The politics of manure: Sludge makes its way to our kitchen tables

By GottaLaff

This is a hugely important, yet under-reported national environmental story. We are ingesting sludge, and that's no bullsh--, er, manure:

The story first broke in mid-June when tests showed elevated levels of lead in the [Obama's organic] garden. [...] In fact, many urban gardens have levels that exceed the EPA’s limits.

What’s of more danger are the tens of thousands of chemical compounds that are found in treated sludge — including hundreds of different prescription and over-the-counter drugs that we flush down our drains, cleaners and soaps — from home and industrial and processing wastes that use our sewers for disposal. Sludge is the end result of “treating” human and all other wastes entering our sewers, mainly by decomposition during storage, aeration and filtration in order to turn it into material for reintroduction back into the environment.

This year, U.S. farmers will fertilize their lands with 45 million wet tons of processed sludge coming from municipal and county sewage plants across the nation.

Mmm, yummy! Excuse me, can you pass the salt? I don't care for unseasoned sludge.

The sludge is used by farmers for fertilizer on crops that make their way directly or indirectly to our kitchen tables. [...]

But this sludge may not be as safe as we think.

In February 2008 [...] Judge Anthony Alaimo found that the sludge was responsible for killing hundreds of dairy cattle and contaminating the milk supplies in several states. [...]

Among those now wary of using sludge on farms are food suppliers H.J. Heinz and Del Monte, both of which do not accept vegetables grown using sludge as fertilizer. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s cutting-edge National Organic Program doesn’t allow organic farmers to use sludge.

Currently, there is a way to treat sludge that makes it safer for use in many situations. By heating sludge to over 800 degrees Fahrenheit all pathogens and many chemical compounds are rendered inert and the sludge is safe to use in nonfood crops (such as cotton and biofuels), land repair, golf courses and turf applications.

[...] It’s time for policy makers and legislators to take a serious look at the dangers of using sludge on farms.

I'm willing to bet that this story isn't sexy enough to attract much attention. I'll keep an eye on the Sitemeter, but judging from (lack of interest in) past stories like this, I sadly predict that Glenn Blech posts will mean more to readers than those about poisoning our bodies with hazardous waste.

Just sayin'...

H/t: AltaKocker

The ugly Bush stain: Hazardous waste edition

By GottaLaff

Hey kids! Time for your daily dose of sewage! Here's the latest from our Excrement in Chief:

The Environmental Protection Agency issued a new regulation yesterday exempting an estimated 118,500 tons of hazardous waste annually from strict federal incineration controls, and it separately exempted factory farms from a requirement to report hazardous air pollution to the federal government.

Gee, this isn't stressful at all. Deeeeep breath. ::cough! hack! wheeze!:: Never mind.

It allows companies that create hazardous chemical wastes in industrial processes to burn them as fuel in their own incinerators, instead of paying highly regulated incineration firms to destroy them.

Well now, that's forward-thinking. I hope Jenna and Not-Jenna's future kids appreciate the gifts from Grandpa George.

But Ben Dunham, associate legislative counsel for the nonprofit advocacy group Earthjustice, said that "everything about this rulemaking was flawed," including "the logic that says, 'If you can burn it, it's not a hazardous waste.' " He said it would allow firms with poor environmental records "to simply throw their hazardous waste in the company boiler" and burn it without strict monitoring, sometimes in populated areas.

Mmmm, there's nothing like the smell of smoldering toxic waste in the morning.