Synagro NY Bronx- Foes Raise Stink over Firm Permit

Foes raise stink over firm permit
BY BILL EGBERTDAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Environmental advocates in the South Bronx have been trying for years to revoke the solid waste permit of the smelly New York Organic Fertilizer Co.
Now they've found out the firm, which roasts sludge to produce fertilizer pellets, doesn't actually have one anymore.
"I was definitely surprised that its permit has been lapsed for 18 months," said Kellie Terry-Sepulveda, executive director of The Point CDC, a longtime crusader for cleaner air in asthma-ridden Hunts Point. "It's also troubling."
Regulations do allow extension of expired permits but only if a "timely and sufficient" renewal application has been filed.
But the state Department of Environmental Conservation has rejected the company's renewal application as "incomplete" four times.
The discovery by Columbia University School of Law's Environmental Law Clinic was noted in a detailed letter to the DEC on behalf of The Point CDC.
Columbia lawyers cited city regulations, state regulations and case law, indicating that under the circumstances, the firm's renewal application should now be treated as a new permit application, requiring public hearings.
The letter also documents repeated violations of the fertilizer factory's expired permit and city law - including discharging untreated sewage into the East River.
The company general manager, John Kopec, said the facility has "made many changes" since most of the documented violations. Of the assertion that the firm no longer has permission to operate, Kopec deferred to counsel.
"Right now it's in our attorneys' hands," he said.
DEC spokeswoman Kimberly Chupa responded, "The department's treatment of this application is consistent with state law and regulations governing permit renewals. The solid waste permit application from [the company] which we have before us is a renewal/modification application.
"In December 2004, the department and the facility entered into a consent order to address previous air and solid waste violations. Currently, DEC is working with the facility to ensure that the renewal application and modifications are consistent with the consent order."
Rep. Jose Serrano (D-South Bronx) said he was "deeply concerned" about the company's record - especially a series of fires and explosions at the plant in the summer of 2004 - and called on the DEC to close the controversial facility.
"It is incumbent upon [the DEC] to fulfill its enforcement and oversight responsibility," said Serrano. "Until [the company] comes into compliance and has a valid permit to operate, it should be shut down."

August 21, 2006
New York Daily News


Elena Conte
Solid Waste and Energy Coordinator
Sustainable South Bronx
Greening for Breathing Coordinator
890 Garrison Avenue, 4th Floor
Bronx, NY 10474
phone 718.617.4668
fax 718.617.5228
elena@ssbx

Synagro fined $35K 2004

Sludge company fined

State levies $35K penalty for sloppy handling

By JIM HOOKSenior writer --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A company that applies biosolids to farm fields in Franklin County was fined $35,000 for spreading and storing the treated sewage sludge unlawfully. Synagro Mid-Atlantic Inc. has paid $35,000 to the state Department of Environmental Protection for several violations in Franklin and five other counties between January 2003 and July 2004. Synagro is the region's largest land applier of sewage sludge, according to DEP.

"You wouldn't expect this type of action from a company that deals extensively with the storage and application of sewage sludge," DEP South-central Regional Director Rachel Diamond said. "These violations could have been and should have been avoided." Spreading biosolids on farmland and reclaimed strip mines became an approved method of disposing of sludge from city sewage plants in 1992, when a federal law banned ocean dumping. In recent years some citizens and health officials have become increasingly concerned about potential health risks associated with the practice.

Violations included spreading sewage sludge on frozen ground, spreading sewage sludge on an adjacent landowner's property without written consent, improper storage of sewage sludge, and failure to prevent runoff from entering nearby streams. Environmental impacts to the streams were slight and temporary, according to DEP.

"Synagro takes its responsibility for environmental compliance seriously," Synagro spokeswoman Sharon Hogan said on Wednesday. "In every instance of noncompliance, Synagro worked closely and promptly with DEP to address and correct the situation." Intense storms in 2003 challenged the integrity and capacity of existing DEP-approved bisolids storage facilities, she said. As a result of problems, Synagro immediately began working with DEP to improve storage design standards. Synagro invested more than $500,000 to upgrade its storage areas, all of which now meet the new design standards.

