Last week, Carbon County residents approached the board of commissioners to urge them to sign a resolution to move control on biosolid regulations to the municipality level.

Brandon Fogal of Save Carbon County told the board that approximately 19 of the 23 municipalities have signed the resolution and hoped the county would join that list.

Currently, the state allows sewage sludge to be spread on farmlands as a form of fertilizer; however, residents say there are significant health and safety problems associated with this practice.

Fogal stressed previously that there are heavy metals and toxins that remain in the sludge even after treatment that can cause serious problems to humans.

The commissioners agreed with the group’s thoughts.

“I feel that this resolution is very important,” Commissioner Rocky Ahner said, adding that it would send a message to the state that the citizens are concerned.

He said that his opinion is that the sludge is causing issues of contamination.

Commissioner Chris Lukasevich said that the county will be putting the resolution on an upcoming agenda to vote on, however the board waited to hear the Agricultural Land Preservation Board’s stance on the matter.

He said that the board met last week and reviewed things and decided to “retain the position that they did not want to take a position and would continue to operate comfortably within the Right to Farm Act.”

In the continued battle against biosolids, county residents are also invited to join farmers and other residents at 11 a.m. on Thursday at the entrance to the Carbon County Administration Building in Jim Thorpe to talk about what sewage sludge is and the effects it has on a community.

Save Carbon County says that “Some farmers in Carbon County are using sewage sludge as fertilizer on farm fields, endangering the continued viability of their farm, threatening to pollute wells and putting the health and welfare of their own families and that of their neighbors at risk from the impacts of heavy metals and forever chemicals found in the sludge.”

During the event, two farmers who refuse to use sewage sludge on their fields, as well as a resident whose neighbor uses this sludge as fertilizer, will speak.

A release on the upcoming gathering states that there are fewer than 15 farmers in Carbon County who use sewage sludge but this number is likely to grow unless more information is provided to the farming community.