From his boat, Lee Deihl can see the hills of Essex County sloping into his oyster farm in the Rappahannock River.

Lately, those hills feel a little too close.

That’s because the county’s farmers are prolific users of a fertilizer known to contain PFAS, the toxic “forever chemicals” linked with cancer.

PFAS never seem to disappear, travelling into crops, animals and groundwater. For months, he’s read stories of farmland needing to be condemned and cows needing to be euthanized because of the chemicals.

Do those chemicals drain into his bay?

“Has to,” said Deihl.

Deihl is one of a cohort of Virginia watermen fighting to halt the practice of applying the sewage sludge from wastewater plants onto farmland. The watermen are asking state agencies to pause the practice as a way to protect their own crop: the oysters, crabs, clams and fish that turn the economic gears in these shoreline counties.

Lee Deihl, owner of Northern Neck Oyster Co., pulls up a haul of oysters, Tuesday, Feb. 18. Deihl is part of a group of watermen fighting against the use of sewage sludge as fertilizer.

In doing so, they join environmental groups nationwide. Those groups have traced the sludge to its source, finding PFAS in the fertilizer many times what the EPA has said could be harmful to humans. Bolstered by a growing body of research — including a warning issued last month by the EPA — the group says Virginia has abdicated its duties in protecting their riverways.

The agency they are pushing to act is the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, the state body that monitors the practice of applying sludge to farmland. That agency’s data shows that biosolids are widely used throughout Virginia. The fertilizer was applied to around 59,000 acres of farmland in 2024, and is widely used in counties surrounding Richmond, as well as in counties like Essex and Westmoreland, where water tables drain into the Chesapeake Bay.

“I’ve got my heart invested in this. Blood, sweat, tears. All that I have here. And I don’t want to see it be lost due to somebody’s frivolous waste,” said Deihl.

Lee Deihl, owner of Northern Neck Oyster Co., shucks a freshly caught oyster, Tuesday, Feb. 18.

The business of biosolids

The waste in question comes from the unsightly leftovers of urban sewage plants. Sewage gets treated at a plant that separates the liquid from the solid. Whatever can’t return to the waterways becomes ground, mashed, digested and packed into a nutrient rich sludge. The trade name for the fertilizer is “biosolids.”

Wastewater plants pay private companies to take the solids away. The alternatives — the landfill or the incinerator — come with pollution headaches of their own. So private companies spread the biosolids on farmland across the country, free of cost.

Farmers, meanwhile, get a nitrogen-rich bedding for their crops while saving money they would have otherwise used on fertilizer. An industry lobbyist described the trade as “a partnership that just makes sense.”

In 2024, one company was responsible for around half of the biosolids on Virginia farmland.

An aerial view of a farm in the Northern Neck that uses treated sewage sludge, Tuesday, Feb. 18.

That company is Synagro, based in Maryland. Several sources of Synagro’s product have been tested and shown to have PFAS above thresholds that the EPA has linked to harm for humans. Around 3,000 acres of farmland were fertilized with sludge from Arlington County, for example. Tests from the county’s wastewater plant showed PFAS at 13 times what the EPA says is linked to adverse human health effects.

Last year, the agency classified PFAS as likely to cause cancer. At low levels, strains of PFAS depress the immune system and caused decreased birth weight in children. High levels of exposure were linked with cancer and other harms.

Another source of the solids in Maryland found their sludge contained around 7 times what the EPA believes could be harmful. Last year, some 1,300 acres from that source were applied on Virginia farms.

Synagro would like to expand. This year, the company has 8 proposals to do so before regulators. Those proposals would grow their acreage in 8 different Virginia counties — including in Chesterfield and Dinwiddie.

A spokesperson for Synagro, Kip Cleverly, initially indicated they would respond to questions about their products, but has since not returned emails regarding biosolids and the concerns of Virginia watermen.

An oyster cage belonging to Lee Deihl, owner of Northern Neck Oyster Co., can be seen in the water, Tuesday, Feb. 18.

For its part, the company says it recognizes the “challenge” posed by PFAS. The company, and its siblings in the industry, tell farmers that their fertilizer is safe and environmentally-friendly. Synagro is joined by two other Virginia companies, NutriBlend and Recyc systems, who provide the same service.

