Congress: Don't Stop EPA's Toxic Sludge Health Risks Assessment!

In the last days of the Biden Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency announced the start of a project it should have finished before Trump took office: determining the health risks of PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) in sewage sludge disposed of on farmland. Biden's EPA found that these toxic "forever chemicals" cause cancer and other diseases in people who live near farm fields where sludge is dumped--or who consume tainted milk, beef, or other foods from these farms--including kidney and liver cancers, decreased birth weight, increased cholesterol, and diminished immune system function.

Now, Republicans in Congress are trying to stop Trump's EPA from following up. Republicans in control of the House Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee is included a policy rider in their fiscal year 2026 appropriations bill, Section 507, that would permanently prohibit the EPA from finalizing, implementing, or enforcing its Draft Risk Assessment for PFOA and PFOS in Sewage Sludge.

TAKE ACTION: Tell Congress, Don't Stop EPA's Toxic Sludge Health Risks Assessment!

The Biden Administration did a lot on PFAS, but it wasn't enough, and Trump is now undoing most of that.

The Biden Environmental Protection Agency's drinking water rules only targeted six of these “forever chemicals” and more than 12,000 formulations exist. That makes little difference now, since Trump's EPA isn't going to enforce event that.

The biggest failure of Biden’s EPA was that it never followed through on its promise to stop the estimated 30,000 PFAS polluters from releasing these forever chemicals into the environment via wastewater discharged into surface waters and municipal sewage treatment facilities. Polluters still got a free pass to dump PFAS!

Here's what Biden's EPA did do:

On January 6, 2023, the Department of Defense announced it would stop buying PFAS-containing fire fighting foam.

On September 13, 2023, the Federal Aviation Administration authorized airports to use PFAS-free firefighting foam.

On April 10, 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency set maximum contaminant limits for PFAS in drinking water of 4 parts per trillion for PFOA and PFOS and 10 parts per trillion for GenX, PFNA and PFHxS.

 On April 18, 2024, “Forever Chemical Regulation and Accountability Act” was introduced in Congress. This bill would prohibit excessive, non-essential PFAS uses and releases of any PFAS into air, water, or land.

On April 19, 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency designated PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, or CERCLA, better known as Superfund. This designation will make polluters pay for the costs of cleaning up sites contaminated with these substances, including U.S. military bases.

But, the Biden Administration never followed through on its promise to stop the estimated 30,000 PFAS polluters from releasing these forever chemicals into the environment via wastewater discharged into surface waters and municipal sewage treatment facilities.

To understand why is this unacceptable, watch the film Dark Waters (2019) that dramatizes the shocking and true story of heroic attorney Rob Bilott who risked his career and family to uncover a secret hidden by one of the world’s largest corporations and to bring justice to a community dangerously exposed for decades to deadly chemicals. 

Bilott was first contacted by two West Virginia farmers who showed him how DuPont’s toxic waste was getting dumped on their fields in the form of sewage sludge “fertilizer” and was killing their cattle. In an attempt to help the farmers, Bilott filed a complaint that kicked off an epic 15-year fight—one that tested his reputation, his health and his livelihood. 

There’s a great scene in the movie, where Bilott’s wife Sarah (Anne Hathaway) demands to know what is going on and Rob (Mark Ruffalo) tells her how DuPont is knowingly poisoning the community.

The Devil We Know is a documentary version of the same story focusing on the plaintiffs in the historic class action lawsuit against the DuPont chemical plant that manufactures Teflon. They charged the chemical company with poisoning the drinking water supply of more than 70,000 people living near the factory. In the film, they break their silence about the suffering they’ve endured at the hands of the chemical giant in their backyard. Their lawsuit uncovered shocking internal documents revealing that DuPont knew for decades that C8 had toxic health effects, but continued to leave its workers and the entire community exposed.

There are several other excellent films to watch about PFAS.

Semper Fi Always Faithful tells the tragic and inspiring true story of Marine Corps Master Sgt. Jerry Ensminger, a devoted Marine for nearly twenty-five years. When Jerry’s nine-year old daughter Janey died of a rare type of leukemia, his world collapsed. As a grief-stricken father, he struggled for years to make sense of what happened. His search for answers led to the shocking discovery of a Marine Corps cover-up of one of the largest water contamination incidents in U.S. history. Military bases like Camp Lejeune still have the highest concentrations of PFAS in the country primarily from the near daily use of firefighting foam.

Burned is the true story of how the spouse of a firefighter revealed their significant exposure to forever chemicals.

The heroic people whose stories are told in these films deserve our support. Congress should ban PFAS pollution. The least it can do is let the EPA continue its PFAS human health risks assessment.

TAKE ACTION: Tell Congress, Don't Stop EPA's Toxic Sludge Health Risks Assessment!

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*SAMPLE TEXT TO YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS*

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Dear [Member of Congress],

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) kill. There is scientific evidence that these “forever chemicals” cause cancer, kidney disease, birth defects, and liver damage, and batters the immune system.

In the last days of the Biden Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency started to make that official with a draft determination of the health risks of PFAS in sewage sludge disposed of on farmland. Biden's EPA found that these toxic "forever chemicals" cause cancer and other diseases in people who live near farm fields where sludge is dumped--or who consume tainted milk, beef, or other foods from these farms--including kidney and liver cancers, decreased birth weight, increased cholesterol, and diminished immune system function.

Now, Republicans in Congress are trying to stop Trump's EPA from following up. Republicans in control of the House Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee is included a policy rider in their fiscal year 2026 appropriations bill, Section 507, that would permanently prohibit the EPA from finalizing, implementing, or enforcing its Draft Risk Assessment for PFOA and PFOS in sewage sludge.

Please work to remove Section 507. If it can't be removed, vote against the bill.

I appreciate the work the Biden Administration did to protect drinking water from PFAS, but the Environmental Protection Agency’s drinking water rules only targeted six formulations when more than 12,000 exist! This doesn't matter much now that Trump's EPA is refusing to enforce the little Biden's EPA did.

Worse, Biden's EPA never followed through on its promise to stop the estimated 30,000 PFAS polluters from releasing it into the environment via wastewater discharged into surface waters and municipal sewage treatment facilities.

This is unacceptable.

Only a fifth of Americans’ PFAS exposure comes from drinking water. 

Because PFAS polluters get a free pass to dump their waste directly into the sewage system and the main way sewage is disposed of is via land-application (marketed as “fertilizer” to farmers), PFAS also ends up in our food.

And, we’re also exposed to PFAS through a staggering number of consumer products, including carpet, pizza boxes, microwave popcorn, yoga pants, bags and toiletries like dental floss, shampoo and cosmetics. 

The people most at risk are farmers spreading PFAS-contaminated sewage sludge to their land, workers producing or working with these PFAS-containing products, and firefighters and soldiers exposed via “protective” gear and foams.

We need a federal ban on PFAS and drinking water regulations that protect us from all 12,000 formulations.

Local water treatment plants shouldn’t have to foot the bill for the companies who have profited from PFAS since these chemicals were invented in the 1930s. 

So far, the EPA put two PFAS compounds under its Superfund authority, shifting accountability for cleanup from taxpayers to polluters, but again, this should be extended to all 12,000 formulations.

Please take action to ban PFAS, get it out of our water, out of consumer products, out of the military, out of firefighting, out of food and farming, and make the polluters pay to clean up their mess and for all the health and environmental harms they’ve caused!

Thank you.

[Your Name]