Craig Family Farms, LLC, and the environmental groups Stop Land Use Damaging our Ground and Environment (S.L.U.D.G.E.), LLC, and Citizens of Randolph County Against Pollution (CRAP), LLC, served formal notice to six organizations last week of their intent to file a lawsuit in federal court to stop the land-application of meat and food-processing waste and biosolids to Missouri farmland.

Targeted as prospective defendants are the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and waste-management companies, Bubs, Inc.; Denali Water Solutions, LLC (Denali); HydroAg Environmental, LLC; Reed Environmental, LLC; and Synagro Technologies, Inc., (Synagro).

The environmental groups’ intended lawsuit alleges that the sludge and biosolids land-applied by the waste-management companies contain the federally-regulated “forever chemical,” PFAS, and that the DNR is making no effort to regulate their land-application at a state level.

An acronym for “Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances,” PFAS are a group of thousands of pervasive “forever chemicals” that have been manufactured since the 1940s. They’ve since been used in multiple applications, including fire-fighting foam, nonstick coatings, stain and water repellents, food packaging, and textile and paper manufacturing. Because the chemicals are essentially waterproof and non-degradable, they have accumulated in the environment over past decades and are now negatively impacting soil and water quality and livestock and human health.

After studies revealed a connection with PFAS to cancer and other metabolic ailments, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says there is now evidence to suggest that the chemicals are carcinogenic, and the agency is establishing maximum enforceable contaminant levels for drinking water.

In other states, the infiltration of PFAS into soil, water and livestock has reached levels high enough that some farm- ers have been ordered to cease using their land for the production and sale of livestock and crops.

A press release from attorney Stephen Jeffery, of the Jeffery Law Group — who represents SLUDGE, CRAP and Craig Family Farms — alleges that waste-management companies, Denali and Synagro, have both made public admissions that the industrial sludges they land apply contain toxic PFAS compounds.

The Missouri legislature passed bills in 2024 that regulate the land-application of meat and food-processing waste and biosolids, including a proposed DNR rule to require the testing of industrial waste for PFAS.

Although the DNR is proposing to test for PFAS, their rule doesn’t prohibit the land-application of sludges that contain PFAS, regardless of the levels that are detected, the environmental groups allege.

“This arbitrary decision to allow the continued land-application of PFAS-containing sludges will result in many people being placed at risk,” Jeffery said.

In southwest Missouri, the land-application of possible contaminants is of particular concern. In the area’s karst topography, consisting of soluble limestone and dolomite bedrock pocked with fissures and sinkholes and underlain by natural conduits such as caves, land-applied materials can easily make their way into groundwater from which public and private drinking water is sourced, then travel for miles.

“Karst groundwater travel rates in Missouri are often in the range of a mile per day,” said Missouri hydrologist, Tom Aley, in an article titled “Karst Groundwater,” written for a 2007 Missouri Department of Conservation publication.

By way of comparison, in non-karst areas, groundwater travel rates are commonly only a few feet per year, Aley said.

Water quality is a priority for Don Craig, of Craig Farms, who is a plaintiff in the prospective lawsuit and a resident of Barry County.

“What’s put on the land makes its way into groundwater, and we all drink from the same groundwater in Barry County,” Craig said.

The DNR currently has permits pending on behalf of waste-haulers Synagro and HydroAg for the land-application of meat-processing sludge and biosolids to some 9,000 acres of farmland in Barry County.

SLUDGE, CRAP and Craig Farms hope to bring that process to a halt, not only for Barry County, but for the entire state.

The DNR has until Dec. 12, 2024, to stop all future land application of toxic industrial sludges throughout Missouri,” stated attorney Ryan Mohr, with Fox Smith, LLP, who is also representing the environmental groups.

If the DNR fails to prohibit such land application, a lawsuit will be filed in federal court seeking a permanent injunction to stop the land-application, Mohr said.

Denali declined to comment on this article, and Synagro did not respond to a request for comment.