A spokesperson for the Virginia Biosolids Council, which lobbies the Virginia legislature, said it was tough to draw any true policy conclusions from the EPA’s January warning regarding sewage sludge.

“The EPA’s risk assessment is based on modelling which found there MAY be a risk, with many factors determining that risk such as source of the biosolids, proximity to other sources, PFAS contamination in rainwater, etc,” said Kyle Shreve, a lobbyist with the council.

At the same time, Synagro’s CEO has been lobbying Congress to enact legal protections for companies that are merely “passive receivers” of PFAS chemicals, the New York Times reported last December. Those protections, if passed, would inoculate companies like Synagro from PFAS-related lawsuits.

Lee Deihl, owner of Northern Neck Oyster Co., harvests oysters from his under water farm, Tuesday, Feb. 18.

‘Dereliction of duty’

Virginia’s watermen, alongside a handful of environmental advocates, plan on slowing Synagro down.

The groups have already forced the Department of Environmental Quality to hold public hearings over biosolid permit expansions in Westmoreland and Essex counties.

Their mobilization has been bolstered by news reports from across the country, including stories of farms being condemned in Michigan and of livestock being poisoned by PFAS in Texas . In Texas, the farmers have sued Synagro, alleging the company “falsely markets as being safe and organic.”

In Maine, state regulators have found 68 farms contaminated from biosolids application. That came after PFAS began appearing in milk and in drinking wells — which has already occurred in Virginia , albeit likely due to contamination from Richmond’s airfield. Maine outright banned the practice of applying sewage sludge. Other states, like Michigan, have required the solids to be tested for PFAS before they go on farmland.

Virginia has no such rules. And while the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality does have treatment standards for sewage sludge, it doesn’t ask companies to test for PFAS.

Lee Deihl, owner of Northern Neck Oyster Co., is seen through a basket of oysters as he steers his boat, Tuesday, Feb. 18.

But the watermen remain hopeful. They see a blueprint for success in Maryland, where state regulators issued a pause on new permit expansion without passing any new state laws or waiting for further guidance from the EPA.

Mike Lightfoot, an organizer for the Twin Rivers Watermen’s Association, says Virginia should follow suit.

“It is time to push Virginia into requiring these biosolids be tested before application,” Lightfoot wrote in an email galvanizing fellow watermen to attend upcoming permit hearings.

The association’s president, Ed Arnest, wrote a letter to regulators saying the biosolids are an “endangerment to the public and our river.”

Lee Deihl, owner of Northern Neck Oyster Co., heads out onto the Rappahannock River to harvest oysters, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025.

Oystermen are extremely attentive to their waterways. In the 1990s, a foreign parasite known as MSX wiped out Virginia’s oyster population. Fluctuations in salinity can also kill or sicken oysters, which thrive under Goldilocks-style conditions.

As filter-feeders, oysters are designed to hoover up the minutiae that flows through the river. Deihl fears that quality primes oysters to accumulate toxic runoff.

There’s no research to show that his fears will come true, but the FDA has found PFAS in clams, issuing a recall for two brands of canned clams originating from China. The FDA also issued a broad request for information last November, asking scientists to submit research and data on the accumulation of PFAS in seafood.

“Are the oysters going to concentrate that? That’s what concerns me,” said Deihl. “It’s fear of the unknown. Is it good, is it bad, is it hurting things? From what I gather, it’s hurting things.”

And Deihl is suspicious of Synagro, which has remained mum as the watermen push for transparency.

“I think they know what they’re doing,” said Deihl. “I think they know what’s in there.”

Lee Deihl, owner of Northern Neck Oyster Co., poses for a portrait by one of his boats, Tuesday, Feb. 18. Deihl is concerned about the possibility of PFAS contaminating his catch.

Another environmental advocacy group, the Potomac Riverkeeper’s Association, has been more confrontational with Virginia regulators. Lawyers with the group have dug up test results from Synagro’s source plants in Maryland. Those results show that 24 of the 36 approved plants where biosolids originate show PFAS contamination.

In an open letter, the group told the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality that it should revoke Synagro’s permit and impose testing standards on new biosolid applications.

