Sludge Defeat

UMBT Quits Its Sludge Battle Township officials conceded defeat Monday in their three-year attempt to regulate the use of processed sludge as fertilizer. ... Township Solicitor Ronold Karasek told township supervisors Monday that the township has lost before the state Supreme Court. Initially Karasek said he thought the township had prevailed. But after re-examining the court's ruling, he changed his mind. ... The court has said it will not clarify its ruling, Karasek said.

Maybe it's just because I'm not a law expert, but it strikes me as strange that the court would refuse to clarify what's so obviously a confusing ruling. But I guess the township's concession settles it. It's a shame that lack of resources is a major barrier to appealing the decision to the US Supreme Court. Doubtless the time and money required to fight a court case help to weed out frivolous ones, but it puts money- and personnel-poor municipalities at a disadvantage.

The best hope, it looks like, will be either a federal rule that supersedes the state law (the EPA is aware of the biosolids issue and may push it next year if we get someone different in charge), or a court case by another township whose situation doesn't have the technicality that split the state supreme court decision.