NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A6192D
SPONSOR: Kelles TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to
establishing a moratorium on the sale and use of biosolids
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL::
to address the threat of PFAS contamination through sewage sludge, or
biosolids, on New York state farmland and water supplies
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS::
Sec. 1- amends article 27 of the environmental conservation law by
adding a new title 8.establishing a 5-year moratorium on the land
spreading of biosolids, renewal and approval of related permits, and a
5-year moratorium on the sale, offer for sale, distribution of biosolids
and biosolid containing products.
Sec. 2 - establishes penalties for non-compliance of up to $2,500 per
violation
Sec. 3 - Severability clause
Sec. 4 - Effective date
A-print clarifies the what falls under/does not fall under the moratori-
um on the spreading of biosolids; clarifies that the agricultural
response fund portion of the bill is pursuant to an appropriation; makes
other technical and clarifying changes;
B-print removes provision authorizing the department to promulgate rules
and regulations to establish regulatory threshold levels for all indi-
vidual PFAS chemicals for which methods are available which call for
remediating PFAS contamination in both water and soils.
C-print adds to the list of materials excluded from the moratorium:
manure, litter, food processing waste, process wastewater from any
animal feeding operation and digestate from such materials. D-print
removes the task force and other provisions and adds a prohibition on
the sale and distribution of biosolids or products containing biosolids.
JUSTIFICATION::
NYS has already recognized the risk of PFAS and banned their use in
outdoor apparel, food packaging, firefighting equipment, and firefight-
ing foam. NYS' allowable limit for PFAS in drinking water is also 10
parts per trillion, yet there is currently no regulatory or statutory
limit for PFAS in biosolids spread on farmland (6 CRR-NY 361-3.0). In
fact, in 2023, New York's Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC)
released a draft Solid Waste Management Plan, which states that the DEC
would "continue to support local efforts to increase biosolids recycling
as a means to provide nutrients and organic matter to soils..." in order
to reduce landfilling of biosolids.
While it is an honorable goal to reduce waste going to landfills, bioso-
lids are far too toxic to continue spreading directly on farmland that
produces our food. A 2019 The Guardian Article titled "Biosolids: mix
human waste with toxic chemicals, then spread on crops," details the
risk of biosolids, stating: "By the time the mix lands in treatment
plants, it can teem with pharmaceuticals, hormones, pathogens, bacteria,
viruses, protozoa and parasitic worms, as well as heavy metals like
lead, cadmium, arsenic or mercury. It often includes PCBs, PFAS, diox-
ins, BPAs and dozens of other harmful substances ranging from flame
retardants to hospital waste." There are nearly 80,000 man-made chemi-
cals from industrial discharge and sewage systems, with the EPA identi-
fying 350 pollutants, of which 61 are acknowledged as "1. acutely
hazardous, 2. hazardous, or 3. priority pollutants." Furthermore, the
Federal Government bars dumping of biosolids in oceans because it causes
marine dead zones, while Whole Foods, Dole, Heinz, and Del Monte won't
buy crops grown in biosolids.
The impacts of land spreading of biosolids on human health are clear. A
2013 study from the University of North Carolina which found that 75 of
people living near farms that spread biosolids experienced health issues
like burning eyes, nausea, vomiting, boils, and rashes, while others
contracted penicillin-resistant MRSA. While PFAS are only one of the
many contaminants in biosolids, an EPA web page titled "Our Current
Understanding of the Human Health and Environmental Risks of PFAS"
recognizes health effects of this chemical includes: "decreased fertili-
ty or increased high blood pressure in pregnant women; developmental
effects or delays in children, including low birth weight, accelerated
puberty, bone variations, or behavioral changes; increased risk of
cancers including prostate, kidney, and testicular; reduced ability of
the body's immune system to fight infections, including reduced vaccine
response; interference with the body's natural hormones; increased
cholesterol levels and/or risk of obesity."
There is no reason why New York's food should not be as protected as our
drinking water. Continuing the spreading of biosolids that are not
treated to neutralize the known effects of contaminants like PFAS, other
known toxic chemicals including PCBs, dioxins, and BPAs, and heavy
metals will only contaminate New York's land, food, and people, costing
millions to mitigate and taking prime farmland offline for many decades.
