Founder of Mission503, Paula B. Yockel, asks for meeting with Trump to end federal rule that allows toxic sewage to pollute our food, poison rural communities.
Good Morning, DSB. Thank you for your comments. Such a wretched situation you describe. These practices are harming Americans. There is a cost to proper disposal and right now, those costs are being transferred onto Americans in the form of their health, medical bills and so much more. Not okay. Pray for our mission.
Hello Phil, this has also been our experience, hence, aiming for the Oval Office. We have heard the pleas of communities suffering from animal byproduct waste. It must all be addressed. Pray for our mission.
The farming industry has enormous clout in states with significant rural land. You have almost no chance of correcting the problem through state and local regulatory agencies or legislatures. You might be able to affect federal regulations concerning the volume of sewage applied per acre, and perhaps the buffer zone between the application area and residential areas. It will take years.
In Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, local farmers dispose of inedible byproducts from cattle slaughtering and processing: offal, bones, hides, blood, intestines, and other waste materials. Almost all of it is trucked in from other states. If you think human sewage smells bad, animal byproducts are worse. Local farmers have bastardized their previous crop and livestock production in exchange for an enormous profit from this disposal. They could care less about nearby homes. I hope you include animal byproducts in your efforts to protect rural communities.
Good luck to you. What you describe is called "land farming". States even allow hazardous waste, as defined under CERCLA, to be spread on land. The hazardous waste is tilled every so often to bring things like benzene and toluene (petroleum contaminants) to the surface to off gas. The guideline for land farming, and it is just a guideline, says the dumping should not occur within 1,000 feet of occupied residences, businesses or structures.
DEQ's are worthless. A family corporation bought real estate previously occupied by a gas service station. Head of the family was a noted cardiovascular surgeon. His wife died from cancer. The son-in-law, an attorney, had a great idea. They dug out the site and dumped the petroleum contaminated dirt on a field they own within 75 feet of my backyard. Other affected neighbors included two doctors and an attorney. The city specifically prohibits the practice - land farming - but the DEQ, responsible for the former service station, did nothing. When I asked how the DEQ allowed this to happen they said, "We can't talk to you". The cover up began. Health department confirmed the dumping, but told me we were not at "serious health risk". The fine for violating the city code for what the family corporation did would have been $7.3 million. The state attorney general's office doesn't want to do anything because the state is complicit. The impacted land is being sold for residences ($1 to $2 million) and commercial (a pediatricians office), without a peep as to the lands former status. This is called concealment fraud.
This is a really disgusting story of American bureaucracy at its worst. What is an obvious poisoning of the earth, water, air, and people is incomprehensible to whomever is in charge of making such decisions. This is where it’s difficult to figure out what in the hell is going on in America. How is a person supposed to coexist with such lunacy? The home of the brave and the free are empty words when confronted with such nonsense.
Randall, you are right... this practice, promoted by a U.S. federal rule... shocks the conscience. If you like to dig in to the dark belly of issues like this, there are papers, congressional testimonies, publications on the history. If you'd like, email me and I can send you some. Connect@Mission503.org. WE must be the brave and the free and work tirelessly for change...
Thanks for the reply. Thinking some more about the bio solids poisoning the soil, what’s the rationale for farmers to accept the ‘shit’? The farmer is not being a good neighbor by receiving toxic sludge as pernicious fertilizer. I mean that they are actually promoting their own destruction by participating in the poison experiment. Have you tried asking your farmer neighbors to stop? That’s a very reasonable request. But perhaps your farmer neighbors are as deluded as the bureaucrats.
Hello Randall... this is one of the most important questions that can be asked, thank you. There are many components to the full answer - this could get long. First and foremost - the federal 503 rule does not tell the farmer what's in sewage, markets it as "biosolids", and says it's heavily treated, regulated and implies it's safe. The rule requires testing for 9 metals and one fecal indicator... and that's it (for land application). When these regulations are met, the rule allows for sewage to be marketed as a beneficial, nutrient-rich, soil amendment that can save their costs on legitimate fertilizer while increasing crop yields. They are told it's high in nitrogen (while largely ignoring phosphorus). In many cases, farmers are paid to take sewage which can sometimes be more profitable than their crop. Sometimes the sewage disposal is the primary profit center while their ag product is secondary (see Green Acres in Kern County, Calif). In other scenarios, farmers are not paid to receive the sewage, but the sewage contractor tills the lands and provides the equipment which saves the farmer on costs as well, espeically tennant farmers who lease many lands for farming. Also, in many, many cases, the farmers do not live on their farmed lands, but sometimes they do. And I've witnessed it personally, the farmers get sick too. Another angle they are told is they're doing the nation a favor by "saving the landfills" (sewage is dumped in landfills daily, btw, and is also disastrous - and would you believe they pipe the landfill leachate back to the sewer plant and it goes into the sludge??? Nuts!). Land-applying sewage is promoted and defended by our EPA, our nation's entity whose mission is to protect public health and the environment, as well as state level environmental agencies, and the industry paid to do so. Millions and millions of dollars (including EPA grants), and PR efforts, for decades, have been put in to building partial science and misleading studies to convince us this is a good idea. Lastly, regarding farmers, many farmers are as opposed to this as we are. If you read the ugly history on the rule (posted on our website, GET INFORMED/RESOURCES) it's shocking. Now, your next question... have I ever asked our farmers to stop? Yes. I built binders of research and shared with some because I was concerned not only for my family, but theirs also, because of what I was learning in those early days of simple online research. It was not well-received by some folks. I hesitate saying this, but it is the truth... I was actually threatened and had to get my concealed carry license. Nothing came of it and everything was fine. As I began our own lab testing and seeing the neurotoxins the community was breathing, and seeing the increased risk of mental health disorders in the data, I actually have great compassion on the people who threatened me. Their brains are likely impaired and I know their families experience illness. I point the finger squarely at the federal 503 rule for harming these farmers and the community where I lived for so long. We had to leave to save our health, but am fighting for them and every community like them. I could tell you a thousand stories that layer-on unthinkable truth to what occurs to people living in these communities....... Thanks for asking a great question.
