The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association joined a federal lawsuit Tuesday against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for failing to regulate the amount of forever chemicals allowed in sewage sludge.

A handful of Maine farms certified as organic by the Unity-based group came forward in 2022 to report their crops and cattle were contaminated by the forever chemicals from sewage sludge fertilizer spread on their fields or neighboring fields, or used by their hay suppliers.

“MOFGA has had to divert significant staff time and financial resources to assisting farmers dealing with PFAS contamination from land-applied sewage sludge,” the lawsuit alleges. “The organization responded with nearly all staff hands on deck to provide affected farmers with technical assistance.”

MOFGA is the country’s biggest state organic farming group. It created a PFAS Emergency Relief Fund that has handed out more than $1.5 million in direct support to more than 50 affected farm families. Seven MOFGA-certified operations had to pause sales due to the severity of PFAS contamination, and two had to shut down entirely.

The organization, which operates a demonstration farm at its Unity headquarters, had its water tested and discovered two wells were contaminated with PFAS. MOFGA had to install a filtration system, and it anticipates that it will need additional filtration infrastructure soon, according to the lawsuit.

The group, which has more than 15,000 dues-paying members, joined a federal lawsuit filed last month by five Texas farmers and ranchers who claim that EPA’s inaction allowed harmful chemicals in sewage sludge fertilizers to contaminate their water, land, livestock, crops, and their bodies.

The county where the Texas plaintiffs live and farm, Johnson County, is also a party to the federal suit.

Together, the plaintiffs allege EPA failed to perform its non-discretionary duty under a 1987 amendment to the Clean Water Act to identify and regulate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, as toxic pollutants in sewage sludge. Under the law, EPA must review and update its sludge rules every two years.

In 2021, the Biden administration said it would consider whether to regulate forever chemicals in sludge after it completed a human health and environmental risk assessment in the winter of 2024 on two of the oldest forever chemicals commonly found in sludge, PFOA and PFOS.

According to the five Texas farmers and ranchers, a neighbor’s use of sludge fertilizer on their property caused 32 different kinds of forever chemicals to contaminate their groundwater and soils, commercial farm animals and pets, farm-raised fish, and even their own blood.

Federal regulators say that even trace amounts of some forever chemicals are too dangerous to ingest and have been linked to premature deaths, cancer, liver and heart impacts in adults, and immune and developmental impacts to infants and children.

Forever chemicals got their name because they can linger in the environment for decades. They can be found in thousands of common household and industrial products, ranging from makeup to waterproof clothing and pesticides to firefighting foam.

The suit is being filed under the citizen enforcement provision of the Clean Water Act. It claims the EPA failed to identify at least 18 types of forever chemicals that peer-reviewed evidence indicates are present in sewage sludge and harmful to humans.

Sewage sludge must be treated and toxic pollutants such as heavy metals must be removed before it can be used as fertilizer, but the EPA does not currently have any regulation that requires any forever chemical to be removed, even those that the agency itself says are unsafe for humans at any level.

The plaintiffs want the court to order EPA to identify 18 forever chemicals – including the six PFAS compounds that Maine regulates in its drinking water – in its next biennial report on pollutants that must be tested for in sewage sludge and to limit how much is allowed in sludge fertilizer as soon as possible.

The lawsuit would have national implications but wouldn’t immediately change anything in Maine. The spreading of sludge has been outlawed here since 2022 following passage of a state law banning the land application of sludge or sludge-derived products after a series of farmers came forward with high levels of forever chemicals in their wells, fields and livestock.

California has taken the opposite tack and essentially banned sludge landfilling in favor of recycling 90% of its organic waste, including sludge, to lower its greenhouse gas emissions. California’s sludge is still spread on farm fields as fertilizer.

Other states fall somewhere in between California, known for an environmental ethic that produced the nation’s first greenhouse gas regulatory program, and Maine, which hails itself as a leader in legislative efforts to stop the spread of harmful forever chemicals, resulting in a hodgepodge of regulation.

Over half of the 5.2 million tons of sludge produced in the U.S. each year is applied to farm fields or forests, often for free or far below the price of chemical fertilizers. For decades, it was seen as a win-win, saving farmers money and closing the waste recycling loop. That was before forever chemicals.

At the height of Maine’s sludge spreading days, back in 1997, Maine sent 48% of its 267,000 tons of sludge to farmers to be applied to fields, turned 38% of it into compost, and landfilled 1%, according to state Department of Environmental Protection records.

By 2021, the numbers had flipped: Maine buried 82% of its sludge, composted 11% and spread 6%.