Press release: For immediate release.
The campaign group Fighting Dirty has lost its case against the Environment Agency at the High Court today (August 21), on the crucial issue of spreading toxic sewage sludge on farmland. The judge ruled that the Environment Agency was not obliged to change its policy when the former Conservative Secretary of State for Environment failed to act.
The great majority of sewage sludge is either sold or given to farmers by water companies to use as “fertiliser”. While it contains useful nutrients, as a result of shocking regulatory failure, it also contains a cocktail of highly toxic chemicals, including dioxins, furans and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. A report commissioned by the Environment Agency (EA) in 2017 found that, as a result, English crops were contaminated with such chemicals at “levels that may present a risk to human health”. It stated that further contaminants in sewage sludge, including microplastics, could result in “soils becoming unsuitable for agriculture”.
Toxic pollutants enter the sewers from roads, homes and businesses. But also because the water companies accept payments from waste disposers to tip their liquid industrial effluent into the sewage system without testing for harmful substances like ‘forever chemicals’ PFAS and PFOA.
Despite promising urgent resolution, since 2017, the EA was hampered by consistent delays and lack of “Ministerial appetite” preventing them from removing the ‘exempted’ status of sewage sludge, bringing it into a permitting regime that would see it treated like other industrial waste.
Judge Fordham pointed out “the palpable frustrations” within the EA during this period, marked by their growing despair at the lack of ministerial “appetite,” the “political” process, and the urgent need for direction from Ministers. Disclosed internal EA communications from 2022 highlight this dire situation, noting, “…we are running out of things we can do to progress the sludge strategy without a ministerial steer. Defra has been proposing to send a submission up to the minister for at least 8 months.”
Fighting Dirty was founded by the environmental campaigners Georgia Elliott-Smith, George Monbiot and Steve Hynd, and is represented by law firm Leigh Day and David Wolfe KC and Rosalind Comyn of Matrix Chambers.
Georgia Elliott-Smith says: “Today’s findings show how the EA was placed in an untenable position, fully prepared to advance necessary regulations, yet hamstrung by political delays. This has allowed water companies to continue polluting with impunity. The solution is clear and has been long determined: bringing sewage sludge into the existing environmental permitting regime. While we understand the judgement, it highlights the total failure to regulate an extremely dangerous environmental hazard.”
Steve Hynd comments: “This judgment is a call to action for politicians who have for too long buried their heads in the sand. With a new government comes a new opportunity to tackle this staggering issue with the urgency it demands. As such, we call on Steve Reed to meet with us urgently to discuss this issue and to empower the EA to implement the actions they have spent years preparing.”
George Monbiot remarks: “We sued the government to try to address this under-reported scandal. We lost because of a Catch-22 situation: the judge ruled that if the Secretary of State fails to act, the Environment Agency is under no obligation to fill the regulatory gap. Government inaction becomes the excuse for further inaction.
“While successive governments have delayed, persistent toxic compounds are accumulating in our fields: through no fault of farmers, who have not been properly informed by the water companies about what they are spreading. This is a great opportunity for Labour to signal a clear break from the past, by taking decisive action.”
Rowan Smith of Leigh Day said: “Our client is of course very disappointed with the overall result, and is considering their options. However, Fighting Dirty welcomes the Judge’s clarification that the Environment Agency has the legal power to better regulate sewage sludge with the aim of reducing environmental harms, including from microplastics, but requires action from the Secretary of State in order to bring in the necessary legislation. Fighting Dirty calls on the new Labour administration to do exactly that.”