The 3M company announced Friday that it has reached an agreement with the state of Alabama to clean up the “chemical forever” discharges that contaminated the drinking water of thousands of residents in northern Alabama.
The consent order with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management will require 3M to continue investigating and cleaning up contaminated sites in northern Alabama, including former dumpsites where chemicals were disposed of along the Tennessee River, as well as further investigations. on the health of chemicals. impacts.
The order does not establish a specific penalty amount for 3M, but requires the company to bear all costs for additional investigation, cleanup, and investigation.
Five other states engaged in lawsuits with 3M over contamination by these chemicals, with Minnesota reaching a landmark $ 850 million settlement in 2018. Instead, Alabama decided to negotiate a consent order with the company.
Lance LeFleur, director of ADEM, said the structure of the deal would allow the cleanup to continue without delay and that the deal ensures 3M will pay the full cost of the cleanup.
“In Minnesota, the $ 850 million court settlement puts a limit on what 3M will have to pay for cleanup in that area,” LeFleur told AL.com on Friday. “Our agreement intentionally has no limit. So, whatever it takes to clean it up and do these studies and control the launches, 3M will pay the cost and not a penny will come out of the taxpayer’s pocket for any of this work. ”
The agreement covers emissions in northern Alabama from a broad class of chemicals called PFAS, or per and polyfluoroalkyl substances. Manufactured at 3M’s Decatur plant and other facilities for decades, the chemicals have been used to create nonstick coatings on cookware, stain resistant coatings on rugs and other fabrics, and grease resistant coatings on packaging of food and fire fighting. foams, among other commercial uses.
Brand name products like Scotchgard, Teflon, Gore-Tex, and others have used PFAS chemicals over the years, which are extremely slow to decompose and can persist in the natural environment for decades. Chemicals also build up in the tissue of people and animals over time, and in 2016, the US Environmental Protection Agency announced that long-term exposures to these chemicals, even at low doses, were associated with an increased risk of some cancers, metabolic problems, and developmental problems in infants.
That prompted eight Alabama water systems to issue drinking water alerts due to high levels of PFAS in their drinking water, and a system, directly downstream of 3M’s Decatur facilities, to warn people not to drink tap water. Those warnings were raised when drinking water systems changed their water source or added filtration to remove the chemicals.
LeFleur said the US Environmental Protection Agency also had a place at the table in the negotiations, around what cleanup actions and research studies were needed.
EPA is still evaluating national standards for PFAS, but LeFleur said the state agreement will require cleanup beyond what is currently required by law.
“It goes far beyond the requirements of current federal and state environmental regulations,” LeFleur said of the deal. “It will be updated as needed based on new data that may arrive, and 3M will pay all costs to assess and clean up emissions and to study potential health impacts.”
In a state press release, LeFleur called the interim consent order “the most important and far-reaching compliance action taken to date with respect to PFAS in the country.”
At its launch, 3M said so far “it has invested more than $ 100 million to address PFAS at the 3M Decatur site, including a major cap and containment project to manage the soil and groundwater impacted by the PFAS, and the installation of a granular activated carbon system to remove PFAS from groundwater. “
“3M is proud to be part of the Decatur community for almost 60 years, and the company values its role as a good neighbor and steward of the environment,” said Michelle Howell, plant manager for 3M Decatur in the press release. “Over the past 12 months, we have identified areas where we can do more and better, and we are committed to doing our part in our operations going forward.”
LeFleur also told Al.com that the deal includes all past and future PFAS chemical emissions, and would cover the more than 5,000 PFAS chemicals that currently exist.
Most current health impact studies have been conducted around the oldest and most common PFAS chemicals, such as PFOA and PFOS. However, many new chemicals have been developed to replace those for different applications, and less research has been conducted on whether they present the same health risks.
“ADEM has determined that a consent order is the best way at this time to ensure the safety of Alabamians,” ADEM General Counsel Shawn Sibley said in a press release. “Trials can be tied up in court for years, which can delay work to clean up sites and safeguard public health. A consent order is not based on new federal regulations, which are probably two or more years away. In summary, this is the fastest and safest route to achieve the goals of reducing public exposure to PFAS now and preventing future exposure, while holding 3M accountable. ”
The 52-page full consent request is included below:
