ENVIRONMENTAL LEGAL BLOGS

KERN COUNTY SLUDGE BAN SUFFERS ANOTHER DEFEAT

  From yesterday's The Bakersfield Californian  (free registration required):

Kern County's sludge ban suffered another blow Wednesday from U.S. District Court Judge Gary Feess of Los Angeles.

Last week, Feess issued a tentative ruling that stopped Kern County from enforcing the sludge ban while Kern fought off a legal assault from the city of Los Angeles, Orange County and the businesses that haul and farm sludge for them.

Feess said in court that the Kern ban, enacted as Measure E by local voters on June 6, violated state recycling laws.

On Wednesday, Feess issued a formal ruling that upheld those two previous decisions.

SLUDGE BAN ABOUT TO PASS IN KERN COUNTY

     Yesterday's LA Times reports that Kern County voters are about to pass an initiative banning the landfilling of processed human waste.

     Apparently, Los Angeles County and other jurisdictions around California send a lot of processed human waste to Kern County; and health and aesthetic concerns have reached the boiling point.  In the event the land-ban (Measure E, also known as "Keep Kern Clean") passes, jurisdictions dumping the waste may have to go as far as Arizona to find a receptive landfill.  For the City of Los Angeles, according to the article, this change will increase dumping costs from $7 million annually instead to possibly $21 million annually.

     Opponents of Measure E also point out that the landfilling pumps $8 million annually into Kern County wages and purchases.  Nonetheless, per the Times, Measure E is certain to pass.