Press Releases

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: DECEMBER 19, 2017

 Citizens’ Group Reports Victory in Battle Against Sewage Sludge

Contact:

Morton Alexander,
Mill Canyon resident  mortonalexander@sisna.com
(801) 637-6903

 

Chrys Ostrander,
former Mill Canyon resident
farmrchrys@gmail.com
(914) 246-0309

Davenport, WA

An informal committee of neighbors in the Mill Canyon area northeast of Davenport, WA is calling it a victory: They didn’t want sewage sludge to be applied to agricultural lands in their watershed. They fought hard against it. Now, due to their efforts, sludge will not be applied to lands immediately adjacent to the canyon where they live, according to a newly approved permit, issued December 13th by the Department of Ecology.

Map showing how much land was saved from the threat of sewage sludge application.
The green shaded areas had been included in Fire Mountain Farms’ permit application but are NOT included in the final permit! Only the red shaded area will receive any sludge, over 5 1/2 miles away.

The scale of the win for the committee is significant. The total acreage that will have sludge applied is reduced from the original 887.45 acres to 157.77 acres in the final permit. The original application indicated sewage sludge would have been applied less than one mile from Mill Canyon residents’ farms, gardens and wells and less than half a mile from the source of a private spring used for drinking water that figured prominently in comments sent to the Department of Ecology citing concerns over potential contamination from the sludge. With the approved permit, the closest to the canyon any sludge will be applied is over 5 miles away.

For close to two years, the citizens fought the permits sought by Fire Mountain Farms of Onalaska, WA. Fire Mountain Farms is a company with a checkered reputation that offers to apply sewage sludge on farms at no cost to the farmer (the company is paid by sewage treatment plants to take the sludge away). Concerned Mill Canyon residents met with their neighbors and testified at public hearings. They wrote letters and generated publicity that raised public awareness about the risks of applying sewage sludge to farmland.

In the spring of 2017, when it looked like the permits to dump the sludge were all but destined to be approved, the neighbors stepped up their opposition efforts. They named their informal committee “Protect Mill Canyon Watershed.” They announced their intention to appeal in the case of an adverse decision and launched a detailed website laying out their position.  They initiated a statewide letter-writing campaign that helped garner support for their position and put pressure on the Department of Ecology.  The committee also received valuable guidance, advice and support from the Columbia Institute for Water Policy, the Northwest Fund for the Environment, Safe Food and Fertilizer (a project of Earth Island Institute) and the Sierra Club.

Ultimately, it was one-on-one negotiations between neighbors that achieved the compromise reducing the acreage and proximity of sludge application. As the deadline for a decision on the permit from Ecology approached, representatives from Protect Mill Canyon Watershed met and corresponded with the grain farmer who was seeking to have the sludge applied to his lands. Despite urgings from the Department of Ecology and the sludge applicator that the original provisions should be defended in administrative court, the farmer ultimately decided that being a good neighbor was most important and agreed to withdraw from applying sludge close to Mill Canyon.

Morton Alexander, a landowner whose spring was at risk commented, “We refused to just lie down and accept this threat to our beautiful canyon, its air and water.  We are grateful for support from the larger community, regional and statewide, that brought credibility to our fight.  Hopefully, our success inspires resistance by others in similar struggles.”

Protect Mill Canyon Watershed is an informal committee of Mill Canyon residents.

Committee members: Morton Alexander, Corrina Barrett, Ernest Barrett, Laura Harris, Paige Kenney, Chrys Ostrander and Timothy Pellow. Jill Herrera, Grant Writer; Rachael Paschal Osborn, Columbia Institute for Water Policy, Legal Adviser; Donald Hanson, Science Adviser; Patricia Martin, Safe Food and Fertilizer, Technical Adviser.

Links:

– Protect Mill Canyon Watershed website: http://www.protectmillcanyon.org/ 

– Final Permit from Ecology, Site-specific Land Application Plan for Fire Mountain Farms – Rosman Farms Unit

– Protect Mill Canyon Watershed maintains the position that sewage sludge should never be released into the environment and that the practice of applying sewage sludge to agricultural and forest lands in Washington should be ended. Protect Mill Canyon Watershed advocates for a statewide moratorium on future permits for the land application of sewage sludge.

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PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: SEPT. 6, 2017

Citizen Committee Opposed to Dumping of Sewage Sludge on Agricultural Land Calls for Statewide Moratorium on Permits to Spread Sewage Sludge on Agricultural Lands.

Press conference was recorded.

