Trump officials cancel proposed rules for sewage fertilizer with Pfas chemicals

The Trump administration has decided to cancel new rules for sewage sludge that contains Pfas chemicals. This sludge was being spread on farms as fertilizer. This practice has caused many problems, including making farmers sick, ruining their businesses, killing farm animals, polluting water, and contaminating meat and food products sold to the public.

These proposed rules would have mostly stopped the use of sludge, also known as biosolids, in the country's food system. However, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has thrown out its own scientific research from less than two years ago. This research had formed the basis for the proposed rules. The EPA justified this decision by stating that sludge is not a widespread threat because it is mainly used on a small percentage of farmland.

Despite this, the EPA has advised the public to research sludge companies themselves to avoid toxic chemicals found in home fertilizer, which is widely sold for gardens. This advice was given in comments published in the federal register.

Laura Dumais, a lawyer for the environmental group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (Peer), called the decision very strange. She expressed shock that the EPA would discard scientific research, suggesting that the agency is implying that farmers' lives do not matter.

Pfas are a group of about 16,000 chemicals, known as forever chemicals because they don't break down naturally and build up in the body and environment. These chemicals are linked to serious health issues such as cancer, liver and kidney problems, high cholesterol, birth defects, and weakened immunity.

Sludge is a mix of human and industrial waste produced by treating sewage. Its disposal is costly. In the 1990s, the EPA began allowing it to be spread on farms because it contains nutrients that help plants grow.

However, public health groups have criticized this practice. They argue that the country spends a lot of money treating water, only to use the toxic waste as fertilizer, which then pollutes water again. Regulators in states like Maine and Michigan have found Pfas in all samples they tested. A federal review in 2001 also found these chemicals in sewage sludge across the country.

Current EPA rules only require testing for nine heavy metals, even though biosolids can contain thousands of different man-made chemicals. Peer has filed a lawsuit against the EPA, claiming it has failed to regulate Pfas in sludge under the Clean Water Act.

In the final days of the Biden administration, the EPA released a draft report. It suggested that any level of certain Pfas in sludge above 1 part per billion (ppb) could increase cancer and other health risks for farmers. Most sludge contains more than 1ppb of Pfas, so if this had been made into a final rule, it would have greatly limited its use.

The proposed rules included risk assessments for Pfoa and Pfos, which are common and very toxic Pfas chemicals. These assessments focused on risks to farmers but did not fully examine how the chemicals might affect the public through contaminated food.

Environmental lawyers have pointed out research showing risks to farm families and the public. One calculation showed a high cancer risk for children drinking milk from farms where sludge with high levels of Pfoa was spread. Levels exceeding this amount have been found in sludge in Maine.

The EPA’s decision is seen by critics as prioritizing polluters and forcing farming families and rural communities to face the consequences. They argue that the administration is abandoning a thorough, science-based assessment of Pfas dangers for a weaker document that downplays the real harm.

The waste management industry, which profits from sludge, opposes regulations and has actively lobbied the EPA. The EPA claims sludge is used on only 1% of farmland, but no government agency accurately tracks its use. Many states do not test land where sludge is spread, even though it can spread to nearby properties and pollute water.

The government has also not conducted significant testing of food grown in Pfas-contaminated sludge. In Maine, where many farms are affected, chemicals spread years ago are still found in the soil, even on organic farms. Farmers unknowingly grew crops in this contaminated soil.

Critics are shocked that the EPA is abandoning people and telling them to 'do their own research' instead of regulating dangerous chemicals.