Washington State
Oklahoma
New York State
Maine
Michigan
Minnesota
Texas
Tennessee
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Washington State
The WA state Pollution Control Hearings Board (PCHB) ruled in favor of Ed Kenney and Nisqually Delta Association’s appeal of the Department of Ecology’s 2022 biosolids permit. The appeal called for the permit to be in full compliance with SEPA.
The PCHB ruled it must be updated to address PFAS, PBDEs and micro plastics in the permit.
“Since SEPA is at heart an informational statute designed to provide full environmental information, the Board remands for Ecology to comply with SEPA by including in its environmental checklist and resulting determination an explicit and full disclosure and review of information on the environmental impacts of PFAs, PBDEs, and microplastics in biosolids that are stored, transported, and land applied under the General Permit.”
Operators can continue under their old/former permits until the 2022 permit is updated, but no new operator applicants will get permits until the 2022 permit is updated. Ecology will prepare new language and a draft will be open for public comment.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oklahoma
Fertilizer from human waste faces scrutiny but remains a profitable industry
Earlier this year, the Maryland-based environmental nonprofit Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, or PEER, sued the EPA over the lack of biosolid fertilizer standards.
“EPA’s failure to promulgate limits for PFAS in biosolids where there is sufficient scientific information demonstrating a need to do so is contrary to the language and intent of the CWA. EPA’s requirement to biennially review the list of identified pollutants “for the purpose of . . . promulgating regulations for such pollutants” demonstrates Congressional intent for EPA to continually reassess the current scientific knowledge and update the regulations accordingly. 33 U.S.C. § 1345(d)(2)(C)). EPA’s continued failure to carry out the agency’s mandatory duty results in a failure to meet the requirement to promulgate regulations for pollutants, like PFAS, in biosolids. Since Congress enacted the biennial review requirements for pollutants in biosolids under the CWA, EPA has only promulgated nine sewage sludge regulations for land application for the more than 700 pollutants identified. 40 C.F.R. Part 503. In other words, EPA has deemed it acceptable for biosolids containing PFAS and other known toxic chemicals to be applied directly to soil as fertilizer, where these man-made contaminants then build up in the environment, exacerbating the PFAS contamination crisis. This is not protective of human health or the environment.”
Sierra Club has been working with Paula Yockel who shared these slides
63d8105797a43e871c5e1f10_SLIDESHOW OF KEY FINDINGS MISSION503.pdf
"Health Concerns Grow as Oklahoma Farmers Fertilize Cropland with Treated Sewage". (2023). https://civileats.com/2023/02/28/rural-oklahoma-treated-sewage-sludge-biosolids-farmland-wastewater-health-pollution-livestock-farms/. "Complaints about water and air pollution and health impacts to people and livestock haven’t stopped farmers in Oklahoma from spreading treated sewage on their land."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New York
New York Senate Bill S227 https://legiscan.com/NY/bill/S00227/2023
New York Senate Bill S227B to require PFAS testing in industrial discharges to sewage plants passed the Senate by unanimous vote in the Senate but died in committee.
On June 6, legislation to require tests for PFAS in sewage effluent passed the New York State Senate by a 62-0 vote, prompting supporters to hail it as “landmark” and “a nation-leading testing protocol.” But the bill didn’t address sewage sludge. And it was never called for a vote in the state Assembly before the Legislature adjourned June 10. So the measure is dead for 2023.Assembly member Anna Kelles (D-Ithaca), sponsor of the Assembly’s version of the bill, said the unanimous vote in the Senate reflects “the ubiquitous understanding of the negative impacts of PFAS.…
Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter reports that New York fails to protect farmland from PFAS in sewage sludge
"SEWAGE SLUDGE ‘FERTILIZER’ CONTAMINATES FARMS WITH TOXIC PFAS." (2023)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10FIuwd8g9pTLeJ2bsEVUV6ez6EA65Z1E/view
Highlighting a practice that compromises farmland nationwide, a new report finds that sewage sludge spread as fertilizer on New York state fields contains toxic chemicals that sicken farmers, contaminate crops, and threaten consumer health. The report published Thursday by the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter, suggests that the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has failed to prevent dangerous per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from entering the environment through the practice, and urges the state to put a stop to the contamination.
"Continued use of dangerous sewage sludge as a “soil amendment” in New York State threatens the future of our farmland and compromises the safety of crops, the safety of our water resources drawn on for drinking water, and the health of farmers, gardeners, the environment and consumers who eat fruits, vegetables and grains, and the eggs, meat, milk and other dairy products from livestock fed crops grown on contaminated land.
