Two Texas ranch owners are pursuing legal action against a waste management company that allegedly sold a nearby farm fertilizer containing “forever chemicals.”
Roughly an hour south of Fort Worth near Grandview, two small farms have allegedly been rendered worthless by a biosolid fertilizer sold by Maryland-based Synagro. The fertilizer reportedly contained per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The owners claim that PFAS chemicals have tainted the water supply, poisoning their families, killing their livestock, and leaving their fields in ruin, according to Progressive Farmer.
A federal lawsuit has been filed in Maryland by Mary Whittle, an attorney representing the farmers, and a criminal investigation has been opened in Johnson County.
On February 16, a special meeting of the Johnson County Commissioners Court was convened to present what Constable Troy Fuller’s office found during its investigation of the claims.
Significantly high levels of PFAS chemicals were found in the families’ drinking water wells, in the carcasses of the dead livestock, and in soil and water samples taken at the farms. For instance, a stillborn calf at one of the farms tested 250,000 times the PFAS exposure limit set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
“Alarmingly, there is little to no resolve to [the two families] as to the impact to their property because it is at best devastating,” said Fuller.
The danger to both people and wildlife posed by PFAS has been well-documented, yet they are the main components of various household, commercial, and industrial products, including jet fuel and certain food packaging, as previously reported by The Dallas Express. The substances have been leaching into waterways and soil for decades, with one study finding significant levels of toxicity in U.S.-sourced self-caught freshwater fish.
In 2019, Synagro spent $59 million building a biosolids processing facility in North Texas, where — thanks to a contract with the City of Fort Worth — it converts sewage sludge into fertilizer for resale.
Synagro has not yet responded to the lawsuit, which alleges it failed to warn the purchasers of its fertilizer of the risks and neglected to take any steps against the PFAS contamination.
“It’s devastating and terrifying,” Whittle said, according to The Guardian. “[Her clients] have developed these properties to be the center of their world … and this is how they make their money.”