BY Emily Kenny Central NY
PUBLISHED 4:31 PM ET Jun. 18, 2025
A bill that would have put a five-year moratorium on the use of sewage sludge on farmland did not pass the New York state Assembly before the end of this year’s legislative session despite bipartisan support early on.
“If you look at the votes, you’ll see it was unanimous ‘yes,’ bipartisan, and then last minute, the same people who voted ‘yes’ all voted ‘no’ in the Rules Committee,” said state Assemblywoman Anna Kelles, a Democrat and sponsor of the bill.
At the end of session, there was a push from lobbyists in favor of the use of biosolids, which Kelles said swayed other members of the chamber.
“There’s at least one very large private equity firm in one county here in New York mixing our sludge from our toilets and our sinks, our residential and commercial waste, mixing it with wood chips and selling it back to us for huge profits for landscaping, compost, agricultural soil amendments with no disclosure [of PFAS chemicals],” Kelles said.
