Sludge farm still on radar screens

By Greg Little, Managing Editor, The Covington Leader Online
January 26, 2005

State officials continue weekly monitoring of a sludge dumping site in Tipton County.

Additionally, officials say the city of Covington is considering changing the way it handles sludge waste and how it is hauled from the sewage plant.

David Owenby of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) also said Monday the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency “has a batch of related reports” about the Detroit Road site in northwest Tipton County operated by Add-Van Farms.

Many issues have been swirling around the site for several years, including violation orders issued by TDEC requiring owner Van Bringle to change the way the sludge is handled by his company.

One issue which seems to have been handled is the handling of food-waste sludge.

Owenby said though Add-Van Farms does have an approved operation plan for the industrial waste products, currently the company is not hauling any of the waste.

“There is no current activity nor future plans for industrial waste sludge to be handled at Add-Van Farms,” said Owenby.

He said in July of last year, the department received an application from Bringle to handle waste from Rich’s Products in Arlington. The land application “has been approved” and is available for review in the Nashville and Memphis offices, said Owenby.

However, he said “to the knowledge” of TDEC officials, Rich’s Products “is not shipping industrial waste sludges to Add-Van Farms,” which means the land application plan has not been implemented.

Meanwhile, Owenby also said an amendment to the land application was submitted to include Slim-Fast Foods facility in Covington.

Owenby said in October of last year, the department issued a notice of deficiency to Bringle, “requesting further characterization of Slim-Fast industrial waste sludges.”

Owenby also pointed out that Slim-Fast is currently under contract with Terra Renewal Services of Arkansas for handling of both Rich’s Products and Slim-Fast waste.

“There is not plan for these industrial waste sludges to return to Add-Van Farms for handling,” said Owenby.

Slim-Fast officials have said for the past several months they are implementing their own solid waste facility and are using the Arkansas firm to handle waste which cannot be handled by their plant.

Municipal waste

Regarding the municipal waste which is hauled to the site, Owenby said plans submitted by the cities of Covington and Bartlett have yet to be approved.

Owenby said state officials “now anticipate a revision may be necessary” in Covington’s plan. He said they anticipate “some pending improvements in the way their waste product will be disposed at the site.”

He said Covington officials are “considering a change from liquid sludge to semi-solid filter cake, like the way Bartlett handles the material.”

What that means is the municipal sludge is placed in a press and some of the liquid is squeezed out of the sludge. It is then hauled in a “cake” form and can be placed on the ground to dry. About 70,000 gallons of liquid sludge are produced daily at the Covington plant, according to EPA officials.

Covington city officials recently said it would cost about $1 million to purchase the sludge press and would also be a salary increase to have a person to run the equipment on a full-time basis.

Federal inspection

Another aspect of the Add-Van Farms site is an EPA inspection which took place in November.

Since that time, EPA officials have yet to release a formal report about the inspection. Inspector Michael Hom of the EPA Region IV office in Atlanta said recently “the lawyers” were reviewing the inspection report and it could not be released until they were done.

Owenby said state officials “have spoken with” EPA inspectors recently.

“EPA has a batch of related inspection reports resulting from their recent field work,” said Owenby. “EPA is continuing to work through its internal analysis regarding these inspection reports.”

However, he also said it is the state’s understanding the sludge may not be the central factor in the EPA report.

“Looking specifically at Add-Van Farms, EPA appears to be paying closer attention to the on-site detention ponds, not the sludge,” said Owenby.

Owenby also said the state “continues weekly inspections” at the Tipton County site. However, he said the inspections focus on the solid-waste issues and areas. He said “no activities” regulated by solid-waste officials have been detected since the closure of the on-site lagoons which was required as part of the settlement agreement with the state.

There was also a possible $100,000 fine which could be levied against the company for environmental violations at the site.

Owenby said the department’s enforcement section and Office of General Counsel “is in the process of making a final determination” about the possible fine.

He did say Add-Van Farms “met the final lagoon closure deadlines of the settlement agreement.”

No quit

For the people who live in the area, they continue to hope the situation will improve.

“It still smells on warm days,” said resident Helen Richardson, who also said she will “not quit” in fighting the sludge situation.

Richardson also said she intends to lobby Sen. Mark Norris (R-Collierville) in hopes of getting the state rules about sludge changed.

Norris has been involved in the local sludge issue and organized a meeting in Gilt Edge last October. Norris also contacted EPA officials, which led to the inspection.

Norris did say recently he will continue to work with the residents of the area regarding the sludge issue.

EPA officials said recently they anticipate their inspection report to be released soon.

California ban?

In a sludge-related matter developing in California, one state senator is asking county officials to outlaw the importing of sludge.

According to the Jan. 21 issue of The Bakersfield Californian, Sen. Dean Florez told Kern County supervisors if they don’t outlaw importation of sludge, he’ll introduce a bill in the State Senate which would impose a ban.

In that county, about 380,000 tons of biosolids are imported annually from Los Angeles, Orange County and Oxnard.

The senator, in a press conference, said the state’s attorney general has ruled counties have the legal right to ban sludge imports.