SLUDGE VICTIMS

up to 8 feet thick, they say.

The project was terminated in 1994, amid wide-spread complaints about odors and water problems.

The odors remain but nothing like it once was, Hunt said.

The streams around the site are often filled with mountains of suds from ammonia runoff, the Ohio EPA says.

The OHIO EPA is aware of some problems around the site, but it has no evidence of health-threatening problems like those suggested by the Bakers and Hunts, said agency spokesman Mark Stump.

The odor problems were more numerous than most other sites and local streams were fouled with sludge-based pollution that has had a slight impact on aquatic lie, he said. The EPA cited the company for problems at that time,.
The agency can step in if there is evidence of problems from the sludge site, but it has no firm evidence, Stump said.

The sludge site - now largely overgrown with weeds -- cannot be used for additional sludge dumping without new approval from the EPA, he said.

At Ieast one other family has sued over the sludge dumping and settled out of court with the companies. Terms of the settlement remain secret.,

Now, the Bakers and Hunts are the only ones fighting the sludge.

Said Patti Baker, "Why doesn't it stay in New Jersey and out of our back yard?"