By Diane Dubshinski
SCHOHARIE COUNTY — Schoharie County Department of Agriculture’s public comment response to NYS Department of Environmental Conservation in last week’s Mountain Eagle, January 16, 2026, page B7. NYS Schoharie Dept of Agriculture, “urged caution on the DEC’s biosolids policy. The comment expresses concern that biosolids contain PFAS and heavy metals harmful to soil and water.” The recommendation by the Department of Environmental Conservation to introduce biosolids on agriculture lands and water ways that it is recognized that biosolids contain PFAS and other heavy metals.
Sludge and biosolids, we are scratching the bottom of the barrel with the suggestion that they can be used to fertilize farmland. For beginners, let’s start with sludge! Before becoming a biosolid, sludge is a mud like residue which comes from industrial water or sewage treatment plants.
Sludge contains organic matter, nutrients and contaminants. Contaminants, unfortunately could be forever chemicals, heavy metals particularly PFAS. When excess water is removed from the sludge it becomes a biosolids. These heavy metal biosolids go on to find their way to the agricultural world in fields and water ways that we use for growing our food and drinking our water. WHO will monitor these biosolids? Local residents when great tasting well water is contaminated? Local town government after local waterways are contaminated? Ever hear of the Hudson River pcb’s or Love Canal? DDT? All a result of chemicals introduced to the environment.
Let’s learn from our past. Contact your Congressman, and Senate and tell them you are against using sludge and biosolids on agricultural land and waterways in New York State. A press release by Beyond Pesticides, a non for profit environmental health organization that advocate for reducing and eliminating toxic pesticide use says:
“Beyond the Supreme Court case, the chemical industry, led by Bayer/Monsanto, is seeking to pass legislation to shield chemical companies from failure-to-warn lawsuits. The industry had a bit of a setback when its preemption language was pulled from the FY2025 budget bill now moving through Congress. The most recent appropriations bill in the U.S. House of Representatives, which may be attached to other legislative vehicles like the Farm Bill, effectively provides total pesticide immunity from lawsuits that challenge chemical manufacturers who withhold information on the harm that their products can cause. Public health and environmental advocates say that chemical companies have successfully lobbied for a weak federal pesticide law and then try to hide behind the law when sued for
damages or failure to warn, telling the courts that their products are in compliance with pesticide
registration standards and therefore they are not liable for harm or nondisclosure. In late 2025, a broad coalition, including Beyond Pesticides and over fifty organizations, coalitions, businesses, and leaders, called on Congress to reject industry language in any federal legislative package under Congressional Consideration.”
This press release states that the U.S.Supreme Court will hear and decide if chemical manufacturers can be sued for failure to disclose pesticide hazards. Any comments please e mail dubshinski@gmail.com
March 3rd, 2026. Come join us for the Ag Solutions Expo, 8 AM to 3:30 PM at the Bouck Hall Ballroom at SUNY Cobleskill
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