Need apparent for new rules about sludge

By Greg Little, Managing Editor The Covington Leader OnLine

July 16, 2004  

It was around lunch time last Friday when Sen. Mark Norris walked into the door of the newspaper.

Norris said he wanted to go see the sludge dumping site in northwest Tipton County which is operated by Add-Van Farms and owned by county resident Van Bringle. He said he wanted to take a first-hand look — and smell.

The senator has been involved in the issue and wants even more involvement, saying sludge must be disposed of properly using federal guidelines.

That’s where this story gets interesting because the Environmental Protection Agency, in its own regulations, says the state of Tennessee has not been approved to investigate and handle sludge issues. Yet it was the EPA office in Atlanta which, several years ago, gave the state full authority in this case.

The state has failed in making Bringle come into compliance, although the next few weeks could be interesting.

Yet here we are.

That’s why it is so positive that Norris has decided to delve full-ahead into this issue. He’s as confused as everyone else. The federal government says the state doesn’t have the proper laws in place yet gives enforcement power to the state.

Even state officials admit the laws in Tennessee are not up to proper standards. Norris also said he found out state officials were looking into changing the sludge handling laws in the state, but it has gone nowhere in more than two years.

It makes you wonder why that is and whether or not the state is serious about this matter. This isn’t just about Add-Van Farms. It’s about all sludge haulers and handlers across the state and how the rules need to be stringent for handling these materials. It’s also about our enviornment, the health of the people and wildlife and many other issues.

Even a high-ranking EPA official has publicly said the jury is still out about how harmful this stuff might be to humans and animals. A jury in Georgia recently awarded a farmer $550,000 because more than 300 of his cows died after eating hay which was grown in sludge materials which were being properly handled.

It appears the EPA may not be playing its entire deck and balking about making companies follow the law. The state of Tennessee obviously hasn’t handled sludge removal properly, mainly because the rules and regulations tie the hands of the agency officials who seem to genuinely want to remedy the situation.

But that’s little comfort for the folks who live on Detroit Road in northwest Tipton County. Day in and day out, they have to live with the stench of the sludge smell and wonder if anyone really cares enough about this situation to make sure the operation is either brought into compliance on Aug. 11 or shut down completely.

One of those two scenarios needs to happen. There are no excuses left.

Further, Norris also makes a good point when he says the entire sludge situation in Tennessee may have to be examined by lawmakers. If proposed new rules have been mired in some committee for two years or more, the citizens deserve an explanation as to why that has happened.

They also deserve an explanation as to why the new rules were proposed in the first place. Did someone see something going wrong and propose it be fixed?

One state official, Philip Davis of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, has admitted the operation by Bringle was the reason state officials first began looking closer at sludge laws in the state. Those same state officials need to reenergize their efforts and, with the help of Senator Norris, get the laws in order.

It’s only the proper thing to do for the residents of this state. We deserve better.