Company says its fertilizer is not source of forever chemicals on Johnson County farmland
A company that manufactures fertilizer from sewage sludge issued results from a study March 18 showing its product was not the source of the forever chemicals five Johnson County farmers allege contaminated their land and destroyed livestock and their way of life.
On Tuesday, Synagro Technologies Inc. issued the results of an independent study from the environmental engineering firm Parsons Corporation in collaboration with Purdue University professor Linda Lee. Tests of water and soil samples from various locations on the farm showed the fertilizer is not the source of the reported elevated levels of forever chemicals on the neighboring farmers land who are suing the company.
The study was conducted after five farmers, Robin Alessi, James Farmer, Tony and Karen Colemen and Patsy Schultz sued Synagro last year, alleging that the company knew its product contained PFAS, which are known to cause health problems in animals and humans.
Synagro contracts with Fort Worth to manage the city’s biosolids program, which involves separating solids in the sewage treatment process and recycling the waste into granulate fertilizer. After the sludge is treated in Fort Worth, it is sent to farms in Johnson, Hill and Wise counties.
The analysis of the soil and water tests concluded that “granulate” fertilizer could not be identified as the source of the reported types and levels of PFAS or forever chemicals, according to Synagro.
Synagro officials also said the study contradicts the Johnson county farmers’ lawsuit because the findings from tests from various locations on the property where the fertilizer was applied showed very low or undetectable levels of PFAS, consistent with EPA standards. The results showed levels of less than one part per billion, according to Synagro.
The study also found that the testing methods used by the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility in 2022 pre-dated the EPA test methods that Parsons used in its study.
But Detective Dana Ames, an environmental crimes investigator with Johnson County, disagrees with Synagro’s claims.
“We couldn’t find any other source for the contamination we found in our water samples and in our soil samples,” she said.
Ames pointed out that Fort Worth is suing the Defense Department and forever chemical manufacturers, including 3M and DuPont, alleging they are responsible for water contamination at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base.
“Fort Worth says it’s a problem. Synagro says it’s not,” she said.
The EPA says there is no safe level for PFAS, adding that last April, the EPA said the maximum amount of PFAS in drinking water should be less than four parts per trillion, Ames said.
Pam Racey, chief operating officer for Synagro, said in an interview that the company wanted to get at the truth and the facts. Synagro didn’t have access to test the farmers’ land. Racey said the contamination source could be insecticides, chemicals from fracking fluid or firefighting foam, but not the granulate fertilizer.
“We can’t really speculate on what it is,” Racey said.
Racey stated that necropsy results for livestock did not point to forever chemicals as a cause of death, but pointed to factors such as a parasite from the mother or ischemia, a lack of blood flow. There were also toxic levels of selenium found in the dead cattle, which can be found in the alkaline soil present in Johnson County, she said.
But Ames stated that a necropsy of a calf showed that the liver had PFAS levels of 610,000 parts per trillion, which is off the charts,” she said.
“They are distorting the facts.”
The necropsy pointed to problems with the liver.
Racey also said the testing that the farmers did using Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility was flawed and contained incorrect levels of PFAS, but that the organization corrected the information, which showed lower levels.
Mary Whittle, an Austin attorney who is representing the Johnson County farmers, told the Star-Telegram previously, “The changes in pollution values were due to decimal place errors during conversions from the lab results to parts per trillion, but the pollution values are still extremely high.”
Along with commissioning the study, Synagro also filed a motion Friday to dismiss the Johnson County farmers’ federal lawsuit, which was transferred from Baltimore to the Dallas Division of the Northern District of Texas.
Synagro argued that the farmers’ lawsuit had no basis and that it should be dismissed under the Texas Right to Farm Act because it was targeting “lawful agricultural operations such as providing valuable fertilizer to Texas farms.
“Processing, distribution, and application of Synagro’s Granulite fertilizer is a protected agricultural operation,” according to court documents.
The argument also states that Synagro’s fertilizer can’t be the basis for an actionable claim because it meets standards set by the EPA and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
“We don’t think this claim merits discovery,” said James Slaughter, an attorney representing Synagro. “Everything that Synagro did was approved by the EPA.”
In February, Johnson County commissioners issued a disaster declaration to pave the way for federal help for those whose land has been contaminated by PFAS. They also passed a a resolution urging Gov. Greg Abbot to declare an emergency related to the use of biosolids containing the forever chemicals.