Commissioners delay biosolids vote

Wahkiakum County commissioners delayed action of a proposed ordinance to regulate application of biosolids in the county and took a variety of input at their meeting Tuesday.

Commissioners said last week after a public hearing on the proposed biosolids ordinance that they wanted to approve the ordinance this week, but they changed their minds Tuesday.

Biosolids, treated human sewage, are regulated by the state Department of Ecology. A Seaview sanitation company has applied for a DOE permit to dispose of septage on Grays River farmland.

The proposed ordinance would regulate how close the different classes of biosolids could be applied near bodies of water.

Tuesday, commission Chair Blair Brady told an audience of 15-20 people that commissioners and Prosecuting Attorney Dan Bigelow agreed that some revision of the wording was needed for the proposed ordinance.

"There are some discrepancies in the ordinance," Brady said, "and he recommended we postpone it till next week."

"We need some clarification on some issues and we haven't had a chance to discuss them," said Commissioner Dan Cothren, "but we need to get going."

Commissioner Lisa Marsyla said she had talked with DOE personnel and learned that the agency is very close to acting on the permit application. The agency will release its response to the public comments it has received when it announces its action on the permit, she said.

She added that under the ordinance, as written, there would be lots of places in the Grays River Valley where biosolids could be applied.

She also said she has asked State Rep. Brian Blake to look into legislation that would give counties more control over application of biosolids.

Rosburg resident Cindy Lahti suggested Marsyla recuse herself from voting on the ordinance. She noted Marsyla had missed a community meeting in Rosburg with the DOE on the permit application, so she wasn't as informed as she should be.

Marsyla responded that she had been on a previously scheduled trip when the meeting occurred but that she had done plenty of research since then and attended many subsequent meetings.

Lahti also commented that the commission needs to be careful about relying on information from the DOE. She said she had emailed the commissioners information that shows the true danger of biosolids.

"I'm not looking at the just now," she said, "but at the future. There are solutions. The problem is just going to get worse.

"We cannot afford to pollute."