Weissport Borough Council joined 15 other Carbon County municipalities in passing a resolution that allows them to regulate the use of sewage sludge as a fertilizer.

Linda Christman, from the group Save Carbon County, addressed the Weissport Borough Council Monday night.

“Fifteen of 22 municipalities in Carbon County have adopted the resolution. Most don’t have an issue with this; but, first, we’re all in the same watershed. Whatever goes in some place else sooner or later will end up in the Lehigh River. Second, the municipalities that don’t have a problem wanted to support the municipalities that do have a problem. And third, municipalities in general feel that local governments should be able to solve local problems. We want to return to the original Right to Farm Act.”

The original Right to Farm Act, passed in 1982, protected farms and allowed the local governments to intervene if actions threatened local residents or the environment. The Nutrient Management Act and the Acres Act both took away local governments’ rights to regulate the use of sewage sludge.

“With your support of this resolution, we will go to Harrisburg to try to get the law changed,” Christman said. “We’ll also go to Bethlehem and Allentown, which are producing this stuff, and tell them we don’t want it here.”

Weissport Borough Council passed the resolution unanimously.