Sludge Newsroom and Press Releases
News
Trade Group Offers Free Sewage Sludge "Compost" to Community Gardens in "Million Tomato Campaign" for Food Banks, Rebehah Wilce, PR Watch, May 9, 2013 http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/05/12103/trade-group-offers-free-sewage-sludge-compost-community-gardens-million-tomato-ca
David Suzuki Foundation won’t support Lystek operation, February 1, 2012 http://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3455927
3M Turns Tables on Met Council in Mississippi River Pollution Lawsuit, Bob Shaw, TwinCities.com, January 11, 2012 http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_19712051
Is Your Organic Compost Really Sewage Sludge? Josh Harkinson, Mother Jones, April 27, 2011 http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2011/04/your-organic-compost-really-sewage-sludge-rosario-dawson-kellogg-amend
Sewage Sludge, Celebrities, and School Gardens. Mitch Anderson, SFGate, April 25, 2011 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/manderson/detail?entry_id=87667
You Tube: BioCycle Sludge is Good for You. April 12, 2011 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aopqiu2oZPo
Would You Like A Bit of Heavy Metal With That? Toby Wollin, Firedoglake, April 12, 2011 http://my.firedoglake.com/tobywollin/2011/04/12/would-you-like-a-bit-of-heavy-metal-with-that/
Response to Sludge Proponent Sally Brown's False and Defamatory Charge Calling Food Rights Network "Ecoterrorists", April 12, 2011 http://people.tribe.net/phoenix_fire_nectar/blog/c2609ac0-56f7-4ab1-b2ff-73992d14eae2
Food Chain Breach: Radioactive Sludge Used for Fertilizer on Farms. Stuart Smith, April 12, 2011 http://www.stuarthsmith.com/food-chain-breach-radioactive-sludge-used-for-fertilizer-on-farms
Sludge not 'suitable' for worms. Matthew Haggart, Otago Times, March 26, 2011 www.odt.co.nz/your-town/wanaka/153419/sludge-not-suitable-worms
Anti-Sludge Ordinance Begins Immediately. Bakersfield News, January 18, 2011 www.turnto23.com/news/26530219/detail.html
Sludge Suit Sent to Pasture - For Now. James Burger and Gretchen Wenner, Bakersfield.com, November 9, 2010 www.bakersfield.com/news/local/x1003411012/Judge-dismisses-sludge-suit
Chemicals survive waste treatment to be rleased into the environment: study, Bob Weber, Winnipeg Free Press, October 14, 2010 www.winnipegfreepress.com/life/sci_tech/chemicals-survive-waste-treatment-to-be-released-into-environment-study-104965919.html
Test results of city sludge don't satisfy critics, Alison Hawkes, SF Public Press/Way Out West, August 18, 2010 http://sfpublicpress.org/news/2010-08/test-results-of-city-sludge-dont-satisfy-critics
Study Finds Contaminants in SF Free Compost, CBS5 (San Francisco), August 10, 2010 http://cbs5.com/local/compost.sewage.sludge.2.1853531.html
Anti-sewage compost crusader to speak at City Hall, John Upton, San Francsico Examiner, August 8, 2010 http://www.sfexaminer.com/topics/tags/?keywords=%20John%20Stauber
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission Fails to Provide Comprehensive Testing of Sewage Sludge Compost, the Center for Food Safety, August 5, 2010 http://truefoodnow.org/2010/08/05/san-francisco-public-utilities-commission-fails-to-provide-comprehensive-testing-of-sewage-sludge-compost/
CIENT adds new international nano-safety initiative, Duke Engineering News, Richard Merritt, July 28, 2010, research on nanoparticles in sewage sludge, http://prattpress.pratt.duke.edu/duke_ceint_tine
Sludge, a free fertilizer for farmers, can pose health and environmental risks. Rebekah L. Cowell, IndyWeek.com, July 28, 2010 http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/a-free-fertilizer-for-farmers-sludge-can-pose-health-and-environmental-risks/Content?oid=1562962&showFullText=true
City's compost passes test, San Francisco Examiner, John Upton, July 28, 2010 (Note: Kellogg Nitrohumus is a sludge-derived fertilizer.) http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/Citys-compost-passes-tests-99444054.html
Woman's complaint sparks probe into compost containing sewage sludge, Carroll County Times, Carrie Ann Knauer, July 21, 2010 http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/news/local/article_bfa1a938-9541-11df-99e9-001cc4c03286.html
