Ellington's home be halted or at least delayed by at least one year. I believe that you can empathize clearly
with Mrs. Ellington's situation."
Dr. Katherine Nichols' response to Dr. Chung's email 5/8/06, "As you may know, I have no independent ability
to halt the application of biosolids in a given area. I have, however, forwarded your letter to the office in
Richmond where such decisions are made, along with supporting recommendations that the application be
delayed..... I have talked with the Ellingtons many times over the last two years. Mrs. Ellington is a brave
lady to be facing all that she has over the past year and I have enormous respect for her. Each time I have
gotten additional medical information from her I have forwarded it to the group that makes the permitting
decisions [VDH-DWE1." (Underscoring added for emphasis and bracket for identification)
ED NOTES: It is clearly a misguided system/program that 1) allows no authority for abatement, for any
reason, by a LHD medical doctor. 2) That leaves the life or death decision of Virginians to be made by an
engineer [VDH-Dept. of Wastewater Engineering]. 3) After several years of known medical conditions of
Mrs. Ellington, VDH-DWE ignores her condition and allows the waste hauler to land apply sludge/biosolids
Class 'B' pollution near her home. 4) That clearly allows the inadequately tested/ monitored out-of-state
sludge/biosolids Class 'B', to be applied in Virginia when sludge-illness documented reports have come
from the same (NJ) source exposure. 5) That the VDH takes the position of the waste hauler (Nutri-Blend,
Inc.) against the health, safety and welfare of Virginia's Citizenry.
The News & Advance, Lynchburg reports: VDH-Office of Environmental Health Services, Robert Hicks,
stated that the decision for abatement is left solely up to the sludge-hauler "The buffers were already
appropriate in the Ellington's case and the health department will not intervene."
Dr. Nichols' email to the Ellingtons, 5/9/06, "Hi Mr. Ellington, I will call you today about this [the call never
came]. Steve Simpson, our environmental health manager, went out and looked at the site and your
property yesterday. You should be well protected from any dust or other particles by the slope of the land
and the trees." (underscore added for emphasis)
ED NOTES: In all due respect, 1) There is no evidence that Mr. Robert Hicks, Dir. OEHS) nor Mr. Steve
Simpson are attending Oncologists familiar with Mrs. Ellington's medical condition or odor sensitivity. 2)
There is no evidence that either is a meteorologist that has charted the environmental conditions of
aerosol, humidity, climatic changes. There is scientific DNA proof that pathogens can travel over 1,000
miles. 3) There is no evidence that either is a trained nor experienced microbiologist competent in
analyzing the content chemicals, metals, pathogens, reactions and interactions, of the Class 'B'
sludge/biosolids pollution that was proposed to be applied.
Therefore, for Dr. Nichols to state that the Ellington's would be "well protected", is not only unsubstantiated
by any logic or science, but is an effort to defraud the Ellington family with known false information. This is
unforgivable of a doctor of medicine much less a fellow human being. The same holds true with agency
officials that will compromise their training and integrity with this indifference of human health and
falsehood assumptions presented as authoritative facts. There is no independent-peer reviewed science
that categorically states that land application of sludge is "safe" for human exposure.
The State Health Commissioner was emailed on 5/8/06 with a request that the application be stopped while
an investigation could be conducted relevant to the health issues of the Ellington family. Though
Commissioner Robert B. Stroube, MD, has the authority to abate, investigate, remove a permit and take
protective action to "prevent" potential health and nuisance issues, he remained silent and
non-responsive. It is evident that the administrative problems and indifference to Virginians' health needs
are systemic.
The Governor was also contacted; he, too, remained above the issues and non-responsive. This
disconnect speaks volumes that the same chronic health conditions are condoned by this administration as
was with
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