For more information, contact:
Melissa Powers, Western Environmental Law Center
(541) 485-2471
Patty Martin, Safe Food and Fertilizer (509)
679-8711
Farm, consumer, and environmental health groups
today filed a lawsuit
to overturn an Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) rule allowing
hazardous wastes to be used in fertilizers. Under
the rule, toxic heavy
metals, including lead, arsenic, mercury, and
cadmium may be recycled
into zinc-based fertilizers. The hazardous
waste-derived fertilizers
would not be labeled and may be applied to farm
lands and home gardens
without further restrictions. While industries
have long been
disposing of their hazardous wastes through
fertilizers, the practice
was not officially authorized until this rule.
Many of the heavy metals that will be recycled
into fertilizers are
highly toxic substances. Lead has been known to
cause behavioral
problems, learning disabilities, seizures, and
even death. Mercury may
also cause neurological abnormalities, including
cerebral palsy in
children and severe deformations in animals.
Arsenic and cadmium may
damage internal organs, skin, and nerve function.
The rule would allow
these heavy metals to be applied to farms and
gardens in concentrations
that exceed the limits set for disposal of the
hazardous wastes in lined
and monitored landfills.
"The government's own studies show that,
over the past few years, heavy
metal levels in children's diets have
risen," said Patty Martin, a
former mayor of Quincy, Washington, and the
founder of Safe Food and
Fertilizer. "Rather than take steps to
reduce the toxic burden on
children, however, the EPA is illegally
authorizing a practice that will
put our children at even greater risk from
exposure to lead, arsenic,
and other toxic heavy metals."
Groups are concerned that farmers and consumers
could unknowingly buy
and use hazardous waste-derived fertilizers,
because the fertilizers
will not be labeled. Once applied, heavy metals
in the fertilizers
could migrate through the soil, run off into
streams, and leach into
waterways, affecting neighboring lands. "In
Oregon alone, over 1.6
billion pounds of fertilizers are used each
year," said David Monk with
the Oregon Toxics Alliance. "On a national
level, the cumulative
effects of these fertilizers could be
staggering."
Safe Food and Fertilizer, Family Farm Defenders,
the Oregon Toxics
Alliance, and the California Public Interest
Research Group (CALPIRG)
claim that the "land ban" provisions of
the Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act (RCRA) prohibit the EPA from
allowing hazardous wastes to
be put in fertilizers that end up on farm fields
and home gardens.
While treated wastes may be placed in land
disposal facilities, the
facilities must be designed to prevent migration
of the hazardous wastes
and have, at a minimum, double liners and
leachate collection systems.
The EPA's rule defies this scheme, by allowing
hazardous wastes -
including untreated wastes - to be disposed of on
farmlands and home
gardens.
In 1994, the EPA banned a similar type of
practice, in which hazardous
wastes were being used in road de-icing
chemicals. The EPA justified
that ban by noting that hazardous wastes could
not legally be applied to
the land in an uncontrolled manner. "The EPA
has already recognized
that it has no authority to allow this type of
uncontrolled land
disposal of hazardous wastes," said Melissa
Powers, an attorney with the
Western Environmental Law Center, the law firm
representing the
plaintiffs in this case. "This rule will not
withstand judicial
review."
Safe Food and Fertilizer (SFF) is a grassroots
citizens' group whose
mission is to proactively protect human health
and the environment, by
advocating for a ban on the use of hazardous and
other industrial wastes
as fertilizer, soil amendments and animal feed.
SFF works to empower
other grassroots organizations and consumers
locally, nationally, and
internationally. SFF was founded by Patty Martin,
who learned of illegal
hazardous waste recycling while she was the mayor
of Quincy, Washington.
Her discovery of this practice was featured in
reporter Duff Wilson's
investigative report in The Seattle Times,
"Fear in the Fields: How
Hazardous Wastes Become Fertilizers." The
report became the topic of a
subsequent book, Fateful Harvest: The True Story
of a Small Town, a
Global Industry, and a Toxic Secret.
Family Farm Defenders (FFD) is a coalition of
organizations and
individuals committed to the creation of a farmer
controlled and
consumer-orientated dairy industry. FFD adheres
to the principle of
democracy by empowering farmers to speak for and
represent themselves in
the quest for economic justice and sustainable
agricultural policies.
The Oregon Toxics Alliance (OTA) is a statewide
grassroots organization
working to eliminate contamination and
unnecessary toxics use and the
harm they cause to human health and the
environment. OTA is committed
to achieving fundamental changes in the practices
and policies that
permit toxics use and contamination. OTA supports
citizens' efforts to
avert the dangers of toxics use in their
communities and throughout
Oregon.
CALPIRG monitors government and corporate
decisions and advocates on
the public's behalf. The mission of CALPIRG's
toxics program is to stop
the dumping of toxic chemicals into our air,
water and on our land,
reduce the use of toxic chemicals, and guarantee
citizens the
right-to-know about toxic chemical use and
exposure.
The Western Environmental Law Center is a
not-for-profit public
interest law firm with offices in Eugene, OR,
Taos, NM, and Ketchum, ID.
WELC provides litigation services to grassroots
groups, Native American
Tribes, and local governments seeking to enforce
our nation's
environmental laws.
Patricia Anne Martin
617 H St. SW
Quincy, WA 98848
www.safefoodandfertilizer.com
509-787-4275
or 509-679-8711
