Lawmakers are taking another look at funding a study of so-called “forever chemicals” on Oregon farmland fertilized with treated sewage after a similar proposal failed last year.

Supporters say the analysis is needed to ensure Oregon’s particular situation is taken into account as federal regulators increase their oversight of PFAS chemicals in biosolids used as fertilizer.

“It’s critical that we find out what’s going on in Oregon before the federal government tries to tell us what is going on. That’s what this is all about,” said Rep. Ken Helm, D-Beaverton, the bill’s chief sponsor.

Under a version of House Bill 4049 being considered by the House Agriculture Committee, Oregon State University would receive $740,000 to determine the fate of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals in biosolids on agricultural fields.

“It’s a project to look what happens when they’re land-applied,” said Abigail Tomasek, an OSU assistant professor and Extension specialist on soil and water quality.

Such PFAS chemicals are known for their use in non-stick surfaces, but their pervasiveness and potential human health effects are lately drawing stricter scrutiny from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA intends to regulate PFAS as hazardous materials, which has worried the agriculture industry that farms treated with biosolids could be treated as Superfund sites that impose financial liability for cleanup on growers.

Last year, the House Agriculture Committee unanimously recommended directing $525,000 for a study of PFAS in agricultural biosolids.

However, the bill was one of many that fell by the wayside after a Republican protest over abortion and transgender healthcare policy halted the 2023 legislative session for more than month.

At this point, monitoring by sewage treatment utilities hasn’t indicated PFAS levels in Oregon are high enough to justify immediate statewide action, but they still need to understand what happens to such chemicals on farmland, said Jerry Linder, executive director of the Oregon Association of Clean Water Agencies.

The sources and concentrations of PFAS in sewage varies significantly across the U.S., so the nationwide data used by EPA may be too broad to form relevant policies for biosolids in Oregon, Linder said.

“A one-size-fits-all approach to regulate these contaminants is not appropriate,” he said.

Roughly 75% of the biosolids generated in Oregon are applied as fertilizer to farm fields, and proponents of HB 4049 say they’d otherwise need to be dumped into landfills or incinerated rather than used productively.

“The more I learn — I have a young daughter — it’s terrifying, right? But we can’t just ban biosolid applications out of fear,” said Tomasek of OSU. “States are starting to ban it, but you can’t really take into action what the concentrations are in other states. We really need to know what the situation looks like in Oregon before we take reactionary measures.”

Under HB 4049, participation in the PFAS study would be voluntary for farmers and their information and field locations would be kept anonymous. The analysis would compare PFAS levels in fields treated with biosolids with those that haven’t, among other factors.

The Oregon Farm Bureau, which supports the bill, appreciates that the bill’s drafters have taken agricultural perspectives into account and included the confidentiality provisions.

Federal studies and policy makers have mostly been focusing on states where PFAS concentrations are high, such as Maine and Michigan, but are not examining Oregon’s level of contaminants in particular, said Karen Lewotsky, water policy and rural partnerships director for the Oregon Environmental Council nonprofit.

“If we want future policies and regulations to take Oregon’s specific PFAS situation into account, it is incumbent on us to gather this data in a scientifically rigorous manner,” she said.