The Orange County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 on a motion Tuesday to authorize Chairman Johnson to sign a comment letter to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality concerning the proposed reissuance of Synagro’s Virginia pollution abatement permit VPA00075.

Supervisor Nickel presented the letter and said the permit would authorize the land application of biosolids as fertilizer, expanding the existing authorization covering 2,564.9 acres with an additional about 200.7 acres for new land application area. “The permit authorizes, if approved, the land application of biosolids as fertilizers,” Nickel said, and asked the board to submit comments before the Nov. 7 deadline.

The letter asks DEQ to require an established, validated testing method for PFAS — referenced in the draft as the EPA/DEQ-validated method discussed at the public hearing (the draft cites EPA method “16 33”) — and to prohibit the application of biosolids in Orange County if PFAS are detected above the method’s detection limits. Nickel said the board’s action is a comment to regulators, not a local regulatory change: “We are not regulating anything here. We are making a comment to the regulators who will make decisions.”

Supervisor Hale, who spoke at the public hearing with Nickel, said the letter “captures everything. We’re not against biosolid application to our farmland, but we certainly do not want the PFAS included in that biosolid, and we need to take whatever measures necessary to ensure that does not get on our farmland and into our water sources.”

Other supervisors debated who should pay testing and remediation costs if PFAS were detected. One supervisor argued that Synagro, as the applicant and vendor, should bear testing costs; another warned that any increased costs would ultimately flow to residents and wastewater customers. Supervisor Van Hoven said the board should leave standard-setting to larger regulators: “We want DEQ to assume that responsibility.”

After discussion, Supervisor Nickel moved that the board approve the letter and authorize Chairman Johnson to sign it; the motion was seconded and carried in a roll-call vote: Hale — Aye; Nickel — Aye; Chairman Johnson — Aye; Van Hoven — Aye; Marshall — No. The board staff will send the letter to DEQ prior to the public comment deadline.

The public hearing that preceded the board’s discussion, Nickel said, was well attended: “There were probably 15 or so folks who spoke at that public hearing,” and the county’s draft letter was prepared with assistance from county counsel and staff.

The matter relates to a reissuance request from Synagro, which the draft letter identifies as the permit applicant seeking to apply biosolids on county land under VPA00075. The board’s letter requests DEQ use validated testing and to condition any permit approval to prevent application on Orange County land if PFAS are detectable under the referenced method.

The vote sends the county’s comments to DEQ; it does not itself change county code or set local testing or disposal requirements, which the board noted are within DEQ’s regulatory authority.