This is a complete mess, Paula. It doesn’t sound like appealing to farmers self preservation is gaining any traction. I have smelled horrible odors coming from farm land in western Maryland when we lived there. I thought that they were using pig feces during spring tilling as it smelled similar to pig farms. I never suspected that it might be contaminated bio solid waste. This is how people die from very poor public policy. I wish you well in your endeavors and thank you for your honest feedback.
I’m a retired healthcare professional and health food person who has been suspicious about environmental toxicity since the 1970’s. Hence, I drink purified water and eat organic and live where the air is not so polluted. It’s always been a struggle as there are many people and forces in America that don’t care about these things. It’s always difficult to comprehend how such simple things are not appreciated.
They did this in Maine also. It destroyed many farms, which were unable to sell their produce due to the amount of PFAS (forever chemicals) from the toxic sludge dumping. Maine Farmland Trust, a non-profit, has been trying to help farmers recover, but it is hard to reclaim the land once it has been contaminated. Pure idiocy!
Yes, Bradley, pure insanity. We do this across the Nation. My agenda for a meeting with President Trump will also cover caring for our harmed farmers, their lives and livelihoods. They are harmed. Their neighbors are harmed. The Nation is harmed. Now I just have to secure the meeting. But am well prepared.
Good Morning, DSB. Thank you for your comments. Such a wretched situation you describe. These practices are harming Americans. There is a cost to proper disposal and right now, those costs are being transferred onto Americans in the form of their health, medical bills and so much more. Not okay. Pray for our mission.
Hello Phil, this has also been our experience, hence, aiming for the Oval Office. We have heard the pleas of communities suffering from animal byproduct waste. It must all be addressed. Pray for our mission.
The farming industry has enormous clout in states with significant rural land. You have almost no chance of correcting the problem through state and local regulatory agencies or legislatures. You might be able to affect federal regulations concerning the volume of sewage applied per acre, and perhaps the buffer zone between the application area and residential areas. It will take years.
In Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, local farmers dispose of inedible byproducts from cattle slaughtering and processing: offal, bones, hides, blood, intestines, and other waste materials. Almost all of it is trucked in from other states. If you think human sewage smells bad, animal byproducts are worse. Local farmers have bastardized their previous crop and livestock production in exchange for an enormous profit from this disposal. They could care less about nearby homes. I hope you include animal byproducts in your efforts to protect rural communities.
Good luck to you. What you describe is called "land farming". States even allow hazardous waste, as defined under CERCLA, to be spread on land. The hazardous waste is tilled every so often to bring things like benzene and toluene (petroleum contaminants) to the surface to off gas. The guideline for land farming, and it is just a guideline, says the dumping should not occur within 1,000 feet of occupied residences, businesses or structures.
DEQ's are worthless. A family corporation bought real estate previously occupied by a gas service station. Head of the family was a noted cardiovascular surgeon. His wife died from cancer. The son-in-law, an attorney, had a great idea. They dug out the site and dumped the petroleum contaminated dirt on a field they own within 75 feet of my backyard. Other affected neighbors included two doctors and an attorney. The city specifically prohibits the practice - land farming - but the DEQ, responsible for the former service station, did nothing. When I asked how the DEQ allowed this to happen they said, "We can't talk to you". The cover up began. Health department confirmed the dumping, but told me we were not at "serious health risk". The fine for violating the city code for what the family corporation did would have been $7.3 million. The state attorney general's office doesn't want to do anything because the state is complicit. The impacted land is being sold for residences ($1 to $2 million) and commercial (a pediatricians office), without a peep as to the lands former status. This is called concealment fraud.
