Court dismisses lawsuit alleging EPA failed to protect farmers from PFAS in fertilizer

By Shannon Kelleher | The New Lede | October 2, 2025

Read the full article by Shannon Kelleher (The New Lede)

“A federal district court this week dismissed a lawsuit alleging the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) failed to prevent the contamination of farmland across the country with toxic PFAS in sewage sludge used as fertilizer.

The US District Court for the District of Columbia on Monday dismissed the lawsuit on the grounds that the court does not have jurisdiction to make a ruling in the case, wrote Judge Dabney Friedrich in her opinion.

The lawsuit was filed last year by the group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) on behalf of Texas farmers and ranchers who alleged their farms were ‘poisoned’ by PFAS-tainted fertilizer from a neighbor’s property, as well as Johnson County, Texas, the Potomac Riverkeeper Network and the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association.”

This content provided by the PFAS Project.