The Zanders' have never had their day in court
where they could address the sludge issues. Powerful
entities (Washington State Department of Ecology and King
County Department of Metropolitan Services, the EPA, AMSA and
WEF) have conspired to prevent this from ever happening.
According to documented evidence, on February 22, 1993, two
State Department of Ecology Representatives, Al Hanson, and
Kyle Dorsey, four King County Metro representatives, Mark
Lucas, Carol Ready, Steve Gilbert, Dan Sturgill and their
legal counsel, Salley Tenney, of the Metro Legal Services,
Mel Kemper of the City of Tacoma, Hal Thurston, an attorney
representing the cities that were involved in the Zanders'
lawsuits and four individuals also associated with the Zander
law suit, met in a closed meeting to discuss the Zander Case.
According to Keith A. Bode, as recorded in the Zander Action
Summary, the legal cost to stop her will exceed $500,000
dollars.
Bode warned those in attendance at the meeting that
Zander had to be stopped. He said that she had identified 18
medical experts (including physicians, immunologists,
toxicologists, and nutritionists), 9 veterinarians, 2
property valuation/devaluation experts, 3
soil/hydraulic/geologic experts and 1 testing lab who would
testify about the dangers of sewage sludge use to humans and
animals. Bode warned that there would be extra-regional
impact and "This action must not be settled". He reminded
those present:
The public persona of biosolids is precarious, at best,
and each member of WEF and AMSA can be assured that
Zander appears dedicated to capitalizing on every
available opportunity to publicize her scare story...and
remember, with respect to land application, the farming
community comprises less than 2% of the population, so
she need only reach a narrow population to cripple land
application. It is essential that her soapbox be removed
and her credibility challenged before our regional
problem has any more effect (than she has now)
nationally or internationally on land application of
biosolids.
Linda's active fight against the land application of
sewage sludge and sewage sludge sold as a fertilizer for
lawns and gardens made her a target of both the EPA and WEF.
She became number 2 on the EPA's hit list of sludge "horror
stories" which they paid the Water Environment Federation to
debunk. They had to coverup any damage to human health and
the environment. After all their propaganda said sludge was
perfectly safe and there had never been any documented cases