Dive Brief:
- The Rhode Island General Assembly passed a bill that would enact a one-year moratorium on sewage sludge processing facilities in the state. It also passed a related bill that would create a 21-member special legislative commission to study sludge management in the state.
- The bills saw speedy approval in the assembly as some officials have rallied against a proposed $150 million sludge pyrolysis plant in North Kingstown. On Friday, the town of North Kingstown announced its intent to sue the U.S. EPA over its approval of a federal Clean Air Act permit for the facility.
- The study commission created by Senate Bill 3225 would include legislators, industry members and members of the public. Gov. Dan McKee has 10 days to consider the bills since the assembly adjourned for the summer. He’s expected to sign both, according to The Providence Journal.
Dive Insight:
Concerns about sludge management technologies have collided with the Northeast's dwindling waste disposal capacity in recent years. A report released by the Northeast Waste Management Officials’ Association in April found that in 2024, 23% of the region's waste went to landfills that could close within five years. About 26% of the region’s waste was already shipped out of state that year.
NEWMOA's report covered eight states, including Rhode Island. The state’s one remaining waste disposal facility is the Central Landfill after another municipal landfill closed in 2018. Officials are also scheduling the closure of wastewater-specific infrastructure — the town of Woonsocket intends to shutter its sewage sludge incinerator, one of two remaining in the state.
At the same time, communities around the country have been alarmed by possible contamination from fertilizer derived from sewage sludge. Farmland that spread the material in some cases has seen high levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, which could lead to serious health impacts.
As a result, states like Maine and Connecticut have banned the use of sewage sludge as fertilizer. But that's led to issues with disposal capacity as well. In Maine, Aries Clean Technologies proposed a gasification plant to turn the material into biochar, but that too has proven controversial with the surrounding community.
Other states, including Maryland and Virginia, have meanwhile set PFAS testing and contamination restrictions for biosolids to try to contain the issue.
In Rhode Island, QSS Biosolids has already begun planning a pyrolysis plant at the Quonset Business Park. It received a lease in November 2024 and earned an air quality permit from state regulators in January, according to the assembly.
The facility was also designated a “minor source” of air pollution under federal Clean Air Act rules by the EPA, subjecting it to less stringent requirements. That determination is at the center of North Kingstown’s planned lawsuit. The facility also faces a legal challenge from a local group that’s hoping to throw out QSS Biosolids’ lease and state permits.
State lawmakers have publicly complained about the permit approval process for the facility, which they said involved “very limited public disclosure requirements.”
“This proposed facility would take in thousands of tons of dewatered sewage sludge every year, threatening the health and safety of neighbors, schools and other businesses nearby,” State Sen. Bridget Valverde, who introduced the study bill and represents North Kingstown, said in a statement on Thursday.
“Our community has a lot of concerns, and it’s not appropriate that the laws governing QDC do not call for any kind of public participation in the process,” she added.
Stakeholders associated with the QSS Biosolids project have agreed to participate with the commission’s study, according to the assembly’s release.
Members of the commission will include one representative of a private company that is involved in biosolids management, as well as a member of the Rhode Island Clean Water Association and the executive director of the North East Biosolids & Residuals Association. It also include representatives from communities that have incinerators and a member of the Conservation Law Foundation, which works with the National Coalition for Sludge-Free Land.
The commission would conduct a study looking at existing sludge management policies impacting capacity and costs. It would also consider future solutions, including pyrolysis. The report is due to the General Assembly by April 1, 2027.
