Nazareth's Mr. Hankey On His Way Plainfield Tp

In November 2021, Allen and Hart Hower sold their 93-acre farm, located in Plainfield Tp, to Nazareth Borough Municipal (BM) Authority for $850,000. The property is probably worth three times as much except for one thing - it is subject to an agricultural conservation easement The Howers not only sold their own rights to develop the property but restricted all future owners from doing so as well.  Under an agreement with Northampton County in 2008, they were paid $606,347 to preserve about 82-acres for agricultural purposes. Given that the use of this tract is mostly limited to planting crops of animal husbandry, why on earth would Nazareth BM Authority buy it? To spread shit, of course. Starting in April, it has clearance from the state EPA to treat the property with what is called class B biosolids. That's a very  saying shit. It's not raw shite. They pop it in an oven first and bake it a bit, just like pizza. But Plainfield Tp citizens have been railing about this for some time. I don't blame them. After all, this is Nazareth shit we're talking about here.  Have you ever seen what they eat here? From pasties (the meat pie, not nipple cover) to Moravian sugar cake, it's no wonder this tiny borough is littered with port-a-potties all over the place. More specifically. this is my shit, for which there really should be a special category.  There's a reason UGI is constantly digging up the streets here. 

Plainfield residents have done what they can do. They've complained to the BM Authority and to the Borough itself, only to be told to shut up. Northampton County Council has listened to them several times, but there's really nothing a county government can do. You see, spreading treated sludge is considered a "normal farming practice" protected under Pennsylvania's Right to Farm Act.  

Exec Lamont McClure made this clear last week at County Council's Energy Committee. Its jurisdiction apparently includes fecal matters, although I'd argue that every one of Council's committees talks shit pretty much nonstop.  "I wish I could stop it, but I can't," said the Exec, before turning around and hurriedly walking away. 

Hey, when you gotta' go, you gotta' go.  

Before making his exit, McClure said that the law needs to change. Maybe it does. But all kidding aside, the reality is that, except for judges and Donald Trump, we all drop anchor from time to time.  Incinerating it or dumping it in the ocean seems far more harmful than spreading cooked crap over farmfields.

The real outrage here is that Nazareth BM Authority had land within a stone's throw of its treatment plant with which it could spread sludge. Instead of doing so, it sold the land for $53.1 million to a warehouse developer. 

I believe the Right to Farm Act should be amended, but not to ban sludge. Instead, any sewage disposal authority should be confined to disposing of human waste within its own service area unless it can demonstrate with a Declaratory Judgment action that it has no option.