By COOKSON BEECHER
Capital Press Staff Writer, July 25, 1997
OLYMPIA, Wash. - Several Columbia Basin farmers and activists called for an immediate ban on the use of recycled waste products in fertilizers during a meeting convened here last week and attended by state and federal regulators.
But other participants at the meeting took a more moderate tack on the issue, saying they'd like to see some sort of numerical limit set on the levels of so-called tag-along toxics that can be added to fertilizers.
The meeting, held to gather information on the controversial issue, was another step in the process of developing fertilizer-related legislation to be submitted to Washington Gov. Gary Locke. Locke will decide whether to present it to the state Legislature when it convenes early next year.
Carol Jolly, executive agricultural policy assistant for Locke, attended the meeting and said participants cited Canadian fertilizer standards and federal biosolid standards as possible benchmarks that could be considered for Washington.
During the meeting and in a letter sent to the governor, a group called the Toxics Coalition maintained that it is against Washington state law to adulterate fertilizer.
"Innocent farmers think they are buying only nitrogen or other beneficial plant nutrients since this is what is described on the label," says the letters, copies of which also were sent to federal and state administrators and elected officials.
Based on the interpretation of state laws, the coalition urged Locke to see that the law is enforced, pointing out that the state Department of Agriculture has the authority to stop the sale of adulterated fertilizer in Washington.
"We ask that this be done immediately," the letter said.
But regulators say the definition of "adulterated," as included in state law is ambiguous.
Farmers attending the meeting seized the chance to tell state regulators their concerns about fertilizers - concerns that primarily center around the health of their land and their families.
"It was very emotional," Jolly said in describing the testimony, which included specific instances of health problems and farm failures growers attributed to the use of fertilizers containing recycled waste products.
Officials from the Washington Department of Ecology provided data obtained from a special analysis conducted on 35 fertilizers - an analysis triggered by public questions and concerns about the use of industrial by-products in fertilizers and additives.
Still to come, Ecology officials told the group, is a clear understanding of what the results mean from the standpoint of human health.
The tests showed that tag-along toxics in fertilizer samples were well within levels already established for biosolids by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
But Greg Sorlie, manager of the DOE hazardous waste and toxics reduction program, said an unresolved question remains: Is it possible that the forms of metals in biosolids could be taken up by plants differently than the forms of metals found in fertilizer products?
Biosolids standards could underestimate the plant uptake of metals from fertilizers and, consequently, not insure adequate protection, he said.
In an interview several days after the meeting, Ecology official Dennis Bowhay said another question still to be pursued is based on concerns about how continued applications of fertilizers containing heavy metals might affect the soil in the long run.
"We're trying to make sure that there isn't something we've overlooked in the health of the soil," he said.
The test results on the fertilizer samples collected by the Washing State Department of Agriculture and analyzed at the DOE Manchester Laboratory are being reviewed by soil scientists from Washington State University's Puyallup branch and by toxicologists at the Washington State Department of Health.
The departments of Ecology and Agriculture plan to propose legislation that will strengthen the review process for products applied to farmland.
Ecology spokesman Ron Langley said the proposed legislation will need to be developed fairly soon, since the governor's office wants the first draft for any agency-requested legislation on his desk by Aug. 15. That's not a hard and fast date, but Langley said this is the time of the yea when the governor begins deciding which bills to push and which ones to scrap.