Ecology sues county over biosolids ordinance

The State Department of Ecology filed suit this week in Cowlitz County Superior Court to overturn Wahkiakum County's new ordinance regulating biosolids.

The suit claims the county's ordinance conflicts with state law.

"The ordinance there prohibits an activity allowed by state law when conducted pursuant to a valid state permit," the suit says. "Because it forbids what state law permits, it is in violation of article 11, section 11, of the state constitution."

Ecology requests that the section banning application of Class B biosolids or septage be stricken and that the court enjoin the county from enacting or enforcing any ordinance seeking to prohibit the application of biosolids in the county.

The ordinance allowed the application of Class A biosolids, which have the most treatment, but prohibited the application of Class B and septage biosolids, which have less treatment.

Commissioners adopted it in a 2-1 vote after Grays River Valley residents opposed a permit given to a Long Beach firm to spread septage on Phil and Sulema Zerr's farm near Grays River. Opponents fear that pathogens or chemicals in the septage could leach into the water table, or be carried off in floods and contaminate other land. Some also fear that wildlife will ingest pathogens and become ill.

"We do allow application of Class A," Commissioner Dan Cothren commented Tuesday. "We are just going to restrict it. It's not a total ban."

Commissioner Blair Brady agreed.

"We are not banning biosolids," he said. "We are requesting higher safety standards than the state requires. That's the whole issue."

In 1992, the legislature passed laws to establish a program to manage municipal sewage sludge to the maximum extent possible to ensure that the sludge is reused as a beneficial commodity and in a manner that minimizes risk to public health and the environment.

Ecology developed the rules and manages the program, and the department claims control over permitting and management.

"The department may delegate to a local health department the powers necessary to issue and enforce permits to use or dispose of biosolids," the suit says, citing a statute. "A delegation may be withdrawn if the department finds that a local health department is not effectively administering the program."

Thus, the suit says, the county ordinance undermines the implementation of the statutorily required permit program for biosolids management.