4/29/22
Maine Bans Land Application and Distribution of Biosolids-Based Products

On Wednesday, April 20th, Governor Janet Mills quietly signed LD 1911, “An Act To Prevent the Further Contamination of the Soils and Waters of the State with So-called Forever Chemicals,” which bans the land application, sale and distribution of biosolids-based soil amendments.  The law will be effective in late July, ninety days from the end of the legislative session.  The new law also establishes PFAS effluent testing requirements for water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs) but repeals the $10 per ton handling fee on septage and sludge enacted in 2021. 

LD 1911 was amended significantly since originally introduced in early January.  That early version would have prohibited the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (Maine DEP) from licensing the “land application or distribution of sludge or sludge-derived compost” unless the material met stringent ceiling levels for specific PFAS.  The final version is an absolute ban on land application of “sludge” and the “sale and distribution of compost and other agricultural products and materials containing sludge and septage.”  In Maine laws and regulations, biosolids – treated “sludge” – is now lumped together with “sludge.”

With respect to septage, the new law prohibits the Maine DEP from licensing any new septage land application sites and does not allow land application of septage for currently licensed sites if the nearby groundwater levels for PFAS exceed the state’s interim drinking water standards set by the legislature in 2021: 20 parts per trillion for the sum of six PFAS (PFOA, PFOS, PFNA, PFDA, PFHxS, PFHpA).  (This is the same as the standard in Massachusetts and is among the strictest standards anywhere in the world.)  The law gives the Maine DEP one year to come up with a plan to prohibit the land application of septage altogether.  Maine DEP has to report back to the legislature’s Environment and Natural Resource Committee by January 14, 2023.

The Maine Water Environment Association (MEWEA) opposed the ban.  The Maine Work Boots Alliance, a broad-based coalition including the Maine Farmers Bureau, whose members are responsible for 95% of the food grown in Maine, joined together in opposition to an outright ban.  The Alliance was amenable to other options, including ceiling limits for PFAS in biosolids at levels that would likely have eliminated that option for 80% of wastewater solids generated in Maine, at least until sources of PFAS can be eliminated from those collection systems.  These advocacy groups made valiant efforts to get their perspective heard, including a rally at the State House [see Landfills, farmers, wastewater treatment plants push back on proposed ban on sludge spreading | Vermont Public Radio (vpr.org)] and numerous Op-Ed pieces and articles published in Maine newspapers (PFAS is the problem, not today’s biosolids (bangordailynews.com) and Wilton Select Board to write Gov. Mills over concerns about PFAS legislation - CentralMaine.com).  Several out of state organizations, including Milorganite and a coalition organized by the California Association of Sanitation Agencies, wrote Governor Mills to ask her not to sign the bill.  In the end, it didn’t matter as the bill garnered significant support in the legislature.

All wastewater solids generated in Maine will now be going to landfill, and, most likely, some will go out-of-state due to high landfill costs and constraints of the end markets for biosolids regionally.  In a token effort to ensure more landfill space for the biosolids, a companion bill halts the disposal of out-of-state wastes at the state-owned Juniper Ridge landfill, one of two major landfills in Maine.  Interestingly, the final bill exempts a number of residuals that are known to contain PFAS in concentrations similar to run-of-the-mill biosolids.  The exempted solids include food and food wastes, crops and vegetative materials, brewery residuals, wine, hard cider and distillery residuals, and fish and seafood wastes.

NEBRA’s Executive Director, Janine Burke-Wells, wrote letters to the editors of several Maine newspapers to warn of unintended consequences and to stick up for the WRRFs who were treated like polluters by members of the legislature.  Ms. Burke-Wells participated in a webinar on April 28th titled Sludge: A Spreading Concern along with NEBRA Reg-Leg Committee Chair Jeff McBurnie and NEBRA member Scott Firmin from the Portland Water District. With LD-1911 becoming law since the time the webinar was planned, the panel discussions focused instead on next steps, opportunities and technology solutions.  Ms. Burke-Wells mentioned preliminary discussions NEBRA has had with NEIWPCC regarding regional solutions and specifically the potential for a “BioHub” of research and new biosolids technology solutions in Maine.  That collaboration and those discussions will continue, despite the new law, even though it’s not clear whether these new technologies could even be deployed in Maine now.

NEBRA plans to work with its members in the other states to be proactive in reaching out to local and state leaders about the significant unintended consequences and costs that their Maine counterparts have been and will be experiencing.