A more comprehensive approach to reducing and appropriately treating
toxic sewage sludge needs to be taken before we further contaminate our
fields with nutrient rich toxic waste.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY::
This is a new bill
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS::
To be determined
EFFECTIVE DATE::
This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall have
become a law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6192--D
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 26, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. KELLES, ROMERO, GALLAGHER, ROSENTHAL, SIMON,
FORREST, GRIFFIN, OTIS, EPSTEIN, SCHIAVONI, SHRESTHA, SIMONE, SLATER,
SEAWRIGHT, CLARK, LEVENBERG, TAPIA, LUNSFORD, TAYLOR, LAVINE, BENEDET-
TO, REYES, PAULIN, BENDETT, McDONALD, TAGUE, SIMPSON, STIRPE, COLTON,
LUPARDO -- read once and referred to the Committee on Environmental
Conservation -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted
as amended and recommitted to said committee -- again reported from
said committee with amendments, ordered reprinted as amended and
recommitted to said committee -- again reported from said committee
with amendments, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said
committee -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as
amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to
establishing a moratorium on the sale and use of biosolids
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Article 27 of the environmental conservation law is amended
2 by adding a new title 8 to read as follows:
3 TITLE 8
4 MORATORIUM ON THE SALE AND USE OF BIOSOLIDS
5 Section 27-0801. Definitions.
6 27-0803. Moratorium on the sale and use of biosolids.
7 § 27-0801. Definitions.
8 As used in this title:
9 1. "Biosolids" means the accumulated semi-solids, solids or liquids
10 resulting from treatment of wastewaters from publicly or privately owned
11 or operated sewage treatment plants.
12 2. "Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances" or "PFAS" means a
13 class of fluorinated organic chemicals containing at least one fully
14 fluorinated carbon atom.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10313-15-5
A. 6192--D 2
1 3. "Wastewater treatment facility" means any facility that treats
2 wastewater, including but not limited to municipal sewage treatment
3 plants, industrial wastewater treatment plants, and septage treatment
4 facilities.
5 § 27-0803. Moratorium on the sale and use of biosolids.
6 1. For the period commencing on the effective date of this title and
7 ending five years after such date, a moratorium shall be established on
8 the land application, and issuance, renewal, or approval of any permits
9 related thereto, of:
10 (a) biosolids generated from a publicly or privately owned or operated
11 wastewater treatment facility;
12 (b) compost material that included in its production biosolids gener-
13 ated from a publicly or privately owned or operated wastewater treatment
14 facility; and
15 (c) any other product or material that is intended for use as a ferti-
16 lizer, soil amendment, topsoil replacement or mulch, or for other simi-
17 lar agricultural purposes including parks, golf courses, or other non-
18 crop land applications, that is derived from or contains biosolids
19 generated from a publicly or privately owned or operated wastewater
20 treatment facility.
21 2. For the period commencing on the effective date of this title and
22 ending five years after such date, a moratorium shall be established on
23 selling, offering for sale, distributing, or otherwise providing bioso-
24 lids, including products containing biosolids, in the state for use as
25 fertilizer, soil amendment, topsoil replacement, mulch, or for other
26 similar purposes.
27 3. The moratoria in subdivisions one and two of this section shall not
28 apply to:
29 (a) the disposal or placement at a solid waste landfill of any of the
30 materials that are prohibited from application, spreading, sale or
31 distribution by this section; or
32 (b) the land application of or the sale or distribution of compost
33 materials or other agricultural products or materials derived from or
34 containing residuals generated as a result of the processing or culti-
35 vation of food, food waste, crops or vegetative material, manure,
36 litter, food processing waste, process wastewater from any animal feed-
37 ing operation, digestate from such materials, or any other product or
38 material that is not derived from or does not contain biosolids.
39 § 2. The environmental conservation law is amended by adding a new
40 section 71-2704 to read as follows:
41 § 71-2704. Violations of title 8 of article 27 of this chapter.
42 A person who violates any of the provisions of, or who fails to
43 perform any duty imposed by title 8 of article 27 of this chapter, or
44 the rules, regulations, orders or determinations of the commissioner
45 promulgated thereto, shall be liable for a penalty of not to exceed
46 twenty-five hundred dollars for each such violation and an additional
47 penalty of not more than five hundred dollars for each day during which
48 such violation continues, and, in addition thereto, such person may be
49 enjoined from continuing such violation. Penalties and injunctive relief
50 provided herein shall be recoverable in an action brought by the attor-
51 ney general at the request and in the name of the commissioner.
52 § 3. Severability clause. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivi-
53 sion, section or part of this act shall be adjudged by any court of
54 competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect,
55 impair, or invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in
56 its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section
A. 6192--D 3
1 or part thereof directly involved in the controversy in which such judg-
2 ment shall have been rendered. It is hereby declared to be the intent of
3 the legislature that this act would have been enacted even if such
4 invalid provisions had not been included herein.
5 § 4. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
6 have become a law.
