U.S. Agriculture department won't appeal sludge case in Augusta

A significant court case questioning the use of sludge as fertilizer on farms will stand, without protest from federal officials.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will not appeal a ruling that it compensate a farmer after he used toxic sludge on his farm near Augusta.

Andy McElmurray had sued after finding the sludge contained arsenic, lead and other heavy metals.

The sludge, from the Augusta wastewater treatment plant, had killed his cattle herd and poisoned his farmland.

The ruling had questioned a program endorsed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for 30 years: Convert sewage sludge into fertilizer.

Farmers use it for free and federal officials say it's a cheap way to clean up water pollution.

And research by the University of Georgia had indicated that the sludge was free of health risks.

But in a separate lawsuit, McElmurray and David Lewis, a former researcher for the EPA, says UGA researchers used false data to make that claim in a study funded with grant money from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

"The evidence shows that the EPA basically colluded and colludes with educational institutions to create bad science," says Edwin Hallman, McElmurray and Lewis's attorney.

Hallman alleges that federal grant money was the motive.

An attorney representing UGA declined to comment on that case.

As for the case against the U.S. Agriculture Department, the next step is for the court to determine how much compensation McElmurray will get, says Hallman. The agriculture department had until April 25 to appeal the case.

The city of Augusta last year settled a lawsuit over McElmurray's cows for $1.5 million last year.