Friday, June 29, 2001
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Friday, June 29, 2001 |
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Coweta residents: Keep your sludge in Fulton By JOHN
THOMPSON
Coweta residents and one elected official made one point quite clear at a Tuesday night meeting at the Coweta County Fairgrounds: keep your sludge in Fulton County. SCS Environmental Services of Tucker conducted the meeting to explain its intentions for farm land in northern Coweta County. The company wants to take thousands of tons of sludge, which is the by-product of wastewater treatment, and spread it over 900 acres on three farms in Coweta and South Fulton counties. Company President Ed Norfleet said the sludge is rich in nutrients for crops and safe to apply to fields. Company technician Eric Mudd said the sludge is placed on only well-established fields and buffers are established by the state Environmental Protection Division to protect private water sources, such as wells. Mudd said the sludge would come from Fulton County's Big Creek treatment plant in north Fulton County and said the nutrients released by the sludge are time-released to make the crops grow faster and healthier. But County Commissioner Lawrence Nelms, who quietly watched SCS's presentation, asked to read a letter from County Attorney Mitch Powell. In the letter, Powell calls the staging of a public hearing premature on the company's part because county officials were never officially notified of the process. "That renders this public hearing void," said Nelms. Nelms added that there is no zoning category in Coweta County that allows for such dumping, and called the idea "illegal and unconscionable." "There is just no redeeming factor," he said as the crowd of 200 stood and screamed wildly. Perhaps the most poignant anti-sludge voice came from Beverly Thompson. Thompson's family owns a farm in north Fulton County where sludge was used as a fertilizer. Thompson said her 82-year-old father agreed to allow a company to spread the sludge, but quickly found out the downside. "The flies were so thick on our doors, we couldn't even open them," she said. Thompson said the trucks that applied the sludge left large gaping holes in the fields and her father eventually ordered the sludge company off his property. Norfleet said he was not aware of the case and said his company had never been cited for any violations by the EPD. He added that this was only the first stage of public comment and that EPD officials would start taking official comment on the matter starting either July 3 or 4.
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