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A small victory in sludge battle

CALIFORNIAN FILE PHOTOA truck enters Los Angeles' Green Acres Farm near the intersection of Interstate 5 and Highway 119 to dump its load of Southern California sludge.

Batch Data Processor | Wednesday, Oct 31 2007 8:55 PM

Last Updated: Wednesday, Oct 31 2007 9:01 PM

Good catch, federal Judge Gary Feess. If you want the tab paid, itemize your bill.

It's a minor victory in a bigger war over Southern California's dumping of its sludge on Kern County. But for the moment, we will savor it.

And call it poetic justice in a legal war that has seen Kern County outgunned by the fat wallets of Los Angeles and Orange County.

Sick of gagging on the fumes and dust, and worrying about groundwater pollution from millions of tons of Southern California sludge being hauled to Kern County and smeared onto farmland, Kern County voters overwhelmingly passed Measure E in 2006.

But the measure, which banned spreading onto Kern County farmland human and industrial waste scooped from Southern California sewer plants, was overturned this summer by Judge Feess, who ruled it violated federal commerce laws and state recycling rules. Kern County is appealing the decision.

Despite Measure E's passage, Southern California's crap has continued to flow into Kern County. The measure was placed on hold until legal challenges were resolved.

Meanwhile, the private farming and sludge-hauling companies that sued the county to block Measure E asked Judge Feess to order Kern County to pay them $1.77 million to cover their legal fees so far.

But Los Angeles and Orange County the companies' smelly sugar daddies already had promised to pay their legal fees.

Not so fast, Judge Feess last week told the companies, including Responsible Biosolids Management, farmer Shaen Magan and Sierra Transport Inc. Prove what you say Kern County owes you. Produce your bills.

While payment of the legal fees is a moot point, because Kern County is appealing Feess' decision to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and possibly the U.S. Supreme Court, at least the ruling shows the judge is paying some attention.

And despite the mounting legal costs, it's still cheaper for Los Angeles and Orange County to stall Measure E and its sludge-smearing ban. It's still cheaper to haul the smelly, polluting mess to Kern County, rather than develop cleanup and disposal systems closer to "home."

It was once cheaper for Southern California sanitation districts to simply slide this sewer waste into the ocean. But ordered by the federal government to stop, the next best thing was to haul it to the closest rural neighbor.