WASHINGTON — The Potomac Riverkeeper Network is suing the US Environmental Protection Agency, over an issue known as "forever chemicals," or PFAS.
PFAS chemicals were the subject of the 2019 movie Dark Waters, which told the real story of people and animals that got sick after contamination in West Virginia.
The Riverkeeper Network and farmers in Maine and Texas claim the EPA is failing to regulate the release of PFAS into the environment. They say PFAS are being released in sewage sludge that is being used as fertilizer.
The EPA has not commented on the suit.
According to a statement from the Potomac Riverkeeper Network (PRKN), PFAS is a group of toxic chemicals -- known as “forever chemicals” because they do not degrade -- that are present in sewage sludge widely used as fertilizer on farm fields and home gardens.
“The Clean Water Act requires EPA to identify and regulate toxic pollutants in sewage sludge, but EPA has failed to act on the widespread contamination of sewage sludge with PFAS," said PRKN President Nancy Stoner. "PFAS chemicals pose a serious threat to public health and to aquatic ecosystems, including the Potomac River, and we are glad to join with concerned farmers and Johnson County, Texas to press EPA to restrict such toxic chemicals in sewage sludge."
According to the lawsuit, EPA has failed to fulfill its mandate regarding PFAS chemicals.
The Potomac Riverkeeper Nework cites scientific studies showing that there are at least 18 PFAS chemicals in sewage sludge that adversely impact public health but which EPA did not identify in the agency’s most recently published biannual report.
“EPA’s failure to regulate these toxic pollutants in sewage sludge allows these chemicals to continue to be spread as fertilizer on farms, pastures, home gardens, and yards, contaminating our rivers and the nation’s food and water supply," said Betsy Nicholas, PRKN’s Vice President. "We will work with our partners in this case to make sewage sludge safe, as the Clean Water Act requires."
Chemical manufacturers are also suing the EPA, claiming the agency is exceeding its authority by requiring companies to get PFAS out of public water systems.