Contact:
Morton Alexander, Mill Canyon resident mortonalexander@sisna.com

(509) 624-6855 or (509) 725-6638

Chrys Ostrander, former Mill Canyon resident
farmrchrys@gmail.com
(914) 246-0309 voice or text

“Protect Mill Canyon Watershed,” a citizen committee from Davenport, WA opposed to dumping of sewage sludge on agricultural land, has called for a statewide moratorium on pending and future permits to spread sewage sludge on agricultural lands. The Washington State Department of Ecology is the agency that issues the permits. The committee today launches a grassroots letter-writing campaign they hope will generate hundreds of email messages to Washington State Department of Ecology Director Maia Bellon and Washington State Governor Jay Inslee requesting a moratorium on any further “biosolids” permit approvals until a thorough review of the science is completed and the findings incorporated into re-worked regulations pertaining to sewage sludge disposal and land application in the state.

Residents who live in an area near Davenport, Washington called Mill Canyon feel threatened by proposals to spread municipal sewage sludge on nearly 900 acres of nearby agricultural land uphill from where they live, garden and farm. The area in question includes their natural watershed. Local citizens are alarmed and are organizing to prevent a permit application to dump the sludge from being approved. The sewage sludge would cause contamination of their drinking and irrigation water supplies. Soil containing sludge would mobilize via water and wind erosion and migrate into the canyon. Pollutant contaminants from the sludge would end up in the air from blowing dust, a condition that is common in the canyon, and settle in their lungs, on their soil and on their crops.

Canyon residents, with support from the Sierra Club, the Columbia Institute for Water Policy the Northwest Fund for the Environment, Safe Food and Fertilizer and the Cornucopia Institute have formed a committee called “Protect Mill Canyon Watershed” to publicize the crisis they are facing.

Not only do they demand that the permit application to apply sewage sludge in their “back yard” be denied, they are also demanding that Washington State Department of Ecology Director Maia Bellon and Washington State Governor Jay Inslee immediately impose a state-wide emergency moratorium on approving all pending permits for land application of sewage sludge until a thorough review of the science is completed and the findings incorporated into re-worked regulations pertaining to sewage sludge disposal and land application in the state.

They want the Washington State Department of Ecology (DOE) to deny the pending permit application it currently has under consideration that would allow sewage sludge to be spread on neighboring land and impose a state-wide moratorium because:

Hundreds of industrial, pharmaceutical and organic pollutant contaminants are known to be present in sewage sludge but are completely ignored by state regulators who routinely approve sewage sludge land application permits based solely on whether concentrations of only nine metals (Arsenic, Cadmium, Copper, Lead, Mercury, Molybdenum, Nickel, Selenium and Zinc) are within its arbitrarily-set parameters for those metals;
There are virtually no controls in place to limit the introduction of any pollutant into municipal sewage systems. No sewage sludge regulatory regime could possibly make provisions to adequately protect the public and the environment from harm since it is impossible to know the exact composition of any given batch of sludge or the kinds or concentrations of pollutant contaminants it contains;
Antibiotic resistant bacteria and mobile antibiotic resistance genes are present in sewage sludge. Sewage sludge is a conducive environment for bacteria to reproduce in, raising the threat of antibiotic resistant human pathogen strains developing in and migrating from sludge-treated soils into the environment putting human and non-human life at risk;
Existing arbitrary, contradictory and inadequate regulations governing the land application of sewage sludge encourage the build-up of toxic heavy metals in soils in violation of state and federal law, especially when waste-derived fertilizers are used in conjunction with sewage sludge. The situation is compounded because testing soils for metals accumulation is not required and this could easily lead to unsafe and illegal concentrations, but no one would know;
The Cornell Waste Management Institute Center for the Environment investigated alleged health incidents associated with land application of sewage sludges. “Symptoms of more than 328 people involved in 39 incidents in 15 states are described. Investigation and tracking of the incidents by agencies is poor. Only one of 10 EPA regions provided substantial information on the incidents in their region. Investigations, when conducted, focused on compliance with regulations. No substantial health-related investigations were conducted by federal, state, or local officials. A system for tracking and investigation is needed. Analysis of the limited data suggests that surface-applied Class B sludges present the greatest risk and should be eliminated,” the Cornell researchers reported;
In the Mill Canyon permit application (as well as dozens of similar applications around the state), DOE erroneously certified that it has “determined that this proposal does not have a probable significant impact on the environment, [therefore an] environmental impact statement (EIS) is not required.” DOE based its determination on a flawed, incorrect and incomplete State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) Checklist provided by the vendor seeking the permit. DOE failed to adequately scrutinize the submitted SEPA checklist. In making its determination, DOE also exhibited willful disregard of the science that has emerged in the decades since sewage sludge land application was initiated in the 1970’s. Environmental Impact Statements must be prepared for every General Permit for Biosolids Management;
The requirement that the vendor develop a “groundwater protection plan” to monitor for any groundwater contamination resulting from sewage sludge application was improperly waived in the Mill Canyon permit application because an adequate, detailed hydrologic survey was not performed. Likely similar improper waivers have been granted in other permit applications around the state;
Much of the land near Mill Canyon where sewage sludge is proposed to be deposited is perched above the canyon and its waterways. It is all prone to erosion. A large proportion of it is classified by the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service as “Highly Erodible Land,” a classification that renders those areas prohibited for sludge application. Soil scientists warn that the area is the worst place to experiment with “biosolids” as a soil amendment;
Numerous irregularities, omissions and incomplete responses are present in the permit application for land application of sewage sludge near Mill Canyon which call into question DOE’s capacity and desire to adequately administer the entire state sludge program in fulfillment of its mission to “protect, preserve and enhance Washington’s environment for current and future generations.”
Links:

