allegations of illness caused by biosolids land application.  Dr. Rufus Chaney, a research agronomist from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) who co-wrote the Baltimore study and who was quoted in the AP story, provided the statement below to WEF in response to the AP story.

An AP news article by John Heilprin and Kevin Vineys that appeared in newspapers today is an incomplete and imbalanced discussion of a field test I cooperated in conducting in Baltimore a few years ago. We applied Class A biosolids compost from Baltimore, a high quality soil conditioner product available for sale for all home and garden uses in the region. The soil treatments did substantially reduce the risk to children from lead (Pb) in those soils. As reported in the paper "This longitudinal pilot study shows that in situ amendment of lead-containing yard soil with Orgro [biosolids compost] is associated with a significant reduction in bioaccessible Pb fraction and the development of a healthy turfgrass cover at 1-year follow-up."

It is clear that our method using simple incorporation of biosolids compost rich in Fe [iron] and P [phosphorus] into high Pb urban soils offers individual home owners the ability to greatly reduce the risk of soil Pb to their children when no public program will assist them in soil removal and replacement. I am comfortable that the issues of soil and housing Pb risks to the children were well disclosed to the participants. Contrary to claims, the families who cooperated in the field test were part of a community group where they learned more about how to protect their children from housing and environmental Pb. An ethics review at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) and HUD approved the test. I was a cooperator/advisor and no such review was sought at USDA. All funding went to JHU.

Dr. Rufus Chaney
USDA-ARS-EMBUL Bldg. 007, BARC-West 10300
Baltimore Blvd.
Beltsville, MD 20705-2350

In addition, experts from the Johns Hopkins University who evaluated the initial study plans have again reviewed the study and have released a statement that further undermines the facts in the press coverage.  NACWA is working to make this statement available to the NACWA membership.  Please contact Chris Hornback at chornback@nacwa.org This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it if you need additional information on the Johns Hopkins statement.

Based on its review of the AP story and the feedback from those involved in the study, NACWA notes that:

• A biosolids-derived compost, not sewage sludge as reported by the AP, in compliance with EPA regulations and licensed and approved by the state for distribution to the general public was used for the study.

• The AP story cites a “paucity of research” on the subject as cause for concern, but the clean water community, through the Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF), has in fact committed millions of dollars to studying biosolids issues.  EPA also conducted a comprehensive risk assessment before finalizing its Part 503 regulations and continues to study pollutant levels and associated risks in biosolids.

• Contrary to the AP story, the National Academy of Science (NAS) in its 2002 report did not fault the adequacy of the science behind EPA’s biosolids regulations.  In fact, the panel stated that there was no documented evidence suggesting that EPA’s regulations had failed to protect human health or the environment, and recommended that ongoing study was appropriate.  NACWA members should be aware that the United States District Court for the Central District of California in an August 2007 ruling reaffirmed the conclusions of the NAS report and further stated that research conducted since the 2002 report has “uncovered nothing that would change EPA’s conclusion that land application in compliance with the Part 530 regulations is safe.”

Unfortunately, given the more than a year of interviews and information-gathering the AP has done on this issue, coupled with the upcoming Senate hearing on this issue (see below), which will provide the media with a national news hook, this is likely not the last such story from AP and other media outlets.

NACWA Coordinating Municipal Effort on Senate Hearing
NACWA organized a call with WEF, the National League of Cities (NLC), and the California Association of Sanitation Agencies (CASA), along with other municipal stakeholders, to develop a concerted effort aimed at seeking to ensure a rational discussion and a balanced roster of witnesses for the biosolids hearing that Senator Boxer is planning.  This hearing will provide critical insight into Senator Boxer’s motivations and could be the determining factor in whether biosolids land application will face more concerted opposition in the future.  NACWA will be drafting a letter to Senator Boxer and the other EPW Committee members, with input from the fellow organizations on the conference call, to be finalized and sent next week.  This letter will detail and underscore the importance and safety of biosolids land application.    NACWA will be working with its members in California and other key states to secure similar letters from utilities and key elected officials to Senator Boxer and other key members of the EPW Committee.

If you have any additional input or concerns, please contact Chris Hornback at chornback@nacwa.org This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .