LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

More data needed on dredge facility

10/27/2013

In his Sept. 29 guest column, “Dredge facility safe, environmentally sound,” William Carroll, chairman of the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority, defended the authority’s sewage sludge management practices at Facility 3.

This authority-managed facility is a dumping ground for polluted dredgings — the actual purpose of the island — and pathogen-contaminated sludge from the city of Toledo’s sewage treatment plant — not the original purpose of this island.

Mr. Carroll argues that N-Viro International and others have made “unfair and untrue allegations” about the facility’s management.

He implies that all is well, that a facility designed to decant water into Maumee Bay is squeaky clean even though it has accepted more than 100,000 tons of contaminated sludge in the past two years, and that the authority’s partner, S&L Fertilizer, is doing yeoman’s work finding legitimate uses for its Nu-Soil product.

I invite Mr. Carroll to silence critics by engaging readily available independent assessments, such as those offered in 2011 by the University of Toledo and rejected by representatives of the city of Toledo and the authority, and answer the critics point by point.

What happens every time it rains on 70 acres of Facility 3 where the sludge is dumped?

Where does the contaminated runoff go?

Mr. Carroll claims Facility 3 passes muster. Really? What of the past two years and the last 100,000 tons of contaminated sludge being stockpiled? Excuses are offered, but data are not.

Is Facility 3 partly to blame for the toxic algae in Lake Erie? Should residents be concerned that this sludge blending occurs just two water-miles from Toledo’s water intake? Is the facility just a leaky, unlined, unpermitted sludge landfill?

The public deserves more than a condescending pat on the head.

TIMOTHY KASMOCH

Chief Executive Officer N-Viro International Corp. Sylvania Township