949.489.7676

949.489.0150 (FAX)

TO: SCAP Member Agencies

FROM: Raymond C. Miller, Executive Director

DATE: January 24, 2005

The following press release was provided by Diane Gilbert, Chair of the SCAP Biosolids Committee.

Legal opinion supports Senator's efforts to protect Kern groundwater from contamination.

BAKERSFIELD - Armed with a legal opinion which contradicts county claims that their hands are tied on the issue, Senator Dean Florez will hold a news conference Friday morning in Bakersfield calling for a ban on the application of sewage sludge to Kern County lands.

Florez held a hearing in December on the application of treated sewage sludge, or biosolids, to Kern County fields - often directly above the groundwater table. The Kern County Water Agency expressed serious reservations about the practice, and many residents are equally concerned. However, county officials have indicated that they do not have the power to ban the practice.

The state's Legislative Counsel has since issued an opinion stating that a county does have the power to ban the application of biosolids within its boundaries to protect the underlying groundwater, and Florez is calling on the County to do just that.

"We can monitor and test for years, but the day the test says the water isn't usable anymore it will be too late to do anything about it," Florez said. "The county needs to be aggressive and proactive if they want to protect our groundwater for the foreseeable future."

Florez will ask the Kern County Board of Supervisors to enact an ordinance banning the application of sewage sludge in the county. Based on the December hearing in Bakersfield, he is also drafting legislation that would address the issue from the state level.

Friday's news conference will be held at 10:00 a.m. in Florez's

Bakersfield district office, located at 1800 30th Street, Suite 350.

www.bakersfield.com/local/story/5232825p-5263383c.html

Florez: No Southland sludge here

Senator and new supervisor throw down the gauntlet, demand county halt imports of sludge

By GRETCHEN WENNER, Californian staff writer
e-mail: gwenner@bakersfield.com

Posted: Friday January 21st, 2005, 11:30 PM
Last Updated: Friday January 21st, 2005, 11:46 PM

If county supervisors don't keep sludge out of Kern, Dean Florez says he'll do it for them.

Florez, the Democratic state senator from Shafter, said Friday he'll introduce Senate Bill 360 to ban imported sludge.

But, he added, he hopes Kern County supervisors will outlaw treated human sewage from the Southland before he does.

At stake is the fate of some 380,000 tons of biosolids trucked into Kern every year from Los Angeles, Orange County, Oxnard and other urban coastal areas. The treated sewage is spread mostly on crop land not used to grow human food.

Some fear the waste could taint Kern's valuable underground water storage basins as well as its reputation for high-quality vegetables, fruits, nuts and other produce.

In his first joint press conference with now-Supervisor Michael Rubio -- Florez's former aide of four years -- Florez highlighted a legal opinion from state attorneys saying county supervisors have the authority to ban sludge imports.

"If the Board of Supervisors so chooses, it could create an ordinance that would ban imports from L.A.," Florez said.

Rubio said he plans to bring forth such an ordinance.

"All we would have to have is one test showing contamination of our water," Rubio said. "The liability would be huge for the county of Kern. I don't want to sit here and let that happen. I won't stand for it."

Rubio said he'll work with county lawyers and refine the proposal at the water resources committee he sits on before bringing an ordinance to the board for a vote.

But board Chairman Ray Watson was unhappy about talk of an outright ban.

That's because he believes the parties are already working out a solution that could be derailed by Florez's aggressive stance.

Currently, Watson said, the Kern County Water Agency is getting responses to its call for alternate places to apply sludge.

"They have some proposals that they feel are viable," Watson said, adding: "Now, what we're doing is starting a fight while we're in the process of negotiating. We've started a war, in effect."

Florez's new bill marks the latest blow of an ongoing battle that pits powerful Southern California agencies against local water, farming and government interests.

Currently, the city of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles County Sanitation District, the Orange County Sanitation District and others are appealing Kern County's existing sludge rules in federal court.

Those rules say only the most treated waste, so-called "Class A" biosolids, can be applied to land here. Supervisors approved the Class A-only rule in the late 1990s.

James Thebeau, the county lawyer who has been handling sludge issues for the past five years or so, said if the plaintiffs win, "the entire ordinance could be set aside and the county could be left without any regulation."

Only federal rules would govern sludge application, he said, meaning lesser quality waste could go on Kern land.

The federal decision could also determine what becomes of some $1.8 million sitting in a county trust fund labeled "Biosolids Impact Fees Trust."

In 1999, supervisors voted to charge $3.37 per ton to sludge applicators. The money was meant to cover road repairs and other direct impacts from the steady stream of trucks making deposits from Southern California.

But the county stopped charging the fee several years ago when the litigation kicked in, said county budget director Jeff Frapwell. The county hasn't spent any money on road repairs, and might have to pay it all back if the federal judge favors the Southern California agencies.

Jim Beck of the Kern County Water Agency spoke generally in favor of Florez's proposed legislation.

"We think it's very helpful for the county to know all of its options for all of its safety measures," Beck said.