Intent to sue federal regulators charges they have failed to address dangerous levels of PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ known to be in sludge
Dairy cows rest outside the home of Fred and Laura Stone at Stoneridge Farm in Arundel, Maine. The farm was forced to shut down after sludge spread on the land was linked to high levels of PFAS in the milk. Photograph: Robert F Bukaty/AP

New legal action could put an end to the practice of spreading toxic sewage sludge on US cropland as a cheap alternative to fertilizer, and force America to rethink how it disposes of its industrial and human waste.

A notice of intent to sue federal regulators charges they have failed to address dangerous levels of PFAS “forever chemicals” known to be in virtually all sludge.

read full article

Doing the right thing – cost them everything. “Sludge” tells the stories of farmers who are speaking up about “forever chemicals” poisoning their land, water, and livestock, only to lose everything in the process. Who’s to blame? And what’s being done now to ensure our land and water is safe for future generations?

Further information...

S.L.U.D.G.E. (Stop Land Use Damaging our Ground and Environment), a group of citizens in southwest Missouri, had a float in a recent Christmas parade.Learn more about the group at https://www.stopsludgespreading.com.

A temporary compromise reached by lawmakers means Maine communities are once again burying sewage sludge in the state-owned landfill at Juniper Ridge near Old Town, and don't have to pay extra to haul the waste to New Brunswick, Canada.

BY PENELOPE OVERTON, STAFF WRITER

Maine’s sludge disposal crisis is over for now, but the search continues for a permanent solution.

Maine communities are once again burying sewage sludge in the state-owned landfill at Juniper Ridge near Old Town and no longer have to pay extra to haul the waste to New Brunswick, Canada. The last truckload of Maine sludge headed to Canada on July 7.

“Our last bill was down, but we should see the full effect in our next bill,” said Dave Hughes, superintendent of the Scarborough Sanitary District. “We’re better off than most. The district has reserves, so we didn’t have to raise rates right away, but it was hugely expensive, and reserves don’t last forever.”

Before the sludge crisis, Scarborough was paying Casella Waste Systems, the contractor that operates Juniper Ridge for Maine, about $400,000 a year to dispose of its sludge at the state landfill. After Casella started trucking sludge to Canada, Hughes put Scarborough’s annual disposal rate at $600,000.
Casella started hauling sludge to Canada in February after it concluded that the landfill could no longer safely accept sludge from its three dozen municipal customers. That much wet material posed a threat to the landfill’s structural integrity, putting the pit itself in danger of collapse, Cassella said.

Casella blamed the sludge crisis on two new laws intended to protect Maine’s environment: one prohibited the use of sludge as an agricultural fertilizer due to elevated levels of potentially dangerous forever chemicals and the other banned out-of-state waste from Maine landfills.

Read full article