DEP did not have a specific policy or method for determining what constituted "frozen ground," Hogan said. All the violations occurred on the same day for all sites in the state where Synagro was spreading, based on DEP's inspection of one field. "Synagro believed in good faith, that on that day they were in compliance with frozen ground restrictions," Hogan said. "Since this incident, DEP has clarified how frozen ground determinations are to be made." Several violations were due to the carelessness of an employee, who has been fired, according to Hogan. Synagro has conducted an internal review of compliance procedures and has increased training and oversight of all staff working in Pennsylvania.

Synagro was fined $15,000 for violations in Adams, Berks, Franklin and Lebanon counties during 2003 and $20,000 for violations in Berks, Lancaster and York counties during 2004.

"It was made clear to the company that continuing violations would result in significantly higher penalties and would threaten Synagro's ability to continue operating in Pennsylvania," Diamond said. "Company officials made a commitment for significant improvements to their performance over the next 12 months." Synagro is permitted to apply biosolids to several fields in Franklin County.

Local residents have formed a watchdog group, Coalition of Residents Organized for Political Self-expression (CROPS). Selena Strine is a member of CROPS who lives with her family in Peters Township, a half-mile from a field where biosolids are spread. "I'm glad they're enforcing the regulations," Strine said. "It's a $1,000 fine (for spreading on a frozen field in Montgomery Township), and it's a multimillion-dollar company. I don't know what that's going to do. At least they are enforcing the regulations." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Jim Hook can be reached at 262-4759, or jhook at pubop.com.

Originally published Thursday, September 23, 2004

For Odors Unpleasant, Inspiration from Wall Street

For Odors Unpleasant, Inspiration From Wall Street
Sunday, August 13, 2006



http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/13/nyregion/thecity/
13stoc.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Hunts Point
By JENNIFER BLEYER
Published: August 13, 2006

When it’s especially hot out, or the wind is blowing in a certain direction, Silkia Martinez refuses to eat outside in her Hunts Point neighborhood. The odor from the New York Organic Fertilizer Company’s plant, she said, might make her gag. “It’s plain old nasty,” said Ms. Martinez, a freshman at the Interboro Institute and the mother of a 6-year-old girl. “It’s as bad as when you pass a horse stable.”The plant, which is part of Synagro Technologies, a Houston company, converts much of the city’s sludge into fertilizer pellets, but many residents say it also produces an intolerable stench. They have made those complaints since the plant, which is between the Bruckner Expressway and the East River, opened in 1992. Now critics have taken a new tack in their 14-year battle.In 2004, a consortium of nonprofit organizations, including an environmental advocacy group called Sustainable South Bronx, bought 1,750 shares of Synagro stock for about $2.50 a share — a token holding, but enough for a shareholder vote in the company. Since then, the critics have discovered that investors can have clout. In December, for example, they proposed a shareholder resolution requesting that Synagro report how many toxins, molds, pathogens and other substances are released from the plant, and how those pollutants affect local health and safety.In May, at the annual shareholder meeting in Houston, the resolution garnered 31 percent of the vote — more than enough to hold management’s attention.

“We were thrilled,” said Elena Conte, a coordinator at Sustainable South Bronx. This is not the first time critics of the plant have sought creative solutions to their problems. Last spring, for example, a teacher and students at St. Athanasius School, a Catholic school on Southern Boulevard half a mile from the plant, printed about 400 “Smelly Calendars” on which neighbors could down particularly noxious days to report to 311, the city government hot line. Since becoming a shareholder, the groups say, they have had strikingly good results, among them productive meetings with Synagro’s chief executive, Robert Boucher, and its general counsel, Alvin Thomas. Before the consortium made its investment, Ms. Conte said, “there would be no way we would get a phone call from the C.E.O. and head lawyer.” “As soon as we introduced the resolution, they flew to New York.”The shareholder activists are continuing to meet with Synagro executives and are working with them on the scope of a report on the plant’s operation and emissions. “As long as it’s cost-effective and provides useful information, we’ll do it,” said Mr. Thomas, whose company accepts some responsibility for the local smells, but also points out that other odor-causing businesses are in the area. Sister Valerie Heinonen, a New York consultant with the national Mercy Investment Program, one of the groups in the consortium, hopes that Hunts Point residents will soon see benefits from the stock holding. “We’re not just looking for a report,” she said. “We’re looking for an improvement in the situation that gets accomplished through the report. We’re looking for a return on our investment.”

Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility

SUSTAINABLE SOUTH BRONX Mercy Center

For Immediate Release: January 30, 2006
Media Contact:
For SSB: Marsha Gordon, LCGCommunications: 718.853.5568;

marshag@lcgcommunications.com
Sister Patricia Wolf, ICCR: 212.870.2294

Synagro, Operator of NY Organic Fertilizer Company in South Bronx Focus ofFaith-Based Institutional Investors’ Shareholder-Sponsored Environmental Resolution;Co-Filer Sustainable South Bronx, Mott Haven’s Mercy Center Applaud Action
Synagro of Houston, Texas, the operator of the New York Organic Fertilizer Company‘s (NYOFCo) facility in the South Bronx, NY, is the focus of a shareholder-sponsored resolution on Environmental Impacts filed by members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR). The ICCR investor coalition is a major force in bringing about advances in corporate governance, corporate social responsibility and economic justice through organized shareowner advocacy. The lead filer of the resolution is the Mercy Investment Program (http://www.sistersofmercy.org/justice/mercy_investment.html).

Sustainable South Bronx (SSB) (http://www.ssbx.org), which has been fighting for four years to get the company to clean up the foul air that it spews across the community, is a co-filer.

“Since March 2003, there have been at least 4 fires at the company’s plant in the South Bronx. NYOFCo has been cited for multiple violations on each of its permits—air, water, and waste-- since October 2003. From the day the company opened, the community has had to endure the nauseating stench and hazardous air pollution from the company’s smoke stacks. As Synagro’s largest municipal contract, NYOFCo ought to be its best-run operation. Instead, it’s a disgrace. This resolution firmly tells Synagro that it isn’t a good neighbor; that it must change its environmental policies and the way it relates to the community,” said Elena Conte, Solid Waste and Energy Coordinator, Sustainable South Bronx.

