Time has come to resolve sludge issue

By Greg Little, Managing Editor, The Covington Leader Online
August 12, 2004


It seems some tough decisions need to be made by state officials.

Those decisions surround Add-Van Farms and the documented illegal dumping of sludge over the past 11 years at its northwest Tipton County site.

State officials did acknowledge Tuesday they will be closely monitoring the situation and have even decided to formally request involvement by the Environmental Protection Agency. These are positive steps.

But let’s review.

It is fact the state of Tennessee, for some reason, gave owner Van Bringle an entire year to clean up his property. The original deal was six months, but the final order, which bears the signature of Gov. Phil Bredesen, gave him one year.

That year has now passed and it’s time for the state to step up to the plate and do the right thing for the suffering residents on Detroit Road who have to live with an awful stench of sewage and food waste sludge.

The state has more than bent over backwards for Bringle and it wasn’t until this newspaper uncovered raw sludge lying on the ground at the site that the state again sprang into action. I personally observed, from a public county road, sludge dumped onto the ground and then when I went back a week later, it was still there — and the smell was anything but pleasant.

It was that second trip when officials from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation were present and it was then, too, that there was suddenly some work being done at the site by workers from Add-Van Farms. Funny how that worked.

Probably one of the saddest things I’ve learned recently is how the state makes it more attractive for violators to submit plans as late as possible. In the case of Bringle, the order gives him 45 days to close the existing pits after the state approves his Land Application and Operation Plan. Well, he conveniently submitted it just last week, meaning state officials were scrambling this week to OK the plan, if it meets their specifications.

What this does is give Bringle even more time to close the pits.

This is flat wrong.

It was Aug. 11, 2003, when the order was signed. That’s an entire year to deal with this situation. Yet the business owner dragged his feet, and who could blame him with the lax state rules and regulations. Those rules allowed him to continue violating state regulations until Wednesday of this week.

The order clearly states that on Aug. 11, he can no longer put waste in the pits. Yet he has been allowed to do so for the past year.

What kind of sense does that make?

None.

In the future, state officials must write stricter orders and not allow so much time to pass before beginning the enforcement process.

The entire issue of sewage and food sludge needs to be addressed by the General Assembly. It’s time to find out why proposed rules have been mired in committee for two years. If the rules are needed, and there’s little doubt that’s the case, then elected leaders need to step up and see that it happens.

Sen. Mark Norris also needs a pat on the back for his involvement in this issue. As an elected leader, he has stepped up to the plate and made sure the issue was placed front and center to those in charge in Nashville. That’s what representing the people is all about.

This ordeal in Tipton County is far from over. There will be lawyers talking to lawyers and everyone knows how that can drag out endlessly.

Yet there are still taxpaying human beings living out there who have to put up with that stench, and as long as that is the case, this matter needs to stay on the front burner of the state of Tennessee, and now the federal government.

It’s bad enough when our environment is put in jeopardy, it’s even worse when it’s our people.