Of particular concern to farmers, the practice of using sewage sludge as a fertilizer or soil amendment threatens the health and resiliency of our state’s soils. In 2021, New York joined the growing national trend of prioritizing soil health. The state’s Soil Health and Climate Resiliency Act “declared the policy of the legislature to promote the health and resiliency of New York’s agricultural soils, including the biological, physical, and chemical components of such soils, to sustain agricultural plants and animals, produce a health, affordable food supply, promote climate resilient farming and the reduction of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, and further protect and promote natural resources and the health, safety and welfare of the people of this state.”
Against the inaction of the state, local residents are taking action. In upstate Franklin County, local residents are concerned that Casella trucks in sewage sludge, including from other states and Canada, to its Grasslands processing plant, and that tens of thousands of tons of its product are spread on county farmland and elsewhere in the state to this day. With widespread support of local residents, the town board of Thurston in Steuben County enacted a moratorium in April 2023 on new solid waste facilities to block Casella from accepting sewage sludge for land application."
Maine
Maine bans the spreading of sludge and sludge-derived compost as fertilizer.
PORTLAND, OR—On Wednesday, Maine Governor Janet Mills signed into law a bipartisan bill, LD 1911, that is the first in the nation to ban the spreading of sludge and sludge-derived compost as fertilizer. Sludge has been the source of widespread contamination from PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), known as “forever chemicals,” forcing family farms to shut down and poisoning drinking water wells of entire communities. The law bans the use of sludge as a soil amendment.
Last week, Governor Mills also signed a supplemental budget that includes $60 million dollars to set up a fund for impacted farmers. The resources include income replacement, buyback funds, medical monitoring funds (for both farmers and impacted well owners), and funding for research on cropping alternatives and an additional $9.2 million dollars to increase testing capacity and provide more staff to the Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry.
Michigan
Serious PFAS contamination in Michigan led the state to make significant progress in regulating and reducing PFAS contamination of biosolids and wastewater.
PFAS contamination has been reduced because NPDES permits require industries discharging PFAS to sewers to treat their waste to reduce or eliminate PFAS. https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/how-michigan-reduced-industrial-discharges-pfas. In 2021, Michigan EGLE began including PFAS in WWTP NPDES permits as part of their PFAS reduction strategy. Most NPDES permits simply require monitoring and reporting PFOA/PFOS but now some must comply with limits for discharge of PFOS or PFOA. "PFOS has become the main regulatory driver for PFAS control, with 31% of WWTP effluents reporting results above the applicable water quality values (Figure 2). Two years into implementation, there is significant evidence to support that utilizing the established authorities under the IPP to identify and control industrial sources of PFAS (specifically PFOS) to POTWs is highly effective at reducing the discharge of this pollutant into the environment."
Land contamination by biosolids is also reduced because biosolids must be tested before application and then only applied at levels deemed safe. https://www.michigan.gov/egle/about/organization/water-resources/biosolids.
Minnesota
I was pleased to see this serious discussion of soil and groundwater contamination from biosolids in this Minnesota report: “Forever Chemicals in our Wastewater - How Minnesota can build on the PFAS source reduction laws passed in 2023”. https://www.mncenter.org/pfas-report
IV. Soil and Groundwater Contamination from Biosolids
Over the past 10 years, data has shown that the land application of biosolids is directly tied to the PFAS contamination of soil and groundwater. At this point, we can no longer ignore the reality that when you look for PFAS contamination from wastewater streams like biosolids, you will find it.
The discovery of PFAS contamination from land applied biosolids has led to devastating consequences for rural communities across the country. In 2016, a family farm in Maine voluntarily participated in an EPA program that found PFAS contamination on their farm linked to biosolids land application. PFAS was found in their cows and their milk supply, as well as the husband and wife’s blood, and they were forced to close their multigenerational farm without any compensation for the chemical contamination. Maine initiated a program to test sewage sludge from different wastewater treatment plants across the state and found at least one PFAS chemical in all 44 samples they collected. The results led to the 2022 passage of a bill that banned the use of PFAS-contaminated biosolids for land application in the state.
When other states have tested their own wastewater streams, the results have been similar. In Michigan, for example, a 2018 study of 42 municipal wastewater treatment plants found PFAS compounds in virtually all samples, which included influent, effluent, and biosolids. Consistently, PFOA and PFOS concentrations in the effluent and biosolids were higher than in the influent, which once again indicates that the wastewater treatment process itself can increase the concentration of PFAS compounds. Scientific studies have looked at the impact of long-term application of municipal biosolids on agricultural soils in the United States. What they have found is that biosolids from wastewater treatment plants with higher levels of industrial wastewater are connected to exponentially higher concentrations of long-chain PFAS like PFOA and PFOS in the soil.
