Legislators change opinion of sludge bill

Legislators change opinion of sludge bill

Updated 04/06/05
BAKERSFIELD - From the dumping ground to the board room, Kern County’s messy sludge situation has become a political hot button, and some local legislators are doing an about face when it comes to a solution.

The most recent surprise came Tuesday at the Kern County Board of Supervisors meeting, where Supervisor Don Maben made a motion directing county staff to come up with a proposed ordinance to ban biosolids in Kern County all together.

The move came after Maben initially expressed reservations about banning biosolids.

“We were always afraid, if we took some action here, it would affect our lawsuit going on with the generators and applicators,” said Maben.

Both Maben and Supervisor Ray Watson said last week’s court ruling requiring that Kern County do an environmental impact report on Class B sludge, opened the door to ultimately do the right thing.

“I figured this is an opportunity to test the waters and see if the board will support at least having County Counsel draft up the ordinance, and they did,” said Maben.

Watson agreed.

“When the county or any type of local government acts on these kind of issues, they have to do it on the basis of scientific information,” said Watson.

Watson said in addition to Friday’s court ruling, having the support of Sen. Dean Florez impacted his decision.

“This is a battle Kern County has been fighting by itself now for quite a number of years,” said Watson. “We've spent thousands of hours of our staff time and legal time and a million dollars in fees and cost to get to where we are now.”

The Florez factor is also swaying city council member Zach Scrivner, who was the only vote of opposition against banning biosolids at last week’s meeting.

“Four days later, as I was thinking, we have a bill that is completely different and now it's time to take a look and see what this one does,” said Scrivner.

Now local legislators are on board to ban biosolids from being dumped in Kern County, some state legislators have yet to form a position.

Assembly member Nicole Parra said this is a complex issue, and she is still looking at all the ramifications, including the economic impact it may have on the Central Valley, so she hasn’t developed a position.

Assembly leader Kevin McCarthy said he supports Florez’s bill to protect Kern County from the importation of sludge from other counties. He also said he looks forward to working with Florez to advance the bill through the legislature.

Watson said some lawmakers like Congressman Bill Thomas, may be reluctant to get involved because they know it will be hard to get a law passed and make it stick in court.

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