PLAINFIELD TWP., Pa. — Almost four years ago, Millie Beahn was running around in the rain, going door-to-door to try to spread a warning about sludge.
“I went to my neighbors and I took a paper around, asking people to sign,” Beahn said. “To tell the Nazareth Borough Municipal Authority that they did not want them spreading their — they call it biosolids to make it sound nice, but it's the stuff from the sewer plant — and spreading it here on this preserved farm.”
And, the fight is still going.
Over the past several years, there’s been a land battle in the township over how the former Hower Farm property, 6249 Hower Road, could be used. It pits Nazareth Borough Municipal Authority and the state Department of Environmental Protection against the township as well as environmental advocacy groups, like Save Plainfield Township, co-founded by Beahn, and the Delaware Riverkeeper Network.
The DEP has granted approval to the authority to spread biosolids, mostly organic materials produced during wastewater treatment, on the property. But, advocates and township officials argue the land isn’t suitable for that use, and doing so would cause harm to the environment, as well as nearby residents.
The matter is currently before the state’s Environmental Hearing Board. No hearing date has been set yet, and both sides are still undergoing the discovery phase, exchanging evidence.
“Since this matter is in litigation, DEP does not have any further comment at this time,” said John Repetz, the state DEP’s deputy director of regional communications, in an email.
Asked how many sludge fields on preserved farms are currently permitted across the state, he said, “DEP does not track how many preserved farms are approved for land application.”
A good fit for biosolids?
It wasn’t a shock that appeals were filed by the township and other groups, said Scott T. Wyland, special counsel to Nazareth Borough Municipal Authority, or NBMA.
"We were not necessarily surprised by the filings, but we are prepared to defend the authorities’ right to use the farm under long standing federal and Pennsylvania law."Scott T. Wyland, special counsel to Nazareth Borough Municipal Authority
“The authority had known there may be some opposition to the authority's biosolids program at the Hower Farm,” Wyland said. “And so, we were not necessarily surprised by the filings, but we are prepared to defend the authority's right to use the farm under long standing federal and Pennsylvania law.”
It’s a widely-used program with decades of safety and regulation, he said, as well as a good alternative to both manure and chemical fertilizer for farming operations.
“The land application of biosolids offers several advantages,” Wyland said. “First off, from a cost basis, it's less expensive to land-apply biosolids, even in this highly regulated environment, than it is to send the material to a landfill. It also offers farmers an attractive alternative to expensive chemical fertilizers.”
While not all farms are suitable to apply biosolids, the authority believes the former Hower Farm is a good fit.
“While it might be understandable that some parties would have a purely emotional reaction to the biosolids program, the technical specifications and the suitability of the farm are fully taken into account by the regulators through the detailed qualification process that the farm goes through,” Wyland said.
“In this case, it receives quite a bit of scrutiny and such technical features as sinkholes and slopes and wetlands and creeks are all fully taken into account, and areas of the farm that may not be suitable for biosolids application are carefully screened and added to the areas where the material will not actually be applied.”
However, township officials, Save Plainfield Township and the Delaware Riverkeeper Network disagree.
“If they get to spread this stuff, it's going to be detrimental to people's health,” Beahn said. “It gets in the air.”
The township believes the site is “completely inappropriate for the use of biosolids,” said David Backenstoe, Plainfield Township solicitor.
“There are times when the use of biosolids are not appropriate, and this is one of those times,” he said.
The Riverkeepers argue it’s a violation of several federal and state environmental laws, including Article 1, Section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, which establishes the right of commonwealth citizens to clean air and water, and to the preservation of the state's natural resources.
"It is illegal to threaten the water quality of those waterways to the point where it would degrade them."Tracy Carluccio, deputy director of the nonprofit Delaware Riverkeeper Network
“This land is adjacent to and all flows to the Little Bushkill Creek and then into the Bushkill Creek and then into the Delaware River,” said Tracy Carluccio, deputy director of the nonprofit Delaware Riverkeeper Network. “And the Little Bushkill and the Bushkill and the Delaware River are all protected waterways, and the Little Bushkill and the Bushkill are under Pennsylvania’s Special Protection Waters program.
“It is illegal to threaten the water quality of those waterways to the point where it would degrade them.”
Notices, appeals
The Hower Farm for decades was a working farm in the township, and in 2008 was included in the commonwealth’s Farmland Preservation Program.
Through the program, farmers sell their development rights to the State Land Preservation Board, protecting the land from any future residential or commercial development.
In November 2021, the land was purchased by the NBMA for $850,000. The authority already had a general permit from the DEP to spread biosolids on a different farm, and could apply for special authorization from the agency to do the same at the former Hower property.
“I believe they mentioned to the township and had some communications with different township officials at the end of 2022, and maybe early ‘23, indicating that they may intend to spread biosolids on the Howard farm,” Backenstoe said. “And, of course, the township immediately became very concerned about that for a lot of reasons.”
