A federal judge rejected a plea from a group of farmers for court-ordered action to force EPA to address dangerous “forever chemicals” detected in sewage sludge used as fertilizer.
The order, issued Monday out of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, dismissed a complaint brought last summer by five Texas farmers and ranchers alleging EPA’s failure to regulate PFAS in biosolids violates federal law.
The Clean Water Act does impose “a non-discretionary duty on EPA to review its regulations on a biennial basis,” but “it does not mandate that EPA also identify and regulate sewage-sludge pollutants within the same time frame,” Judge Dabney Friedrich, a Trump appointee, wrote in the order.
EPA in the final days of the Biden administration released a draft assessment that found risks associated with PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, in biosolids. If finalized — which EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has signaled he plans to follow through on — that assessment could lead to legally enforceable standards nationwide.
