By Kyle K. Weldon and Jim D. Bradbury
James D. Bradbury, PLLC
In a lawsuit filed June in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, five landowners from Grandview, Texas, with the assistance from an environmental interest group (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility) sued the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for harm they allege was caused by Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) contamination from municipal sewage sludge that was spread as fertilizer on their neighbors’ property.
PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals,” are manufactured chemicals that have been used in industry and consumer products for decades. They do not easily degrade and can build up in the environment and the human body over time. Given their persistence in certain environments, there are potential adverse health impacts related to PFAS. The plaintiffs in this case claim that the sewage sludge containing PFAS has contaminated their land, killed and sickened their livestock and farmed fish, injured their health and devalued their property.
The EPA is tasked with regulating the use and disposal of biosolids under Clean Water Act; however, current EPA regulations do not limit the amount of PFAS that biosolids can contain. Specifically, in this lawsuit, the plaintiffs are suing the EPA because they claim the agency “failed to identify certain PFAS as toxic pollutants present in sewage sludge and failed to regulate certain PFAS. …” The same plaintiffs also have sued Synagro, the company that manages, treats and recycles the sewage into granulate fertilizer that is then applied to land (including plaintiffs’ neighbors’ land). That other lawsuit is pending in state court in Maryland, where Synagro is located.
Unfortunately, the understanding of PFAS, their exposure and health impacts, as well as ways to prevent and manage PFAS, is somewhat of a new frontier, with massive amounts of research currently underway. In September, the EPA announced that a $3.2 million research grant had been awarded to Texas A&M University and Texas Tech University to “collect PFAS bioaccumulation data in agricultural plants and livestock and explore strategies for reducing PFAS exposure, which are important parts of EPA’s commitment to protecting human health and the environment from PFAS.” Additional information related to this grant can be found here.
A few states have taken recent actions related to PFAS in biosolids, with Maine in 2022 banning the land application of certain types of biosolids. As of Oct. 1, PFAS containing biosolids will be prohibited from being used or sold in Connecticut, while Michigan, New York and Wisconsin, among others, have put interim strategies in place to limit the PFAS concentration allowed in land-applied biosolids.
For decades, cities have transported and applied their biosolids to rural farms and ranches. Now samples are beginning to show concentrations of PFAS. The EPA’s 2019 Biosolids Program Report estimates that more than 2.4 million tons of biosolids are annually applied to land across the country; therefore, the implications of this issue could be substantial nationwide.
