Agribusiness giant Perdue is facing a second lawsuit from Salisbury residents who want to stop the company from releasing its wastewater into the ground.

Two Salisbury plaintiffs allege that water contamination from a soybean oil refinery at the Perdue site on Zion Church Road is harming their health, according to a complaint, which was filed July 25 in Maryland District Court.

Their attorneys, Phillip Federico and Chase Brockstedt, said Wednesday that Perdue’s efforts to address the contamination are falling short. In October 2024, the legal team filed a class-action lawsuit against the business after tests on private wells around the property and along a river where the company funnels its wastewater showed unusually high levels of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, a man-made group of chemicals known as PFAS.

The chemicals, commonly used in stain-resistant carpets and food packaging, do not break down in the environment or human bodies. Even in small amounts, PFAS may be linked to cancers and developmental and fertility issues, according to the U.S Environmental Protection Agency. The federal agency has set a standard for PFAS levels in drinking water to stay below four parts per trillion. Tests on some wells surrounding Perdue’s site found levels at more than 10 times that.

Perdue manufacturing water runs through an on-site water treatment plant and is disposed of in multiple ways. It can be sprayed over a field on the property for irrigation, dumped into the local Peggy Branch River or held as liquid waste in a “lagoon” at the site until it’s removed and shipped to a wastewater plant.

The residents in the latest lawsuit allege that the private wells at their homes along the Peggy Branch each register more than 100 parts per trillion of PFOS, a compound within the larger PFAS group. They claim the company’s waste disposal plans are allowing PFAS into the groundwater and violating the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, a federal law that mandates that waste be removed in a way that does not harm human health.

In April, Perdue said they were continuing to funnel the refinery’s wastewater into the Peggy Branch, which flows through multiple communities before feeding into the Wicomico River.

The contamination at Perdue was found in 2023 when the Maryland Department of Environment began preliminary testing throughout the state to better understand PFAS, which experts say are already pervasive in the environment in smaller quantities. But many residents near the Perdue plant in Salisbury said in April that they were upset by the lack of transparency over the magnitude of the contamination and the timing of its discovery: State tests found elevated PFAS levels more than a year before Perdue sent letters to residents in fall 2024 alerting them to health risks.

In the weeks that followed, Perdue provided PFAS filters and bottled water to hundreds in the affected area. The company completed testing for all 673 properties that requested it within the Department of Environment’s designated impact area, replaced a fire suppression system that used PFAS in its firefighting foam, and installed an advanced wastewater treatment system that has reduced PFAS levels at the facility, according to Perdue spokeswoman Andrea Staub.

She said she thinks the Brockstedt Mandalas Federico law firm, based in Pikesville, is “not part of the solution” and is motivated by financial gain rather than progress in the impacted community.

“Perdue Agribusiness is committed to working with regulators and impacted communities — not lawyers — to resolve the issue responsibly,” Staub said Wednesday.

Perdue has denied wrongdoing and has twice attempted to dismiss the class-action case, which has grown to 500 plaintiffs. Residents are seeking damages for changes to property values and costs to health.

“Meanwhile, production continues and Perdue has taken no meaningful steps to stop the ongoing contamination or prevent PFAS-laden wastewater from leaving its facility,” Federico said.

The lawsuit comes as environmental advocates across Maryland are calling on the state to impose new restrictions on how large-scale farming businesses get rid of their waste.

Large agricultural plants are allowed to dispose of wastewater in the environment if they abide by regulations set on certain state permits. While a permit for factory farms expired at the start of July, a new one will eventually be issued by the state’s environment department. In the interim, advocates are pushing for a tighter monitoring system and more restrictions to keep contamination out of neighboring communities.

Food and Water Watch attorney Dani Replogle co-wrote a July 1 letter to Gov. Wes Moore on the desired changes, alongside nine other environmental advocacy groups. Replogle said she wants to see more mandatory monitoring, especially of lagoons on site that store liquid waste, which have liners that degrade over time and can leak contaminants. This is especially an issue on the Eastern Shore, she said, where groundwater is close to the surface.