Rural Vermont presses lawmakers to ban land‑application of sewage sludge, citing PFAS risks

Caroline Sherman Borden, legislative director of Rural Vermont, told the committee on Monday that the group supports H.303, legislation to ban land application of sewage sludge on farmland, and pressed lawmakers to take testimony on the health and agricultural risks posed by PFAS contamination.

Borden said the legislature has made progress on phasing PFAS from consumer products but warned that spreading sewage sludge — which she described as containing PFAS contaminants — threatens food‑bearing soils. "At the very least, we would want to see a policy that would prohibit the expansion of the practice of land application of sewage sludge in the future," she said.

Borden pointed to cases in Maine where farmers were forced to destroy products and cease operations after PFAS contamination, and told the committee that the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) has, in testimony, said it is "only testing five of about more than 1,500 chemicals" in soils. Borden said ANR has not signaled the urgency Rural Vermont believes is warranted and urged the committee to hear testimony from Vermonters for Clean Environment and affected farmers.

Committee members asked about federal drinking‑water guidance and recent EPA changes to PFAS benchmarks; Borden said she would defer technical questions to agency experts and recommended inviting Vermonters for Clean Environment (John Braben was named) for specifics. She added that even if ANR does not find concerning levels today, Rural Vermont wants statutory limits that prevent future expansion of sludge land application rather than relying solely on current agency testing.

The committee did not take immediate action; members were advised that Mike O'Grady may provide a separate agency update later in the morning that could clarify current PFAS drinking‑water rulemaking and testing.