Pennsylvania Supreme Court To Review Biosolids Application

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court granted review of a 34 plaintiff tort case challenging land application of biosolids, a recycling practice used by thousands and towns and cities to manage the majority of the country’s sewage sludge. The briefing will occur this fall and early winter, and oral argument will likely be in the spring with a decision in late 2015 or early 2016.

In the case of Gilbert v. Synagro, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court will interpret for the first time the Pennsylvania Right to Farm Act, and whether a judge or jury should interpret its statute of limitation that protects farm activities from nuisance suits one year after the work is undertaken.

The case has attracted significant interest as eleven entities appeared in the Pennsylvania Superior Court to support the defendants’ argument that the Right to Farm Act blocked this lawsuit and that a judge, not a jury, should interpret and apply the Act. Friend of the court briefs supporting land application of biosolids were filed by, among others, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, the City of Philadelphia, ALCOSAN, the Pennsylvania Municipal Authorities Association, and the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau.

The Right to Farm Act, and in particular the protections it provides to Pennsylvania farms through its statute of limitation provisions, is important to Pennsylvania agriculture and to the Commonwealth’s cities and towns that depend on recycling their biosolids to farms as fertilizer.

Specifically, the Right to Farm Act only protects farm activities that qualify as a “normal agricultural operation.” The Defendants argued, and the trial court agreed, that the heavily regulated status of land application of biosolids and its use by a small but significant number of farmers qualified biosolids use for protection under the Right to Farm Act as a matter of law.

In 2008 the Plaintiffs sued Synagro and the farmers it worked with who have used biosolids for many years in York County, Pennsylvania, alleging that the biosolids constituted a nuisance and trespass. The trial court dismissed the case in 2012 because the Plaintiffs did not file suit until more than a year after the biosolids were applied, entitling the Defendants to the protection of the statute of limitation for farm operations under the Right to Farm Act.

A divided Superior Court reversed that ruling in April 2014, determining that a jury would have to decide whether using biosolids on a farm pursuant to a state permit was entitled to protection under the Act.

The Superior Court’s 2-1 majority reversed the trial court, ruling that whether biosolids use was a normal agricultural operation was a question of fact for jury review. The Superior Court majority further ruled that the application of a statute of limitation posed a jury question despite the purpose of a statute of limitation to bar claims after a certain period of time.

Lorrie Loder, a spokesperson for Synagro, commented that “we are pleased that the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has decided to review this important issue regarding the protections of the Right to Farm Act. We are hopeful that the Court will agree with us and the many stakeholders around the Commonwealth that the Right to Farm Act protects the valuable recycling practice of fertilizing farm fields with biosolids from communities around the state.”

About Synagro
Founded in 1986, Synagro provides a system of solutions for civic and commercial organizations that manages by-products to create new, environmentally compelling options. The Company’s reliable, lasting system transforms industrial and municipal waste into environmentally sustainable resources that benefit our communities and our planet—before an environmental footprint is left behind. As the largest recycler of organic by-products in the United States, Synagro uses best-in-class processes from beneficial reuse to renewable energy that adhere to the strictest of environmental regulations to provide sustainable solutions for communities across the nation. Serving more than 600 municipal and industrial water and wastewater facilities throughout the U.S., the Company’s leading systems of by-product management services help municipalities of all sizes save money and meet environmental regulations.