A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit seeking regulations on PFAS in sewage sludge, also known as biosolids.
Texas farmers and nonprofit groups sued the Environmental Protection Agency last year over the presence of the "forever chemicals" in biosolids, a commonly used fertilizer.
The farmers were seeking an order requiring EPA to set limits on PFAS in biosolids. But U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich in Washington, D.C., "ruled that the federal Clean Water Act does not impose a timeline for EPA to identify or regulate emerging threats in biosolids," Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility said in a news release.
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PEER represented the plaintiffs, who also sought to have EPA identify certain PFAS in a biennial report.
The court said EPA is currently reviewing its sewage sludge regulations every two years and that the law doesn’t require the agency to add new chemicals or enforce new rules on a fixed timeline. Moreover, the report is strictly informational, and doesn’t have the power to create or change any laws.
Additionally, the court told the farmers they should have petitioned EPA for new rules and then pursued legal action if the request was denied.