These results emphasize the need to treat industrial discharges and reduce PFAS before it gets to the wastewater treatment plant, which can be done through pretreatment programs that target significant industrial users. MPCA can leverage its authority under the Clean Water Act permitting programs to require pretreatment for industrial users who send their water to wastewater treatment facilities. The objectives of the pretreatment program are to “prevent the introduction of pollutants into [publicly-owned treatment works (POTW)] which will interfere with the operation of a POTW, including interference with its use or disposal of municipal sludge.” Pretreatment programs are commonly used to remove the contaminants that the EPA regulates from industrial wastewater,
leveraged this authority to address PFAS pollution from industrial sources, and Minnesota can do the same. Academic research confirms that at sites where biosolids have been land applied for decades, PFAS substances have the ability to leach from the surface, through the soil profile, and into groundwater. In terms of whether PFAS contamination in the soil has the potential to contaminate groundwater, factors like water table depth and soil type are important drivers of risk.
Even though they have now largely been phased out of domestic production, legacy PFAS like PFOS and PFOA tend to be found in soil and groundwater in the highest concentrations, because they have been manufactured for the longest. This indicates that historical, long-term use of biosolids to amended soil has a positive correlation with increased levels of PFAS in the soil and in the groundwater below. The research indicates that if we continue to land apply biosolids, we will see more water contamination from newer, short-chain PFAS that have had less time to impact the environment than their legacy counterparts.
Executive Summary - This study develops alternatives to remove and destroy per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from water resource recovery facility (WRRF) effluent, biosolids, mixed municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill leachate, and compost contact water (waste streams) using currently feasible technologies (i.e., could be built today). Barr Engineering Co. (Barr) and Hazen and Sawyer (Hazen) screened over 50 PFAS separation and destruction technologies for their ability to remove and destroy select PFAS to below current analytical reporting limits (a non-regulatory target established by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency [MPCA] specifically for this study) and for their demonstrated commercial status. Thirteen technologies were retained for detailed consideration and assembled into alternatives, including destroying PFAS in final waste products. Assembled alternatives were ranked for criteria related to technical feasibility, economic feasibility, and byproducts management. Barr and Hazen retained two-to-four alternatives for each waste stream for preliminary design and cost estimating.
Currently, feasible technologies to separate PFAS from liquid waste streams are limited to sorption processes in pressure vessels (including granular activated carbon [GAC], anion exchange [AIX], and modified clay), reverse osmosis (RO) membrane separation, and foam fractionation. Feasible technologies to destroy PFAS from liquid media are currently limited to high-temperature incineration, thermal oxidation, and supercritical water oxidation (SCWO).
Texas
Texas Farms Detail PFAS Contamination in Lawsuit Over Biosolids Fertilizer (dtnpf.com)
2/20/2024 | 4:26 PM CST
OMAHA (DTN) -- With regulation of sewage-sludge fertilizer mostly unsettled nationally, a pair of Texas farms are suing the waste recycling and biosolids company Synagro for selling fertilizer that the farmers allege has affected their health, contaminated their water supply and left their fields and livestock with dangerous testing levels of "forever chemicals." The farms involve five individuals who live or own property on the same county road near Grandview, Texas, about a half hour south of Fort Worth, Texas. Their lawsuit, filed in Baltimore County, Maryland, where Synagro is based, alleges that their farms were contaminated after Synagro provided a neighboring farmer with a biosolid fertilizer that contained potentially dangerous levels of per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS chemicals. The lawsuit alleges the volumes of PFAS chemicals "poisoned them, killed their livestock, polluted their water and rendered their property worthless," according to the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), which arranged laboratory testing of the farms' soil, water and dead livestock.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tennessee
Tennesse Chapter activist Dan Firth reports on the results of his water testing:
PFAs have been linked to disease, infertility and death. A report released last month by the Sierra Club found the chemicals have been detected in 60% of rivers and lakes tested in Northeast Tennessee, findings that raise questions about the long-term safety of drinking water supplies in the region.
The new report’s findings show even greater levels in sewage samples tested. The concentration of PFAS in the Bristol sewage sludge are exponentially higher —83,000 times more — than found in already-alarming quantities detected in local waterways highlighted in Sierra Club’s earlier report.