Chez Sludge: How the Sewage Industry Bedded Alice Waters. John Stauber, Center for Media and Democracy, July 9, 2010 http://www.prwatch.org/Chez+Sludge
Some "compost" sold at garden centers or other outlets is downright nasty for your garden. Leah Zerbe, June 16, 2010, Rodale.com http://www.rodale.com/buying-compost
City of LA, Kern County Battle Over Human Waste Disposal, Louis Sahagun, June 7, 2010, LA Times latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2010/06/city-of-la-kern-county-at-loggerheads-over-human-waste-disposal.html
Kern wins again as U.S. Supreme Court refuses to hear sludge case, James Burger, June 1, 2010, Bakersfield.com www.bakersfield.com/news/local/x1008890272/Kern-wins-again-as-U-S-Supreme-Court-refuses-to-hear-sludge-case
Oh Alice, Don't Let Them Do This to You, Jill Richardson, La Vida Locavore, April 12, 2010 http://www.lavidalocavore.org/diary/3495/oh-alice-dont-let-them-do-this-to-you
What San Francisco Found in Their Own Sludge, Jill Richardson, La Vida Locavore, April 8, 2010 http://lavidalocavore.org/diary/3480/what-san-francisco-found-in-their-own-sludge
Counties ask high court to rule on Kern County's human waste ban, Louis Sahagun, LA Times, March 18, 2010 articles.latimes.com/2010/mar/18/local/la-me-sludge18-2010mar18
Shit show: What has the SFPUC has been dumping in city gardens? Brady Welch, San Francisco Bay Guardian, March 23, 2010 http://www.sfbg.com/2010/03/
San Francisco Gives Away Organic Toxic Sludge. Ian Fortely, March 9, 2010, Asylum. http://www.asylum.com/2010/03/09/san-francisco-gives-away-organic-toxic-sludge/
Protesters rally against sewage sludge. Tom Joyce, York Daily Record, March 9, 2010 http://www.ydr.com/ci_14641694?source=email
Organic food advocates protest San Francisco's giveaways of compost to community gardeners. Evelyn Nieves, Associated Press, LA Times, March 5, 2010 http://www.latimes.com/business/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-us-food-and-farm-sludge-compost,0,1912385.story
The City's free compost causes stink. John Upton, San Francisco Examiner, March 5, 2010 http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/The-Citys-free-compost-causes-stink-86494692.html
Claim: San Francisco Giving Gardeners Toxic Sludge. Evelyn Nieves, Associated Press, Boston Globe, March 5, 2010 http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2010/03
/05/claim_san_francisco_giving_gardeners_toxic_sludge_1267776881/
Claim: San Francisco Giving Gardeners Toxic Sludge. Evelyn Nieves, Associated Press, New York Times, March 5, 2010 http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/03/05/us/AP-US-Farm-Scene-Sludge-Compost.html?ref=global-home
Outrage in San Francisco: City Gives Residents 'Organic' Compost Containing Toxic Sewage Sludge. Jill Richardson, Alternet, March 4, 2010 http://www.alternet.org/food/145904/outrage_in_san_francisco:_city_gives_away_%27organic%27_compost_to_residents_containing_toxic_sewage_sludge
A Backlash After San Francisco Labels Sewage Sludge "Organic". Josh Harkinson, Mother Jones, March 4, 2010 http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2010/03/backlash-after-san-francisco-labels-sewage-sludge-organic
What SF calls compost, activists call 'toxic sludge'. Carolyn Tyler, San Francisco News, March 4, 2010 http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/san_francisco&id=7312710
Photo Gallery: Activists Praise Poop, Deliver Dirt to Mayor's Office. SF Appeal, March 4, 2010 http://sfappeal.com/news/2010/03/toxic-avengers-take-over-city-hall.php
San Francisco's Channel 5 television's investigative reporter Anna Werner looks at the City's toxic sludge giveaway program, March 3, 2010 http://cbs5.com/video/?id=
Concern over SF 'compost' made from sewage sludge. Anna Werner, CBS 5, March 4, 2010 http://cbs5.com/investigates/
There's a reason towns ban sludge spreading. Charlie Reid, Foster's Daily Democrat, February 21, 2010 http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100221/GJOPINION_0102/702219961/-1/FOSOPINION
Belmont, New Hampshire, puts the banning of sludge on town warrant. Harrison Haas, Laconia Citizen, January 12, 2010 www.citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article
Fed to test 200 for DU toxic waste. Eric Fleishauer, The Decatur Daily (Alabama), December 2, 2009 www.individual.com/story.php
