‘A nightmare.’ North Texas farmers say chemicals in fertilizer are killing their livestock
Families who built their small farms around riding their horses, raising cattle and holding family fish fries in rural Johnson County face an uncertain future because of what they’re finding in the pasture or stock tank: dead or deformed cattle, horses and fish.
The past two years have been a “nightmare” for the family farmers, and they point to “forever chemicals” found in fertilizer made from sewage as the reason.
The five farmers who live outside of Grandview — James Farmer, Robin Alessi, Patsy Schultz, and Karen and Tony Coleman — have been embroiled in a complex legal battle with the EPA and fertilizer manufacturer Synagro Technologies Inc. and its Texas subsidiary since February, when they filed a lawsuit against Synagro in Circuit Court of Baltimore County and one against the EPA in Washington.
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, including one that neighbors the farmers’ properties.
Synagro contracts with more than 1,000 municipal waste treatment facilities and uses the biosolids to manufacture Synagro Granulite Fertilizer, according to court documents.
Biosolids are used instead of commercial fertilizer across the world, but Maine and Connecticut have banned them over concerns about the forever chemicals, and Michigan has placed limits on them.
Forever chemicals, also known as PFAS, are man-made synthetic chemicals used in a range of products, including carpet, clothing and nonstick cookware. They don’t break down, and they accumulate in the human body and in the environment.
They’re in the blood of people and animals across the world, as well as the air, water and soil, according to the EPA. They are also known to cause health problems such as cancer.
The families seek more than $75,000 in damages from Synagro because they cannot sell their cattle and their land is “almost worthless” as a result of the contamination.
The farmers said they never know if they will have to drop everything to take their animals to Texas A&M for necropsies.
James Farmer recorded videos on July 29 to show what the families often find when checking on their livestock. In this case, a previously healthy cow is lying in the pasture unable to stand up and was euthanized.
“This is what we deal with daily, weekly, monthly,” Farmer says in the video he shared with the Star-Telegram.
As the cow mooed softly, Karen Coleman tearfully asked a veterinarian, “How long is this going to take?”
“Pretty quick,” the doctor replies.
“We’re having to euthanize this cow because she can’t get up,” Farmer says, adding: “She’s asleep now. She’s gone.”
Legal fight
The lawsuit against the EPA states that the federal agency violated the Clean Water Act and the Administrative Procedures Act for failing to identify certain PFAS as “toxic pollutants” in sewage sludge and failing to regulate them where information exists to show that the chemicals must be regulated.
Johnson County joined the farmers’ lawsuit against the EPA in July.
The EPA has requested an extension to respond to the lawsuit in September, said Laura Dumais, an attorney with Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, the nonprofit organization that is representing the farmers and Johnson County in their lawsuit against the EPA.
EPA Administrator Michael Regan established the EPA Council on PFAS in 2021 with the goal to develop a plan of action to “further the science and research to restrict these dangerous chemicals from getting into the environment and to immediately remediate the problem.”
According to the EPA’s “Strategic Roadmap,” a risk assessment for the forever chemicals in biosolids should be finished by this winter.
“The risk assessment will serve as the basis for determining whether regulation of PFOA and PFOS in biosolids is appropriate. If EPA determines that regulation is appropriate, biosolids standards would improve the protection of public health and wildlife health from health effects resulting from exposure to biosolids containing PFOA and PFOS,” the EPA document reads.
Fort Worth was not named in the lawsuit against Synagro.
In its response to the allegations, Synagro argued that the case should be dismissed because it was filed in Baltimore, the home of the company’s headquarters. It argues the proper venue is Texas, because the events in question happened there.
Synagro said in court documents: “This is a straightforward Texas tort case, with Texas Plaintiffs, witnesses, facts, property and damages, all governed by Texas law. There is no relevant connection whatsoever to Baltimore County, over 1,400 miles from the alleged events at issue.”
The company also said in an emailed statement to the Star-Telegram that the farmers’ allegations were “novel” and “unproven.”
The farmers didn’t use Synagro products, and the biosolids applied by a neighboring farmer met the requirements from the EPA and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Synagro argued.
The statement from Synagro also said that the EPA supports applying biosolids as a “valuable practice” that recycles nutrients to farmland.
Before the company responded to the allegations, the farmers’ lawsuit was amended with “drastically” reduced concentrations of the forever chemicals, Synagro said.
Mary Whittle, an attorney representing the farmers, wrote in an email to the Star-Telegram, “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.”
Whittle added that the results were from surface and well water tests.
The EPA set a limit for PFAS to less than 4 parts per trillion in drinking water.
“We want to bring the fight to the company that is out there convincing cities and farmers to use their products,” Whittle said.
Following their dreams
Robin Alessi grew up an “Air Force brat,” but she experienced the ranching way of life while in Montana and Alaska, and she wanted to buy land where she could have her horses and be a “western cowgirl.”
Alessi, who worked in the restaurant industry, moved to Texas and found the perfect piece of land near Grandview for her horses and other animals.
She met Farmer, who owns a fence company, and the two built their lives around raising their animals and having family fish fries.
Patsy Schultz and her late husband Jim bought around 300 acres in 2002. The property is Schultz’s main asset after her husband’s death in 2018.
Her daughter and son-in-law, Karen and Tony Coleman, lease land from her for cattle grazing.
The Colemans live in Burleson. Karen is a senior executive assistant at the University of North Texas Health Science Center and her husband is a diesel mechanic, but they are also dedicated to their land and animals.
Odors causing concerns
In 2018, the families noticed a noxious odor after fertilizer made from sludge was spread on a neighbor’s land.
They contacted Larry Woolley, the Precinct 4 county commissioner, and Dana Ames, the county’s environmental investigator.
In an interview, Ames described an odor worse than a decomposing body, but said there was nothing she could do at the time because the odors weren’t causing harm or damage.
In late 2022, Ames was again called by the farmers because they saw piles of the fertilizer on the ground literally smoking, and shortly thereafter, Farmer described a major “fish kill” in his pond after a heavy rain.
“Because of the conditions I observed, I said, ‘This cannot be OK,’” Ames said.
Ames launched a yearlong investigation that involved the testing of water, soil and animals from the farmers’ land.
What she found was startling.
Johnson County tested soil, ground and surface water as well as tissue and organs from dead animals.
Results from a calf’s liver showed 610,000 parts per trillion of forever chemicals, which is “off the charts,” Ames said.
“The most disturbing thing to me is that people have known about this for a long time, and they’ve failed to act,” Ames said.
“My victims are organic farmers. They were breeding their own cattle, growing their own vegetables. They were self-sustaining on their property.”
Ames said she is worried about the future of mankind if the forever chemicals aren’t regulated.
Woolley, the county commissioner, is also sounding the alarm bells.
A former ag teacher, Woolley said he still is involved with farming and ranching, but he worries about the farmers who lost their livelihoods because of the forever chemicals.
“These ranchers are victims with 150 head of beef cattle that they don’t know what to do with. It’s clear that they don’t want to sell them or put them in the food chain,” Woolley said.
Woolley said he has been meeting with state and national legislators to make them aware of the need for regulations of biosolids.
“I’m not an environment freak,” Woolley said. “I grew up on a farm and continue to farm and ranch. We’re pretty much ag folks. We’re pretty much interested in protecting our kids, grandkids and protecting our water.”
What’s next for the families
James Farmer said one of his biggest disappointments is that when his nephew catches a catfish, he has to throw it back into the pond.
As he looked at a photo of his nephew holding the fish, Farmer said, “He pulled the fish right out of the water and said ‘Uncle James, Can we keep this and eat it?’”
“No, baby, we can’t,” Farmer recalled.
The farmers continue to raise their livestock, knowing they can’t sell the animals or eat the vegetables grown in their gardens.
They still pay bills for feed and equipment.
They used to enjoy coming home from work to fish or watch calves being born, but now they worry about what they’ll find when they check on their livestock.
Tony Coleman asked why the federal and state governmental agencies allow people to use the fertilizer knowing that it contains the forever chemicals.
“That just makes us extremely angry because we didn’t ask for none of this,” Coleman said. “We just wanted to come farm our land, raise our cattle and just be out of sight, out of mind.”
This story was originally published August 29, 2024 at 6:00 AM.