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EPA draft on PFAS and microplastics raises questions for Vermont farms
Summary
Legislative counsel outlined an EPA draft risk assessment on PFAS in farm soils and biosolids, warned of possible hazardous-substance designation, and said microplastics in soil and fertilizer present additional, unresolved risks to agricultural producers and food safety.
Michael Grady, legislative counsel for the Vermont Legislature, told the Senate Agriculture Committee that a new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency draft risk assessment on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in farm soils and in biosolids used as fertilizer could prompt federal rulemaking that affects farms.
“The agency of agriculture . . . has been monitoring this issue. So now EPA is basically saying that they may have to do something about it,” Grady said, describing the assessment as a preliminary step that could lead to new federal restrictions on PFAS in soil and in biosolid products.
Grady said one possible federal action would be designating PFAS as a hazardous substance. That classification, he said, would trigger other…
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