“Our community already suffers from one of the highest asthma rates in the country and is inundated with more than its share of power plants and other noxious facilities that create emissions hazardous to our residents,” said Sister Mary Galeone, a Sister of Mercy and Co-Executive Director of The Mercy Center, a community center for women and their families located in the Mott Haven section of the South Bronx (http://www.mercycenterbronx.org). “Corporate social responsibility encourages corporations to work justly, including active participation in environmental protection. Shareholders have the power to encourage corporations to build a just world. That’s what we hope Synagro will do and it’s why the Mercy Investment Program has filed this proposal,” she added.
“There exists a deep concern regarding the impact of the Synagro facility on the health of
the residents of Hunts Point,” stated Sister Patricia Wolf, also a Sister of Mercy and executive director of the ICCR (http://www.iccr.org). “Providing information on the environmental impact of the facility is important for the company’s credibility and for the residents of the South Bronx.”
The resolution “…requests the Board of Directors to report on environmental, health and safety impacts of New York Organic Fertilizer Company (NYOFCo), operated by Synagro, on the South Bronx, New York community…” Synagro operates NYOFCo pursuant to a New York City contract, our company’s largest municipal services contract….”
In support, the resolution indicates that the “…Hunts Point, NYOFCo’s location, is a one square mile peninsula in southeastern Bronx County. It is one of the poorest Congressional Districts in the U.S., where incidence of childhood asthma is among the highest in the nation. This community bears heavy environmental burdens from local industrial and commercial facilities that daily bring thousands of diesel trucks through the neighborhood. Since opening, NYOFCo has added to environmental burdens of Hunts Point and the surrounding area. Even after our company acquired NYOFCo operations in 2000, residents continued complaining that noxious odors emanate from the plant. Odors from NYOFCo’s smoke stacks, only 163 feet tall, are carried to nearby Public School 48 that sits on higher ground. The resolution concludes “…We believe the report should include…NYOFCo’s total releases — both within its permit and emergency releases — to air, water and land, including releases of toxins, molds, pathogens, hazardous waste and hazardous air pollutants contained in the Environmental Protection Agency’s 1998 proposed rules…The extent to which NYOFCo’s operations may impact health and/or safety of individuals in Hunts Point and the South Bronx; and how Synagro and NYOFCo integrate community environmental accountability into environmental management procedures and business practices…”-30-
About the Filers:The Mercy Investment Program (MIP), a ministry of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, is involved in actions to ensure socially responsible investing. The Mercy Investment Program acts to influence corporate policy and the public conscience by utilizing its investment and financial power...in ways that respond to the social needs of the time and to demonstrate their founder’s, Catherine McAuley, preferential love for the poor and her special concern for women. The Sisters of Mercy were established in Ireland in 1827 with members coming to America in 1843. They are one of the world's largest English-speaking Roman Catholic congregations of women religious.Contact: Sr. Valerie Heinonen, Tel: 212/674-2542; E-mail: heinonenv@juno.com
Sustainable South Bronx, founded in 2001 by Majora Carter, is a community organization dedicated to the implementation of sustainable development projects for the South Bronx that are informed by the needs of the community and the values of environmental justice.Contact Elena Conte, Tel: 718.617.4668 x 27; E-mail: Elena@ssbx.org
About ICCR:For 35 years the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility has combined social values with investment decisions believing that as investors they must achieve more than an acceptable financial return. ICCR’s 275 faith based member institutions include major church denominations, foundations, religious orders, healthcare systems and pension funds, currently, with a combined market portfolio of more than $110 billion.

Stinky sludge pellets trained to Ohio

http://www.athensnews.com/issue/article.php3?story_id=9953

Odor complaints doubled with Synagro, witness says

Odor complaints doubled with Synagro, witness says
The Temescal Canyon composter is in a new trial with its appeal of awards totaling $140,000.

BY ADRIANA CHAVIRA
THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE
RIVERSIDE

Complaints of odors at a sewage-sludge composting plant in Temescal Canyon doubled after the current owner purchased the property in 1998, according to testimony Friday in Superior Court.

Synagro Composting Co. of California was granted a new trial of the $140,000 decision against it in favor of 28 residents, who were awarded $5,000 apiece.

Alice Beasley, a Riverside County environmental health specialist, testified that during the first half of 1998, employees with the county's Department of Environmental Health logged 146 complaints against Recyc Inc., which sold its plant to Synagro at the end of July 1998. In the second half of 1998, Synagro had 385 complaints, she testified.

"They didn't have three consecutive days with no complaints," Beasley said, referring to Synagro.

In September 2000, the 28 residents filed individual small claims actions against Synagro, and each received the $5,000 maximum award possible in small claims court.

Synagro appealed the decisions, which resulted in the new trial, which began Friday in Superior Court in Riverside with lawyers representing each side.

The Temescal Canyon residents allege that the pungent, musty odor of the sludge composting at the plant off Interstate 15 and Temescal Canyon Road is a nuisance, keeps them from enjoying the outdoors and their homes, makes them ill and lowers their property values.

Synagro is allowed to take in as much as 500 tons of sewage sludge a day and to turn it into compost.

"The stench becomes so overwhelming . . . in come cases, they vomit and can't stand to go outside," said Raymond W. Johnson, the lawyer representing the residents.

Synagro's attorney Richard D. Marca said that there are many residents, including 300 who signed sworn declarations, who are not bothered by the odors from that the plant.

The new trial is scheduled to resume Sept. 4 with additional witnesses for the residents. Witnesses for Synagro are scheduled to testify on Sept. 5. The following day, the 28 residents are scheduled to testify.

