Virginia is For Sludgers

The Virginia Gutter Grunt's
Anti- Biosolids Movement Web Log
by Denis O'Brien, PhD

Please e-mail your comments, corrections, invective, leaked EPA and CIA documents, and all of your interesting, frightening, and sexy sludge stories to: denis@Something-stinks.com

If you are looking for Synagro's " Virginia Biosolids Council," try www.VirginiaBiosolids.com

A Public Notice from the Gutter Grunt
For the reasons set forth in Spew #008, and in an attempt to bring resolution to the Great Name Debate, the Gutter Grunt has decided to run up the white flag and concede the "biosolids v. sludge" argument to the sludgers. Henceforth, the policy of this website will be to respectfully refer to sludge as "BS" and to the sludgers as "BS-ers." Nor will preference any longer be given to the term "sludge-wars." Henceforth, I will use the term "Anti-Biosolids Movement" or "A-BM" (A BM, get it?? I mean, ain't this whole mess just turning out to be a giant BM?)

Here's a table tracking sludge bills before in the Va. legislature in the 2007 session. Links to the full text and amendments of the bills that have passed both houses are provided.

January - March, 2007

Spew #	Post
[011]	February 26, 2007 2007 -- This Actually Is the Year We Turn This Thing Around! In last month's Spew I pondered the perennial question we've been pondering every legislative session for years -- Is this the year we turn this thing around? Finally, the cosmos sends back the answer I've be waiting for: "Yeah, dude, maybe it is." It finally looks like the A-BM (Anti-Biosolids Movement) is getting some traction in the Va. legislature. For years we've felt like we've been getting screwed by the pols and the BS lobby. For years we've been awed at the total disregard the VDH and the legislature have shown for human health and welfare over this BS issue -- a disregard that was totally inexplicable but for the hypothesis that money was changing hands where it shouldn't be. For years the A-BM has not been able to gain any traction, except in some of the local newspapers. Well, this year, by God, five bills with a distinctly anti-BS bouquet have landed on Governor Kaine's desk. These are not insignificant bills. HB 2802 completely re-writes the Va BS statutes by repealing Sections 32.1-164.2 to 32.1-164.7 -- the VDH authorization to control BS land application. If Tim signs this bill, Dept. Environmental Quality will run the BS show. It also requires DEQ to re-write of the VDH BS regulations -- including, new procedures for amending permits to sludge more acreage. This alone could be a very significant step. Once we see how Tim handles all this BS legislation we will know a lot more about him and his concern for Virginians' health and welfare. At that point I will make an effort to wade through the new legislation and connect some of the dots. Correct me if I'm wrong (denis@something-stinks.com) but this is the most optimistic legislative outcome the Virginia A-BM has seen.
[010]	January 24, 2007 2007 -- The Year We Turn This Thing Around? Houston, we still have a problem. "2006 -- The Year We Turn This Thing Around?" was the heading for Spew #8, March, 2006. OK, wasn't even close. But 2007 looks much brighter. Well, not much brighter, but brighter. All these bills look so promising at the beginning of the session each year. They'll probably be belly-up by March. There are about a dozen House and Senate bills out of the gate, any one of which would significantly reign in the BS-ers. I can see no pro-BS bills on the menu. The BS lobbyists aren't getting the job done in terms of protective legislation. Either they are too busy stamping out the anti-BS bills or they are afraid of fanning the flatulent fires of public outrage if they try to introduce more legislation pushing this stuff down our throats. Incidentally, in the spirit of full public disclosure, the Virginia Gutter Grunt is no longer in Virginia. I am now an just-over-the-fence immigrant of Canada. Vancouver, BC to be precise. That doesn't mean I'm not still in the fight. It just means I can't smell the fight from here. After all, Maureen has been leading the A-BM on both sides of the border for years, and she's a Canuck. I will be tracking the BS legislation through the Virginia legislative session. So check here and watch the bills drop in committee like they do every year. I might be willing to book your bets on which one lasts the longest. The anti-BS stars are the pretty much the same this year: Byron, Newman, Abbitt. I believe Putney and Hogan have been in their in years past, too. Cline is somewhat conspicuous in his absence relative to his modest showing last year. He does have a bill trying to get some more $$ out of the BSers when they add acreage to a permit. Stay tuned. My email is not exactly ringing off the wall: denis@something-stinks.com