“With all this information available, ignoring the dangers of PFAS contamination today, in 2025, is a dereliction of duty to protect the public health and waterways of the State,” the group wrote in a public comment submitted in response to Synagro’s permit expansion in Westmoreland.

The group says that by doing nothing, the agency is violating the Virginia Pollution Abatement Act. That act states that it is illegal to alter state waters and “make them detrimental to the public health, or to animal or aquatic life.”

A spokesperson for the department, Irina Calos, said DEQ doesn’t test for PFAS because federal rules don’t call for testing for PFAS. Calos said that the agency takes enforcement direction from the state legislature, and that the agency’s standards mirror federal biosolids quality standards.

Calos said that agency director Mike Rolband, a Youngkin appointee, would be the final decisionmaker on Synagro’s permits.

A prohibition could also blowback on Virginia farmers, who have come to rely on the biosolids industry as a source of free fertilizer.

Martha Moore, a lobbyist for the Virginia Farm Bureau, believes the science isn’t quite there yet showing a definitive link to PFAS and biosolids.

A majority of recent research does substantiate environmentalists claims — including an alarming study showing that wastewater plants actually transform PFAS into a more soluble chemical that is more likely to run into groundwater. A study published this year found up to 100 times higher levels of PFAS in fields using biosolids in Pennsylvania.

Oysters begin to fill a basket on Lee Deihl’s boat, Tuesday, Feb. 18.

Lee Deihl, owner of Northern Neck Oyster Co., heads out into the Rappahannock River on Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025.

But at least one national study showed low levels of contamination. That study, which was cited by Shreve, the industry lobbyist, and is viewed skeptically by environmental groups, ultimately said more research was needed.

Moore thinks environmental groups can “scare people” with out-of-context quotes and statistics. Meanwhile, an outright ban would hurt the farmers she represents, Moore said.

“It would probably put some farmers out of business,” said Moore. “They may not be able to afford fertilizer for their crops … that is a possibility for certain folks.”

Regardless, Deihl isn’t necessarily demanding an outright ban just yet.

“I know the [DEQ’s] thing is to wait for the federal government,” Deihl said. “I understand that. But I still feel like maybe we can pause this.”

Photos: Watermen concerned by sludge used to fertilize farms

Lee Deihl, owner of Northern Neck Oyster Co., poses for a portrait by one of his boats, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025.

Lee Deihl, owner of Northern Neck Oyster Co., displays an oyster he just harvested, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025.

An oyster cage belonging to Lee Deihl, owner of Northern Neck Oyster Co., can be seen in the water, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025.

Lee Deihl, owner of Northern Neck Oyster Co., steers his boat, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025.

Oysters can be seen in a basket on Lee Deihl’s boat, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025.

Lee Deihl, owner of Northern Neck Oyster Co., shucks a freshly caught oyster, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025.

Lee Deihl, owner of Northern Neck Oyster Co., heads out into the water on his boat, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025.

Lee Deihl, owner of Northern Neck Oyster Co., heads out on the water to harvest oysters, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025.

Lee Deihl, owner of Northern Neck Oyster Co., tosses an oyster shell back into the water, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025.

Lee Deihl, owner of Northern Neck Oyster Co., sorts through oysters on his boat, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025.

Lee Deihl, owner of Northern Neck Oyster Co., pulls up a haul of oysters, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025.

Lee Deihl, owner of Northern Neck Oyster Co., sorts through oysters on his boat, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025.

Lee Deihl, owner of Northern Neck Oyster Co., tosses an oyster into a basket, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025.

Oysters begin to fill a basket on Lee Deihl’s boat, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025.

Lee Deihl, owner of Northern Neck Oyster Co., steers his boat, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025.

Lee Deihl, owner of Northern Neck Oyster Co., harvests oysters from his under water farm, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025.

Lee Deihl, owner of Northern Neck Oyster Co., returns to the dock after harvesting oysters from his under water farm, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025.

Lee Deihl, owner of Northern Neck Oyster Co., returns to the dock after harvesting oysters from his under water farm, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025.

An aerial view of a farm that uses fertilizer that probably contains PFAS, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025.

An aerial view of a farm that uses fertilizer laced with PFAS, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025.

Lee Deihl, owner of Northern Neck Oyster Co., poses for a portrait by one of his boats, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025.

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