Washington, DC — Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) today filed formal comments urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to withdraw its proposed voluntary guidance on two “forever chemicals” — PFOA and PFOS — in sewage sludge used as fertilizer, also referred to as “biosolids.” Instead, PEER is insisting that EPA must issue binding numerical limits on how much PFAS sludge can contain before it is spread on farms, gardens, and lawns nationwide.

PEER’s comments document how the proposed voluntary guidance defies the law, endangers public health, is based upon non-factual information, and ignores both common sense and EPA’s own January 2025 draft risk assessment showing that PFOS and PFOA in biosolids pose human health risks.

PEER’s comments provide details on three main points:

• Because of their toxicity and harm to human health, the Clean Water Act requires EPA to regulate — not simply issue voluntary guidance about — PFOS and PFOA.
• EPA’s draft guidance abandons farmers by ignoring facts on the ground and needlessly dismissing the unfolding reality of the PFAS crisis.
• EPA’s guidance is based on numerous misstatements of facts, including information on the extent of biosolids spreading and about the production, use, and import of PFOA in the United States.

PEER’s comments note that EPA recently shelved its January 2025 draft risk assessment on PFOA and PFOS in biosolids after that assessment found these chemicals pose health risks to farming families. This draft risk assessment laid out the scientific foundation for EPA to regulate PFOA and PFOS under the Clean Water Act. By sidelining it in favor of non-binding guidance, EPA is attempting to clear itself of that obligation.

“Were EPA to conduct a scientifically-sound finalization of the 2025 risk assessment, the agency would have no choice but to promulgate regulations for sewage sludge that protect public health,” said Laura Dumais, a PEER attorney representing Texas ranching families and other groups in ongoing litigation under the Clean Water Act. “Instead, EPA is now trying to extricate itself, and instead of doing its job to regulate toxic pollutants in sludge, it is unbelievably advising farmers, gardeners, and the public to go do their own research.”

“This draft guidance will allow the state-sanctioned distribution of toxic waste into American farms and food,” says Kyla Bennett, PEER’s Director of Science Policy, who points out the folly of EPA’s suggestion that people avoid land application on food crops or “near” water sources and in any area “where children under the age of 5 have access or may have access in the future” — standards that would effectively rule out nearly all American farmland and gardens.

“The American people deserve clear, enforceable limits on how much of these toxic chemicals can be safely spread on agricultural lands, not this bureaucratic gobbledygook,” added Bennett.

EPA’s proposed guidance is open to public comments through October 5^th.

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Read PEER’s comments

Read PEER’s Q&As on this Guidance and our Lawsuit

See EPA’s proposed guidance

View EPA’s Draft Guidance Memorandum

Look at real-life impacts of PFAS contamination from biosolids

Revisit EPA’s resistance to regulation

PEER protects public employees who protect our environment, natural resources, and public health. We support current and former environmental and public health professionals, land managers, scientists, enforcement officers, and other civil servants dedicated to upholding environmental laws and values across federal, state, local, and tribal governments.