Thursday, some residents living on U.S. Route 62 and state Route 965 in Jackson Township had a rude awakening. And the stench wasn't much better.

Semi-trucks hauling sludge from the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority sewage plant began dumping it on about 800 acres of pasture, owned by Roy H. Neer, 138 Quail Road Lane, Slippery Rock. The Herald's attempts to reach Neer were unsuccessful.

The sewer authority subcontracted with Neer to dump the solid waste on his land, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Neighbors are complaining that they weren't notified of the arrangement and are up in arms about the effect of the sludge on the environment, the smell of the waste product and trucks backing into a driveway on a bad curve.

"They can't guarantee me it's safe," said Norma Fisher of 1607 Franklin Road, also known as U.S. Route 62. She lives diagonally across from the truck entrance to the property. "When it rains, the water runs down a gully from the property into a pond on my property. I don't want to lose my horses," she said.

"It's more than that," said her neighbor, Robert Grant of 1536 Franklin Road. "It's people not receiving letters about this. We don't want this in our township."

According to about 15 neighbors, only three families received letters about the sludge site. The residents are having a community meeting at 6 tonight in the Jackson Center firehall to discuss the situation.

A list of 20 names of those with adjacent property was given to DEP by NU Soil Farms Inc., the company that played the middle man between the sewer authority and Neer; NU Soil President Joe Carlin claims everyone on the list was contacted.

Several landowners live out of state, according to neighbors.

"My property borders the Neer property, and I never received a letter," said Shirley McIntire of 1479 Franklin Road.

Though Carlin said his company contracted with Neer, he would not say what Neer was getting paid for the use of his property, calling it privileged information.

"They are just putting fertilizer on his farm," Carlin said.

Regina Schweinsberg, a DEP soil scientist, said the state received the application from NU Soil on April 4, and sent a letter to Jackson and Worth township secretaries on April 25, stating that NU Soil and the Allegheny sewer authority "intend to apply biosolids on the Neer Farm ... under a general permit for the beneficial use of biosolids. These biosolids result from the treatment of wastewater from sewage-treatment plants."

The letter continued: "The permit holder has demonstrated the ability to treat the biosolids in accordance with the department's standards for beneficial use ... Enclosed for your information is a copy of this 30-day notice."

Ms. Schweinsberg explained that everything was properly permitted by DEP, and said the sludge is "just like putting fertilizer on their gardens."

When it comes to residents' complaints, she said, DEP must follow regulations. "We can listen to their comments, but we can only look at technical issues."

To address the road-safety issue, concerning the blind curve near the property's entrance, Carlin said two lighted warning signs would be placed by the entrance this morning.

Jackson Township Supervisor Gary T. Oakes said the dumping was brought up at the May meeting but the supervisors assumed there was nothing they could do about it. "When DEP has approved it, there's not much we can do," he said.

But residents have plenty of questions and want answers, some of which relate to why they didn't get a chance to ask any in the first place.

"We can't go back, but we can move forward," Ms. McIntire said, urging anyone with concerns to come to the meeting. "This isn't just a township issue, this is a community issue."