“We have met the enemy, and he is us.” Cartoonist Walt Kelly’s statement on his 1970 Earth Day poster was a prelude to Tom Ellis’ Aug. 22 letter, (“Keep toxic sewer sludge off farmland,”) decrying increased use of sewage sludge as compost, a nationwide plague happening right under our noses and blind eyes.
I purchased in 2022 “compost” produced by Washington County using the chemical-laden excrement sludge (mixed with wood chips) and had it analyzed for metals and PFAS.
Results showed excessive – and dangerous – levels, especially for toxic PFAS, which the U.S. EPA recommends banning from groundwater.
My expensive venture was meant to expose the environmental disaster posed by Saratoga Biochar’s plan to locate a “fertilizer” plant in the Moreau Industrial Park that would process sewage sludge trucked in from throughout the Northeast.
Two of the identified developers and sludge hauler Casella Organics have lengthy histories of environmental violations and paying hefty fines.
Yet they cnsistently request the public’s trust.
They are aided and abetted by Moreau Supervisor Theodore Kusnierz, who lured the project to Moreau, and whose 2021 phantom reelection campaign committee, he ran unopposed, accepted $6,600 in developer donations.
It would be nearly a year more before the public learned of the project.
Thousands of Moreau and surrounding community members are opposed, yet Kusnierz and his three acolytes on the town board ignore their own constituents. Talk about sludge.
Repeated attempts to have my findings and public opposition reported publicly have been ignored by the regional media. That also stinks!
DOMINIC TOM
Moreau