TOXIC SLUDGE PRODUCER PAYS HISTORIC SETTLEMENT

The article below was recently published by the National Whistleblower
Centre in the U.S.  Find out more at
http://www.whistleblowers.org/release_SludgeSettle.htm

The web site http://www.whistleblowers.org includes several articles related
to the Synagro settlement.

And for some more news stories on the recent EPA internal probe on sewage
sludge try these links:
--- Insight On The News, February 25, 2002, "Will EPA Clean Up Its Sludge
Policy?" at
http://insightmag.com/main.cfm/include/detail/storyid/174904.html
--- Guardian Unlimited, February 7, 2002, "EPA Rebuked for Sewage Safety" at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-1500572,00.html

****************

TOXIC SLUDGE PRODUCER PAYS HISTORIC SETTLEMENT
Whistleblower Group Requests that Settlement Terms Be Made Public

The sludge industry has paid its first damage award as a result of a
successful toxic tort-wrongful death suit filed. On January 8, 2002,
Synagro, Inc, the nation's largest sludge producer, paid the family of
Shayne Conner an undisclosed amount of money in order to settle a wrongful
death suit. The settlement is the first known payment of money to alleged
victims of sludge-induced sicknesses.

"The settlement appears to be a complete vindication of the scientific
critics of EPA sludge policies and industry practices" according to Kris
Kolesnik, the Executive Director of the National Whistleblower Center. "It
is inconceivable that a corporation such as Synagro, which has a reputation
for aggressively defending sludge from any criticism, would pay a
significant settlement award, if they did not fear losing the case,"
Kolesnik added.

Synagro was forced to settle its case as a result of the expert testimony
offered by Dr. David Lewis, an internationally respected microbiologist and
thirty-year veteran of the EPA's Office of Research and Development. Synagro
deposed Dr. Lewis, who was awarded the EPA's Science Achievement Award by
Administrator Carol Browner in 2001 for a groundbreaking article highly
critical of the EPA's risk assessment of sludge, for five days.

As a direct result of Dr. Lewis' research on sludge, the National
Whistleblower Center filed a complaint with the EPA Office of Inspector
General, alleging that the EPA permitted toxic sludge to be dumped by
companies such as Synagro, prior to the completion of six important
scientific studies identified by EPA as needed to close gaps in scientific
knowledge of health and environmental risk.

The Center provided the Inspector General's office with sworn testimony from
EPA scientists who set forth their opinion that without the completion of
these studies the EPA's approval of sludge dumping was "scientifically
indefensible." The results of the EPA OIG investigation into the Center's
complaint are expected to be released by the end of January 2002.

Additionally, as a result of the scientific concerns raised by Dr. Lewis,
the EPA agreed to fund a National Academy of Science review of the sludge
rule. This review is ongoing.

The National Whistleblower Center has requested that the U.S. EPA obtain a
copy of the settlement agreement in order to ensure that the agreement does
not improperly gag the Marshall family from further exposing problems with
the sludge rule. "Given the EPA's current approval of the dumping of toxic
sludge, it is in the public interest for the EPA to obtain all of the
information documenting the hazards of sludge which were uncovered during
the Marshall litigation, " stated Kolesnik.

Kolesnik added, " The EPA also needs to know how much money was paid as a
result of a law suit which alleged that an American citizen and taxpayer
died as a result of exposure to a pollutant which the EPA permits to be
dumped on land-sites which have no physical barriers preventing public
contact with deadly pathogens."

The National Whistleblower Center has been able to obtain copies of some of
the depositions taken in the Marshall law suit, including the transcripts of
Dr. David Lewis' deposition. "In order to facilitate public understanding of
the risks and hazards of sludge, the Center will make these documents
available to the public. The pubic has a right to know the full story on
sludge," Kolesnik said.

Sludge dumped by corporations such as Synagro, contains bacteria, viruses,
fungi, and parasites that are potentially harmful to the public health and
the environment. The NIOSH/Centers for Disease Control issued a Hazard
Identification Advisory in August 2000 warning that sewage sludge contains
human pathogens and that exposure to sludge may result in potentially
serious to life-threatening infections.