Maricopa votes against sludge

Maricopa votes against sludge

By Doug Keeler, Midway Driller City Editor
Maricopa added its voice to a chorus of cities protesting the dumping of Southern California sewage sludge in Kern County.

The Maricopa Council unanimously passed a resolution supporting State Sen. Dean Florez' bill to ban the transportation of biosolids across state lines.

Mayor Virgil Bell said Southern California shouldn't use Kern County as a dumping ground.

"They ought to deal with their own sludge and let Kern County take care of Kern County," mayor Virgil Bell said.

"It's a health hazard, a hazard to our water bank and a hazard to our way of life,' said Rudy Salas Jr.

The resolution wasn't only sending a message to Sacramento - it was going to the board of supervisors.

"With the support of Maricopa and the support of the other cities, we can go back to the board of supervisors and say 99 percent of the cities in Kern County oppose this," Salas said.

Bell said if the topic comes up again, he would take time off work and speak to the supervisors himself.

Maricopa joined Taft and many other Kern County cities in supporting SB926, which was introduced in the legislature by Florez in February.

Salas said 37 percent of the biosolids produced in the state are dumped in Kern County.

The county only produces 2 percent of the state total.

An estimated 500,000 tons of sludge is brought into the county each year.

The controversy over sludge dumping in the county heated up earlier this year when plans for a compositing facility to be built east of Taft, which were actually approved more than two years ago, triggered a protest before the board of supervisors.

A delegation from Taft, joined by representatives of other cities, successfully convinced the board of supervisors to reject a request by Synagro to use tax free municipal bonds to finance construction of the composting plant on South lake Road.

But Synagro officials plan to go ahead and build the plant.

Construction is scheduled to start in May.

Maricopa City Administrator Tom Davis suggested taxiing all the biosolids being bought into the county.

"This could be a source of replacement revenue for what the state takes away," Davis said. "I think Los Angeles and Orange County would be willing to pay a lot of money to have us take their waste," he said.

But Bell was against even that proposal.

"We wouldn't want that kind of money. We want our health," the mayor said.

Bell said he was concerned not only about the sludge, but the added air pollution from all the trucks that bring the sludge into the county.

http://www.taftmidwaydriller.com/articles/2005/03/25/news/news02.txt