This is a really disgusting story of American bureaucracy at its worst. What is an obvious poisoning of the earth, water, air, and people is incomprehensible to whomever is in charge of making such decisions. This is where it’s difficult to figure out what in the hell is going on in America. How is a person supposed to coexist with such lunacy? The home of the brave and the free are empty words when confronted with such nonsense.
Randall, you are right... this practice, promoted by a U.S. federal rule... shocks the conscience. If you like to dig in to the dark belly of issues like this, there are papers, congressional testimonies, publications on the history. If you'd like, email me and I can send you some. Connect@Mission503.org. WE must be the brave and the free and work tirelessly for change...
Thanks for the reply. Thinking some more about the bio solids poisoning the soil, what’s the rationale for farmers to accept the ‘shit’? The farmer is not being a good neighbor by receiving toxic sludge as pernicious fertilizer. I mean that they are actually promoting their own destruction by participating in the poison experiment. Have you tried asking your farmer neighbors to stop? That’s a very reasonable request. But perhaps your farmer neighbors are as deluded as the bureaucrats.
Hello Randall... this is one of the most important questions that can be asked, thank you. There are many components to the full answer - this could get long. First and foremost - the federal 503 rule does not tell the farmer what's in sewage, markets it as "biosolids", and says it's heavily treated, regulated and implies it's safe. The rule requires testing for 9 metals and one fecal indicator... and that's it (for land application). When these regulations are met, the rule allows for sewage to be marketed as a beneficial, nutrient-rich, soil amendment that can save their costs on legitimate fertilizer while increasing crop yields. They are told it's high in nitrogen (while largely ignoring phosphorus). In many cases, farmers are paid to take sewage which can sometimes be more profitable than their crop. Sometimes the sewage disposal is the primary profit center while their ag product is secondary (see Green Acres in Kern County, Calif). In other scenarios, farmers are not paid to receive the sewage, but the sewage contractor tills the lands and provides the equipment which saves the farmer on costs as well, espeically tennant farmers who lease many lands for farming. Also, in many, many cases, the farmers do not live on their farmed lands, but sometimes they do. And I've witnessed it personally, the farmers get sick too. Another angle they are told is they're doing the nation a favor by "saving the landfills" (sewage is dumped in landfills daily, btw, and is also disastrous - and would you believe they pipe the landfill leachate back to the sewer plant and it goes into the sludge??? Nuts!). Land-applying sewage is promoted and defended by our EPA, our nation's entity whose mission is to protect public health and the environment, as well as state level environmental agencies, and the industry paid to do so. Millions and millions of dollars (including EPA grants), and PR efforts, for decades, have been put in to building partial science and misleading studies to convince us this is a good idea. Lastly, regarding farmers, many farmers are as opposed to this as we are. If you read the ugly history on the rule (posted on our website, GET INFORMED/RESOURCES) it's shocking. Now, your next question... have I ever asked our farmers to stop? Yes. I built binders of research and shared with some because I was concerned not only for my family, but theirs also, because of what I was learning in those early days of simple online research. It was not well-received by some folks. I hesitate saying this, but it is the truth... I was actually threatened and had to get my concealed carry license. Nothing came of it and everything was fine. As I began our own lab testing and seeing the neurotoxins the community was breathing, and seeing the increased risk of mental health disorders in the data, I actually have great compassion on the people who threatened me. Their brains are likely impaired and I know their families experience illness. I point the finger squarely at the federal 503 rule for harming these farmers and the community where I lived for so long. We had to leave to save our health, but am fighting for them and every community like them. I could tell you a thousand stories that layer-on unthinkable truth to what occurs to people living in these communities....... Thanks for asking a great question.
This is a complete mess, Paula. It doesn’t sound like appealing to farmers self preservation is gaining any traction. I have smelled horrible odors coming from farm land in western Maryland when we lived there. I thought that they were using pig feces during spring tilling as it smelled similar to pig farms. I never suspected that it might be contaminated bio solid waste. This is how people die from very poor public policy. I wish you well in your endeavors and thank you for your honest feedback.
I’m a retired healthcare professional and health food person who has been suspicious about environmental toxicity since the 1970’s. Hence, I drink purified water and eat organic and live where the air is not so polluted. It’s always been a struggle as there are many people and forces in America that don’t care about these things. It’s always difficult to comprehend how such simple things are not appreciated.
They did this in Maine also. It destroyed many farms, which were unable to sell their produce due to the amount of PFAS (forever chemicals) from the toxic sludge dumping. Maine Farmland Trust, a non-profit, has been trying to help farmers recover, but it is hard to reclaim the land once it has been contaminated. Pure idiocy!
Yes, Bradley, pure insanity. We do this across the Nation. My agenda for a meeting with President Trump will also cover caring for our harmed farmers, their lives and livelihoods. They are harmed. Their neighbors are harmed. The Nation is harmed. Now I just have to secure the meeting. But am well prepared.