Major PFAS manufacturer will pay more than $10 billion for clean-up

By Shannon Halinski

A major chemical company and producer of PFAS “forever chemicals”, 3M agreed to a $10.3 billion settlement with public water utilities last Thursday. This deal settles a test liability lawsuit brought by the city of Stuart, FL and the settlement includes thousands of water utilities across the countries.

Background: 

The landmark case began back in 2018, after the city of Stuart, Florida was alerted to high levels of PFAS in their drinking water. PFAS refers to a class of dangerous chemicals that have been linked to cancer among a variety of ill health effects. Conventional water treatments like chlorine fail to remove the chemicals from drinking water as well, making cleaning up polluted drinking water difficult. Public health experts advise that any PFAS levels over 1 part per trillion (ppt) is dangerous for consumption, and the Environmental Protection Agency is proposing a very low standard for PFAS in drinking water. Stuart, Florida had roughly 200 million ppt of PFAS, and some wells with PFAS levels as high as 1,000 ppt. City leaders believe firefighting foam was a main source of PFAS pollution in the small community along the St. Lucie River.

City officials quickly pulled three of their most contaminated wells offline and spent $25 million dollars on new technology to scrub the forever chemicals from their water. David Peters, Stuart’s public works director, estimates that the new water system will cost roughly $2 million a year. Speaking candidly he stated, “We can’t afford to spend that kind of money every year, we’re a small utility, a small municipality.” 

Will $10 billion be enough to pay for the full clean up of drinking water contaminated by PFAS?

Probably not. But the prospect of future cases adding billions of dollars of liability just might just be enough to get other chemical companies to follow 3M and begin turning off their toxic taps. We certainly hope so.

Why it matters:

While 3M has stated that they will stop producing PFAS chemicals by 2025, decades of pollution have already built up across America and will continue to do so as long as we widely use PFAS. 

The burden on cleaning up PFAS pollution should be placed on the PFAS producers, not everyday Americans. That’s why we’re working to make sure polluters pay, including by designating two of the most widely-used PFAS chemicals as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Emergency Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). 

How can we stop toxic PFAS pollution?

We need to turn off the tap on toxic PFAS pollution as soon as possible to protect our drinking water. Even $10 billion won’t likely be enough to clean up existing PFAS pollution, and every day, the problem gets worse. To protect clean water, companies need to stop dumping PFAS into waterways and we must stop using it in firefighting foam and consumer products.