Officials seek state of emergency after discovering health hazard lurking in widely used product: 'This is uncharted territory'

A Texas county is pushing for a state of emergency to be declared due to the contamination of a commonly used fertilizer.

What's happening?

As detailed by The New York Times, investigators in Johnson County, south of Fort Worth, found high levels of PFAS at two cattle ranches in 2023. PFAS — per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — are also known as "forever chemicals" because they don't break down in the environment and can accumulate in our bodies.

The county said the chemicals came from contaminated fertilizer made out of treated sewage from a wastewater treatment plant in Fort Worth.

Treated sewage sludge has been used by farmers for decades at the recommendation of the federal government due to its rich nutrients and the reduced need for fertilizer made from dirty fuels. However, the Times noted that "a growing body of research shows that the black sludge, made from the sewage that flows from homes and factories, can contain heavy concentrations of PFAS as well as other harmful contaminants."

This revelation pushed county commissioners to pass a resolution last month calling for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to join the state of emergency declaration and seek federal disaster assistance.

"This is uncharted territory," Larry Woolley, one of the county's four commissioners, told the Times.

Why is this important?

PFAS have been found in many everyday products, such as nonstick cookware, food packaging, carpeting, and even clothing. 

The general public is being exposed to these chemicals without even knowing it, and they have been linked to various health concerns, including cancer, fertility issues, birth defects, developmental delays in children, asthma, and thyroid disease.

Texas isn't alone in dealing with the issue of PFAS, as biosolids being applied to farm fields in North Carolina have also been found to contain the harmful chemicals. 

The Times noted that Maine is "the only state that has started to systematically test farmland for PFAS and has shuttered dozens of dairy farms found with contamination." Johnson County is the first to seek federal assistance, but it's still unclear if the county will be able to tap into federal funds.

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What's being done about this?

Woolley told the Times that the funds from federal assistance "would be put toward testing and monitoring of drinking water, cleanup, as well as euthanization of cattle contaminated from the soil, crops, and water." The county is also pushing the state to ban the use of sewage sludge as fertilizer on local farmlands.

"Ultimately, our goal is to stop the flow of contaminants into the county," Christopher Boedeker, a county Judge, told the Times.

However, it was noted that the Trump administration's freeze on federal spending creates uncertainty around the availability of federal funding, such as the $2 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to address PFAS and other contaminants in drinking water.

You can make a difference by calling for local lawmakers to implement more stringent protections against PFAS.

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