Biosolids Ban Bill Watered Down as Negotiations Over Testing, Notification Continue

A proposal to make sweeping changes to the use of potentially toxic fertilizer on Virginia farmland has been amended to ease strain on the municipal wastewater and agriculture industries, some groups said it would have posed.

Senate Bill 386 aimed to ban the use of biosolids, a cheap fertilizer derived from treated wastewater sludge that contains PFAS, the pervasive “forever chemicals” that research shows have adverse effects on human health.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Richard Stuart, R-King George, has been rallying against the use of biosolids after hearing the mounting concerns from constituents in agricultural communities who fear the health impacts of exposure to the forever chemicals. The bill now mirrors a similar version of the bill in the House of Delegates and is the strictest biosolids regulation proposal remaining in the legislature.

“This is land where we grow our food, and so if we are not directly eating the crop off of the land, it’s then animal feed, chicken feed,” Stuart said. “But most of us are eating those animals, and the levels (of PFAS) are now getting pretty significant.”

Stuart’s amendment walked back its call for an outright biosolids ban after multiple groups said it would be impractical for the biosolids industry, waste management companies that need to dispose of the sewage sludge, and farmers who would have to spend more money to switch to alternative fertilizer methods.

The amended bill now stipulates that if the combined amount of the chemical compounds in PFAS, PFOA, and PFOS is equal to or greater than 50 parts per billion, then the biosolids can’t be spread on Virginia land. If the combined amounts are between 25 and 50 parts per billion, the bill reads, then the amount of biosolids spread on farmland would be reduced. There are also notification provisions in the measure so that landowners will be made aware of the presence of forever chemicals in the biosolids.

Stuart’s bill also allows for localities to set their own limits on how much PFAS they are willing to have present in the biosolids being spread on the permitted land within their jurisdiction.

But some lawmakers and various municipal wastewater departments around the commonwealth said in a Tuesday hearing that the thresholds were still too high and there are not many available options for how to dispose of the sludge if it is not used on farms. There are plans for various groups to work with Stuart on potential future amendments.

House Bill 1443, patroned by Del. Alfonso Lopez, D-Arlington, sets the limits at the 50 parts per billion for PFOS or PFOA separately on a rolling 12-month average; if those limits are exceeded, biosolids spreading would have to stop. The bill also includes a reduced rate of spreading if either chemical reaches 25-50 parts per billion.

Lopez told the Virginia Mercury that there are continued negotiations with stakeholders to find the best path forward for all parties.

“We want to find a solution that is fact-based and workable,” said Matt Wells with the Virginia Biosolids Council, a group of wastewater treatment facilities and biosolid land applicators. “I think what we are looking at now over (in the House) is going to be very difficult as it is.”

Advocates such as Jay Ford with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation said in a previous hearing that the right amount of exposure to PFAS is zero. Forever chemicals have been connected to health risks, including some cancers, and linked to reduced pregnancy rates.

Maine is the only state that has fully banned the use of biosolids on farmland and states like Maryland have introduced legislation to lower the amount of PFAS that can be present in the biosolids to be used. Stuart has pointed to a concern that the sewage sludge from Maryland will be shipped to Virginia, since the state currently does not test the biosolids for PFAS or have any limitations for what is safe to be spread.

“We need to be aggressive. We’re seeing other states where they’re having to euthanize entire dairy herds because the stuff has gotten so heavy in the milk of those cattle,” Stuart said. “I don’t want to see a time in Virginia where the EPA comes in and tests their farmland and says it’s so polluted, you can’t farm anything.”

While many lawmakers on the Senate Agriculture committee expressed concerns with Stuart’s bill, they allowed it to advance to keep negotiations alive.

Other surviving bills related to the issue include HB 1072, which would allow localities to test the land application of biosolids for PFAS. HB939 also requires wastewater treatment facilities to have new and existing industrial users self-report the use of PFAS as part of a pretreatment program.

by Shannon Heckt, Virginia Mercury

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