Proposed Rule: Guidance: Reducing Risk from Perfluorooctanoic Acid and Perfluorooctane Sulfonic Acid in Biosolids Regulations.gov Document ID: <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/document/EPA-HQ-OW-2026-2509-0001" target="_self"><ins>EPA-HQ-OW-2026-2509-0001</ins></a> Comment Period: July 6, 2026 to October 5, 2026 Agency: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
View the <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/user-notice" target="_self"><ins>terms of participation</ins></a> and <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/privacy-notice" target="_self"><ins>privacy notice</ins></a> for Regulations.gov. All comments made on <a href="http://regulations.gov" target="_self"><ins>regulations.gov</ins></a> action centers will be public comments, so we encourage action-takers not to include personally identifiable information in their messages. TRUMP EPA FAILS AGAIN, REFUSING TO TAKE ACTION ON TOXIC PFAS CHEMICALS IN BIOSOLIDS If you aren’t caught up with the issue of the use of sewage sludge biosolids as fertilizers, please <a href="https://toxinfreeusa.org/biosolids-based-fertilizers-are-harming-farmers-and-eaters-across-america/" target="_self"><ins>READ THIS BLOG.</ins></a> In 2022, Maine became the first state to fully ban the land application of biosolids. In 2024, Connecticut followed, banning the use of biosolids as fertilizer on agricultural land. Currently, only Maine and Connecticut have taken action on this very important issue. The remaining states waited for a formal risk assessment from the U.S. EPA. EPA’s risk assessment, published at the end of the Biden administration, focused on two of the most common PFAS chemicals, PFOA and PFOS. The agency stated the assessment would “serve as the basis for determining whether regulation of PFOA and PFOS in biosolids is appropriate.” The Biden EPA had previously established a tolerance level of PFAS in water at 4 parts per trillion (ppt), the lowest level detectable under current methods, while admitting that there is no safe level for the two PFAS chemicals under study, PFOA and PFOS. At the end of the Biden administration, the EPA released its preliminary findings of the draft risk assessment, concluding there can be human health risks at levels exceeding EPA’s acceptable thresholds, sometimes by several orders of magnitude. The EPA risk assessment provided enough data to finally take action on the federal level. To protect the nation’s food supply and prevent water pollution, it was reasonable to expect that PFAS-contaminated biosolids used as fertilizer would, at the very least, be prohibited in agricultural and home garden settings. Unfortunately, the Trump EPA recently announced it was tossing the Biden EPA risk assessment into the garbage and would continue business as usual, protecting the profits of chemical corporations, polluting industries, and wastewater treatment plants as it has been doing for nearly two years. The Trump EPA says it will issue “voluntary recommendations” and will continue to promote toxic biosolids as fertilizer for farms and home gardens. The agency is now seeking comments from the public on its plan, as required by law. Tell the EPA that voluntary recommendations are not enough. Most wastewater treatment plants will not remove PFAS chemicals because they claim the process is too costly. As long as the EPA allows polluters to pollute with no consequence, there will always be steady flows of PFAS in the wastewater going to the treatment plants. And the biosolids produced from that wastewater will be contaminated. Conventional farmers will continue to use the cheap biosolids as fertilizer, selling PFAS-contaminated food and polluting groundwater. And anyone that eats that food will continue to be put at risk. TAKE ACTION TODAY. Submit a comment to the EPA. Use the pre-written comment, and if you have a minute, edit the comment text to make it your own.&nbsp;

Tell the EPA: Toxic PFAS-Contaminated Sewage Sludge/Biosolids Must Not Be Used As Fertilizer on Farmland

EPA Document ID EPA-HQ-OW-2026-2509-0001 Guidance: Reducing Risk from Perfluorooctanoic Acid PFOA and Perfluorooctane Sulfonic Acid PFOS PFAS in Biosolids Sewage Sludge Fertilizers

Comment for Docket ID EPA-HQ-OW-2026-2509-0001

The EPA must not abdicate its responsibility to protect America’s water and food from toxic PFAS chemical contamination.

The EPA’s recent announcement of issuing only “voluntary recommendations” on the use of PFAS-contaminated biosolids is ridiculous. The EPA must regulate toxic biosolids to protect our food and water supply, and human and environmental health.

1. Wastewater treatment plants must test every batch of biosolids produced and destined for commercial agricultural use or to be given away or sold to consumers as fertilizer.
2. Experts have concluded that there is no safe level of PFOA or PFOS in the human body. Biosolids containing detectable levels of PFOA or PFOS must be deemed unfit and illegal for such uses.
3. The EPA must stop promoting the use of toxic biosolids as fertilizer for farmland and gardens.

This is very simple. Do your job!