Free Compost -- Or Toxic Sludge? Barry Estabrook, Atlantic Monthly Food Blog, December 1, 2009 http://food.theatlantic.com/sustainability/free-compost-or-toxic-sludge.php
Nonprofit calls PUC's compost toxic sludge. Heather Knight, San Francisco Chronicle, September 27, 2009 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/27/BAAK19SC1J.DTL
Did Sewage Sludge Lace the White House Veggie Garden With Lead? Josh Harkinson, Mother Jones, June 17, 2009 http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2009/06/did-sludge-lace-obamas-veggie-garden-lead
Farmers perplexed over free fertilizer’s health issues. Laura Bauer, Donald Bradley and Karen Dillon, Kansas City Star, April 24, 2009 http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/1161259.html
Lawsuit Links Chemical To Cameron Tumors
Brockovich Report Says Hexavalent Chromium Used As Fertilizer, KMBC-TV, April 23, 2009
http://www.kmbc.com/health/
Biosolids concerns bubble to surface
Neighbors say sewage sludge spread on fields may be making them sick, Chapel Hill News, April 19, 2009, Mark Schultz
http://www.chapelhillnews.com/
Sewage sludge stinks, but is it dangerous? Editorial, Mobile Press Register, September 19, 2008 http://www.al.com/press-register/stories/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1221815714203500.xml&coll=3
Is sewage sludge, Angelos’s next asbestos? Mike Silvestri, Baltimore Examiner, September 14, 2008 http://www.baltimoreexaminer.com/local/28371349.html
Inspections are up, but is sludge safe? Tests for 9 metals done before shipments
The farm fertilizer contains traces of toxic chemicals, studies find, Patrick Lynch, Daily Press, September 15, 2008 http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-local_biosolids_0915sep15,0,6370869.story
Group to Sue EPA Over Sewage Sludge, Jasmin Melvin, Reuters, September 12, 2008 http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSN1129244020080912
Sludge Sprayed on Grand Bay Fields Contains Pollutants, Ben Raines, Mobile Press-Register, September 12, 2008 http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/news/122121096453570.xml&coll=3
Senate Cancels Hearing on Georgia Sludge Findings, Ben Evans, Associated Press, September 12, 2008 http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/091208/new_331223038.shtml
Mobile Sludge Fight Has National Attention, Ben Raines, Mobile Press-Register, September 11, 2008 http://www.al.com/news/press-register/index.ssf?/base/news/122112452267510.xml&coll=3
Congress to Address Dumping of Sewage Sludge, Jasmin Melvin, Reuters, September 10, 2008 http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSN1046986420080910?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Group Seeks Community Input for National Sludge Fight, Stacey Shepard, The Bakersfield Californian, September 8, 2008 http://www.bakersfield.com/102/story/546645.html
Shrewsbury Township passes sludge ordinance, September 4, 2008, Sara Miller, The York Dispatch http://yorkdispatch.inyork.com/yd/local/ci_10379515
Grand Bay residents upset that farmland is fertilized with processed sewage, August 31, 2008, Ben Raines, Mobile Press-Register, Alabama http://www.al.com/news/press-register/index.ssf?/base/news/122017426793080.xml&coll=3&thispage=1
Reports that sludge from sewage plants is routinely used to fertilise edible crops have caused outrage. Is this simply a prudent use of so-called 'biosolids' or a grave threat to our health? August 29, 2008, Rose George, The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/29/waste.recycling
Ex-EPA scientist fights agency over sewage sludge, Greg Bluestein, Associated Press, August 9, 2008 http://www.examiner.com/a-1528960~Ex_EPA_scientist_fights_agency_over_sewage_sludge.html
Biosolids a ‘disaster in waiting’
Carola Vyhnak, The Independent, July 17, 2008
http://www.eastnorthumberland.com/article.php?id=2239
The Synagro Sludge Deal
Federal grand jury probes possible payoffs in Synagro sludge deal
Detroit Free Press, Zachary Gorchow, July 17, 2008
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080717/NEWS01/80717048/0/NEWS05
Prions can survive sewage treatment, UW-Madison study says, Journal Sentinal,
By Elie Dolgin, July 13, 2008
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=771549
Soiled Land (four part series in the Toronto Star)
Part I. Is sewage fertilizer safe?
