[Durham INC] Fw: BOCC Meeting Tuesday Aug. 18: decision to redirect $6, 000 in public monies for educational forum promoting sewage sludge spreading on farmlands

[Melissa Rooney]

If you all know anyone who lives in Orange County, it would be great if you could pass this on to them. Thanks!
Melissa (Rooney)

--- On Sun, 8/16/09, Sue Dayton <sdayton at swcp.com> wrote:


From: Sue Dayton <sdayton at swcp.com>
Subject: [Sludge] BOCC Meeting Tuesday Aug. 18: decision to redirect $6, 000 in public monies for educational forum promoting sewage sludge spreading on farmlands
To: "'Sludge'" <sludge at lists.ibiblio.org>
Date: Sunday, August 16, 2009, 6:41 PM








BOCC to decide to redirect funding to promote sewage sludge spreading 
 
ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS MEETING
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
7:00 p.m. 
Central Orange Senior Center (Adjoining Triangle SportsPlex)
103 Meadowlands Drive, Hillsborough , NC
 
Agenda Item: PUBLIC MONEY ($6,000) appropriated by the Orange County Health Department to conduct testing for contaminants in runoff from sewage sludge being used as a fertilizer on farmlands is now being proposed to fund an EDUCATIONAL FORUM TO LOOK AT THE BENEFICIAL USE OF BIOSOLIDS.   
 
The Health Department now wants to redirect the funding earmarked specifically for the testing of potential contaminants IN SEWAGE SLUDGE that is RUNNING OFF FARMLAND into tributaries used to supply drinking water for the cities of Chapel Hill and Carrboro. The primary reason that the testing was never completed was because the farmers got “wet feet.” Farmers who initially agreed to participate in the study were, we are told, “uncomfortable” and changed their minds about having their land tested for the presence of potential contaminants in sewage sludge being used as a fertilizer on their farmlands. 
 
Additional background: 
 
·         Several months ago, members of the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League (BREDL) and other concerned citizens from Orange County presented to the Orange County Commission for the Environment (CFE) an overview of concerns re: the spreading sewage sludge on farmlands in Orange County . 
·         BREDL requested that the CFE consider several recommendations that would provide regulatory improvements and additional safety measures to the state’s land application of sewage sludges program. 
·         In response to our request, the CFE sent a letter to the BOCC recommending that the BOCC convene an “interdisciplinary task group” to study the risks of using sewage sludge as a fertilizer on farmlands. 
·         We have not yet heard from the BOCC regarding the CFE’s request.
 
The $10,000 originally allocated by the Orange County Health Department should be used for its original purpose, (i.e.), to look into WHAT IS IN SEWAGE SLUDGE that is RUNNING OFF FARMLANDS into tributaries used for Chapel Hill and Carrboro’s drinking water.  
 
Instead of doing a promotional workshop on why sludge is risk-free, the benefits of sewage sludge, how OWASA is using best practices to land-apply sewage sludge, and how sewage sludge is highly regulated and monitored by the state -- should we not be asking ourselves why farmers would not allow testing of sludge to take place on their sludge-applied lands in the first place? 
 
We invite those on the Sludge Listserve to attend the BOCC meeting Tuesday night and voice your opinion about appropriateness of the proposed redirection of this funding. 
 
BOCC Agenda:
 
http://www.co.orange.nc.us/OCCLERKS/090818.htm
 
BIOSOLIDS Forum:
http://www.co.orange.nc.us/OCCLERKS/0908184g.pdf

BOCC AGENDA ITEM:
 
g.      Land Application of Biosolids Regional Forum 2009
The Board will consider authorizing redirection of funds in an amount up to $6,000 from conducting a biosolids research project to an educational forum on land application of biosolids. 
 
For more information please contact: 
 
Sue Dayton
Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League
North Carolina Healthy Communities Program
PO BOX 44
Saxapahaw, NC 27340
(336) 525-2003
sdayton at swcp.com
 
 
 

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.   -  Martin Luther King Jr.
 
 
 
 
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