The first formal notice the township received was near the end of September 2023, he said. It was a notice of intent to spread Class B biosolids at the former Hower Farm property.
By the end of that October, the township filed an appeal to the state Environmental Hearing Board. In early December, the township got a notice from the DEP about the NBMA’s intention to spread biosolids.
Around the same time, Save Plainfield Township filed a petition to intervene in the township's appeal.
“So, to protect the township and its residents, we filed a second appeal. Actually, we filed a third appeal.”David Backenstoe
The township filed a second appeal at the end of 2023 — and it wouldn’t be the last.
“There's a series of notices the authorities are required to give, and the township didn't want to miss any deadlines,” Backenstoe said. “So, to protect the township and its residents, we filed a second appeal. Actually, we filed a third appeal.”
After the second appeal, the Environmental Hearing Board entered an order consolidating those two appeals, as well as authorizing Save Plainfield Township to intervene.
In mid-September 2024, the DEP email copied the township on a notice to the NBMA. They were formally reviewing the authority’s biosolids plan, and the township filed a third appeal.
The next month, the Delaware Riverkeeper Network filed its own appeal.
“The court entered another order in December of 2024, where they consolidated all of the cases,” Backenstoe said. “They consolidated the three appeals filed by the township. They consolidated the intervention filed by Save Plainfield Township and they consolidated Delaware Riverkeeper’s independent appeal.”
Now, the case is pending before the Environmental Hearing Board.
Biosolids, sewer sludge
Biosolids are what they sound like — mostly organic materials produced during wastewater treatment.
“Approximately 99% of the wastewater stream that enters a treatment plant is discharged as rejuvenated water,” according to Penn State Extension. “The remainder is a dilute suspension of solids that has been captured by the treatment process. These wastewater treatment solids are commonly referred to as sewage sludge.”
While both terms — biosolids and sewage sludge — are often used interchangeably, there is a difference. In industry terms, biosolid is used to describe sewage sludge that has been treated to EPA standards for land application.
Biosolids are broken down into two groups, Class A or Class B. Class A have the least risk of pathogens, while Class B have been through processes that significantly reduce, but do not eliminate, pathogens, according to the EPA.
The Environmental Protection Agency in 2000 published a fact sheet, arguing “the addition of biosolids to soil to supply nutrients and replenish soil organic matter” and “it offers cost advantages, benefits to the environment and value to the agricultural community.”
However, earlier this month, the EPA released a draft risk assessment about the potential human health risks associated with the presence of toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in biosolids.
PFAS are a group of manufactured chemicals that have been used in consumer products since the 1940s, but have been nicknamed “forever chemicals” because they are incredibly slow to break down once introduced into the environment, and can contaminate groundwater.
They’re prevalent and found in products ranging from drinking water to food, household and personal care products, and have been linked to a variety of health problems, including liver and immune-system damage and some cancers.
“EPA’s analysis finds that the risks of exposure to PFOA and PFOS through biosolids increases proportionally with the amount of those chemicals in the biosolids,” according to the risk assessment, published Jan. 14. “This means that if you lower the concentration of PFOA or PFOS in biosolids or the amount of biosolids applied to agricultural land, you lower the risk.”
Carluccio said the assessment “provides crucial information regarding the potential damaging health effects of sewage sludge when it is applied to land or incinerated.”
“The proposed Nazareth Borough Municipal Authority proposal for biosolids application at the Hower Farm is now under a glaring spotlight that exposes that public health is clearly endangered by the Authority’s plans,” Carluccio said. “The evidence we see in this draft risk assessment makes it clear that the Hower Farm biosolids plan must be abandoned.”
Confidence on both sides
The past few years have been “very strenuous and very difficult,” Beahn said.
“It wears on you,” she said. “We go to the meetings — I've only ever missed two of their meetings.”
“We feel we're on strong footing. The environmental rights amendment of the Pennsylvania constitution is very strong."Tracy Carluccio
However, environmental advocates think they have a good chance at winning, effectively stopping the spread of biosolids on the property.
“We feel we're on strong footing,” Carluccio said. “The environmental rights amendment of the Pennsylvania constitution is very strong. It really does require that not only DEP but also the borough authority follow the requirement to protect air and water.
“ … They're supposed to be making decisions based on facts and science in order to make sure that they're protecting the environmental rights of the public when they make a decision to do something like this. And the borough authority and DEP did not do that.”
However, the authority also believes it will win.
“The authority is optimistic that the Environmental Hearing Board will find the DEP did all appropriate inquiry here, and that the authorities characterization of the site was thorough and correct,” Wyland said. “There are detailed regulations, the authority’s very thoroughly familiar with them, as are the authority’s consultants.
“The authority used a deeply experienced team to assure that the Howard farm would meet all the applicable regulations and be completely suitable for this long standing program that has a rich history of beneficial use.”
