No more biosolids in Maine?

Bloomberg Environment reports that Maine Governor Janet Mills is about to sign legislation banning the land application of biosolids in Maine unless those biosolids are determined to be free of PFAS.  Practically speaking, this will drastically curtail, if not eliminate, the use of biosolids as a soil supplement in Maine because of the logistical challenges of choreographing the analysis of the biosolids with the need to be rid of them quickly.

On the one hand, we know that PFAS in biosolids placed on fields don't stay there, ultimately finding their way, albeit in minute quantities, into groundwater and so on and so on.  In restricting, if not eliminating, the land application of biosolids in Maine, Governor Mills is aligning Maine with other New England states which have already taken similar actions, in turn increasing the demand for Maine to take biosolids from other states.

On the other hand, biosolids, which have been an agricultural soil supplement forever, will now need to be disposed of like any other waste -- by landfilling or incineration.  This will be much more expensive. And both landfilling and incineration also release PFAS to the environment in some circumstances.

This is yet another reason why it is important that EPA meet its self-imposed PFAS road map milestones so that we can know soon what PFAS are threats to human health or the environment, and at what concentrations (which will most certainly be very small), so that we can make an informed decision about what continued uses of PFAS are worth the costs that will be imposed on those uses in the future owing to the costs of dealing with the inevitable results of those uses.