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September 2008 News Update
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Briefing on Biosolids Cancelled After Controversial Letter Surfaces
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee canceled a briefing on biosolids land application issues after a letter surfaced that indicated that two of the scheduled witnesses tried to use the briefing to win a settlement in a lawsuit they brought against the University of Georgia Research Foundation.
The briefing was originally scheduled to be an oversight hearing on EPA’s biosolids program but was downgraded to a briefing after the EPW majority staff rejected a witness recommended by the minority staff. That witness was Chris Westhoff, former President of the National Association of Clean Water Agencies and Chief Counsel for the City of Los Angeles Department of Public Works. The reason given by the majority staff for rejecting Mr. Westhoff as a witness was the fact that the City of Los Angeles is involved in a pending lawsuit in which the City is defending a recent court ruling in its favor over its biosolids land application.
The “witnesses” that were invited to testify at the briefing included Ellen Harrison, Former Director Cornell Waste Management Institute, former EPA scientist David Lewis, Georgia dairy farmer Andy McElmurray, and Leland Myers, General Manager of the Central Davis Sewer Authority in Kaysville, Utah who was also attending the briefing as a representative for the National Association of Clean Water Agencies; EPA was invited to testify at the hearing, but declined to attend the briefing.
Three of the four invited “witnesses” are known anti-biosolids activists and two of the witnesses, Lewis and McElmurray, are plaintiffs in the suit against the University of Georgia Research Foundation. A spokeswoman for the committee said the hearing was canceled out of concern that the private litigation would distract from the main issue of biosolids land application safety. The letter that surfaced was a proposed settlement offer written by the plaintiff’s attorney to the defendants in the case in which he urged that their offer be accepted so that the plaintiff’s could "praise UGA for its handling of this matter" during the briefing before the Senate EPW Committee. Senator Boxer, Chairwoman for the EPW Committee, has indicated that she would reschedule a hearing during the next session of Congress.
In preparation for the hearing/briefing, WEF met with staff for several members of the Senate EPW Committee providing them with background information and the scientific underpinnings for biosolids land application practices. WEF will continue to work with Senator Boxer and members of her committee to ensure that any oversight conducted by the Committee on this issue is fair and balanced.
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