Worries grow over 'stew' of chemicals spread on farmland
Carola Vyhnak, The Toronto Star, July 12, 2008
http://www.thestar.com/Article/459085
Part II. Farmers split over safety
Carola Vyhnak, The Toronto Star, July 13, 2008
http://www.thestar.com/News/Ontario/article/459345
They started to become ill when a farmer spread sludge on his fields, then their wells became contaminated, Carola Vyhnak, The Toronto Star, July 13, 2008
http://www.thestar.com/News/Ontario/article/459344
Oakville family files suit over treated sewage lagoon near their home
Carola Vyhnak, The Toronto Star, July 13, 2008
http://www.thestar.com/News/Ontario/article/459349
Part III. When sludge disposal rules are broken
Carola Vyhnak, The Toronto Star, July 14, 2008
http://healthzone.ca/health/article/459606
Federal workplace safety agency recognizes sewage sludge disease
Carola Vyhnak, The Toronto Star, July 14, 2008
http://healthzone.ca/health/article/459607
Part IV. Food firms shun sludge use,
Carola Vyhnak, The Toronto Star, July 15, 2008
http://www.thestar.com/article/460264
Piling It High May 21, 2008, by Joel Bliefuss, In These Times
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3688/piling_it_high/
"No one knows what makes up sewage sludge," May 11, 2008, by Kevin S. Vineys, Associated Press
http://www.timesargus.com
NAACP officials continue probe into sludge study, Mike Silvestri, Baltimore Examiner, June 30, 2008
http://www.examiner.com/a-1465300~NAACP_officials_continue_probe_into_sludge_study.html
Critics Cry Racism over Baltimore Sludge, NPR, April 28, 2008
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89990910
NAACP questions sludge study methods, Dennis O’Brien, Baltimore Sun, April 23, 2008
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/africa/bal-te.md.sludge23apr23,1,7753105.story
NAACP seeks probe into sludge spreading in black communities, Mike Silvestri, Baltimore Examiner, April 16, 2008
http://www.examiner.com
"Sludge Tested As Lead-Poisoning Fix," April 14, 2008, John Heilprin and Kevin S. Vineys (AP)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,351181,00.html
Senate Plans Hearing on Sludge, By John Heilprin, Associated Press Writer, Monday, April 14, 2008
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/04/13/national/a085606D42.DTL
Probes wanted on sludge research in poor neighborhoods. Sun Apr 13, 2008, John Heilprin, Associated Press
http://www.newsvine.com
Sludge fertilizer program spurs concerns, April 13, 2008, By John Heilprin and Kevin S. Vineys, Associated Press Writers
http://www.usatoday.com/money/topstories/2008-04-13-829024426_x.htm
"National policy brought sludge to Augusta farms: Ruling for farmer disputes government data," March 9, 2008, Associated Press
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/030908/met_190330.shtml
"Sewage-Based Fertilizer Safety Doubted," March 7, 2008, by John Heilprin and Kevin S. Vineys, Associated Press
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/07/7533
Kern County Measure E was approved with a landslide of 85,011 votes in favor to
17,117 votes against, or 83.24% to 16.76%. It is sometimes called "the
anti-sludge ordinance", since it bans the importation into Kern County
of sludge (sewage) from other counties. http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/