Protect Mill Canyon Watershed has compiled a document that details their objections to the permit application which is available on their website, here:

Details Regarding Protect Mill Canyon Watershed’s Objections to the Land Application of Sewage Sludge by a Neighboring Farm

Protect Mill Canyon Watershed website: http://www.protectmillcanyon.org/

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MEDIA ADVISORY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: SEPT. 3, 2017

Citizen Committee Opposed to Dumping of Sewage Sludge on Agricultural Land Calls Press Conference.

Contact:

Morton Alexander, Mill Canyon resident
mortonalexander@sisna.com

(509) 624-6855 or (509) 725-6638, will also be available for interview at event.

Chrys Ostrander, former Mill Canyon resident
farmrchrys@gmail.com
(914) 246-0309 voice or text, will also be available for interview at event.

Timothy Pellow, Mill Canyon farmer, available for interview at press conference.

“Protect Mill Canyon Watershed,” a citizen committee opposed to dumping of sewage sludge on agricultural land, has called a press conference for Wednesday, Sept. 6 at 3pm at Department of Ecology Building in Spokane. A Major announcement regarding the Department and sewage sludge is scheduled.

Residents who live in an area near Davenport, Washington called Mill Canyon feel threatened by a proposal to spread municipal sewage sludge on nearly 900 acres of nearby agricultural land uphill from where they live, garden and farm. The area in question includes their natural watershed. Local citizens are alarmed and are organizing to prevent permit applications to dump the sludge from being approved by the Washington State Department of Ecology. Pollutant contaminants from the sludge would cause contamination of their drinking and irrigation water supplies, mobilize via water and wind erosion, and migrate into the canyon.

Canyon residents, with support from the Sierra Club, the Columbia Institute for Water Policy and the Northwest Fund for the Environment, have formed a committee called “Protect Mill Canyon Watershed” to publicize the crisis they are facing. They have asked the Department of Ecology to deny the permit application to apply sewage sludge near their homes.

Rapidly developing events compel the citizens’ committee to call an impromptu press conference at which they will make a major announcement related to the Mill Canyon sewage sludge permit application and the Department of Ecology’s “biosolids” program. The press conference will be at 3:00pm on Wednesday, Sept. 6 outside the Spokane Department of Ecology office at 4601 N Monroe St, Spokane, WA 99205. Participants will gather on the sidewalk on the west side of the building, on Madison Street.

Links:

Protect Mill Canyon Watershed has compiled a document that details their objections to the permit application which is available on their website, here:
http://www.protectmillcanyon.org/details-regarding-protect-mill-canyon-watersheds-objections-land-application-sewage-sludge-neighboring-farm/

Protect Mill Canyon Watershed website: http://www.protectmillcanyon.org/
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PMCW Press Release: “Protect Mill Canyon Watershed,” a citizen committee opposed to dumping of sewage sludge on agricultural land, calls press conference for Wednesday, Sept. 6 at 3pm at Department of Ecology Building in Spokane. Major announcement regarding the Department and sewage sludge is scheduled. Issued Sept. 3, 2017. (PDF)

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PMCW Press Release: Municipal sewage sludge threatens residents in rural eastern Washington, Issued August 8, 2017. (PDF)