State of Michigan sues 17 companies over PFAS contamination

LANSING – The state of Michigan filed suit Tuesday against 3M, DuPont and 15 other companies on accusations of contaminating the state with dangerous PFAS chemicals — known as "forever chemicals" because they are so slow to break down in the environment.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel announced the suit, filed in Washtenaw County Circuit Court.

"Companies that are responsible for these contaminants must be held accountable," Whitmer said. "Polluters must pay. It's time that these companies step up and take responsibility and address what has taken place."

Nessel decribed the lawsuit as "an important part of fighting PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) contamination." She said the companies knew or should have known about the dangers of the chemicals to human and animal health, but failed to disclose what they knew. Instead, the companies "went to great lengths to promote the lie" that the chemicals were safe, she said.

DuPont, 3M and other companies face numerous lawsuits around the country over PFAS contamination.

In Michigan, some of the most serious cases of PFAS contamination have been found around the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Oscoda, which used large volumes of firefighting foam containing PFAS; near the site of a former paper mill in Parchment, in Kalamazoo County, and near the site of a former shoe factory in Rockford, in Kent County. There also have been concerns about PFAS levels in treated drinking water in Ann Arbor, which draws most of its raw water from Barton Pond on the Huron River, which has had elevated PFAS levels.

Fanna Haile-Selassie, a 3M spokeswoman, said the company "acted responsibly in connection with products containing PFAS and will vigorously defend our record of environmental stewardship. To that end, we have placed thousands of documents in the public domain, including more than 150 published studies conducted by 3M and other researchers on potential environmental and health effects of PFAS."

She added: "3M did not and will not distort the science."

Dan Turner, a spokesman for DuPont, said the company is "extremely disappointed" by the lawsuit, which he said is without merit.

DuPont does not make PFOA or some of the other PFAS chemicals of greatest concern and "DuPont’s use of other PFAS is a small fraction of the total PFAS used in the world," Turner said. "While our use is extremely small, we’re actively pursuing alternatives to PFAS where possible in our manufacturing processes."

PFAS chemicals are generally not banned, but companies have been phasing out their manufacture and use.

DuPont is committed to upholding its remediation responsibilities and "upholding the highest standards for the well-being of our employees, our customers and the communities in which we operate," he said. "We will vigorously defend our record of safety, health and environmental stewardship.”

Environmental groups praised Tuesday's action.

"We can’t have a strong, vibrant economy when citizens are forced to drink polluted water," said Bob Allison, deputy director of the Michigan League of Conservation Voters.

In all, there are more than 70 PFAS sites in Michigan getting active attention from state officials, said Liesl Eichler Clark, director of the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy.

The Free Press reported in December that Wolverine Worldwide, which operated a former Rockford shoe factory that for decades used PFAS compounds, causing widespread environmental contamination nearby, is nearing a $69.5-million settlement with the state of Michigan and Plainfield and Algoma townships.

Named as defendants in Tuesday's suit are:

Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Co, also known as 3M

DuPont, including DuPont de Nemours Inc., also known as “New DuPont”

The Chemours Co., a spinoff of DuPont, and its subsidiary, The Chemours Co. FC LLX

Corteva Inc., another DuPont spinoff

Dyneon LLC

Archroma entities

Arkema entities

AGC Chemicals Americas Inc.

Daikin Industries entities

Solvay Specialty Polymers, USA LLC

Asahi Kasei Plastics North America Inc.

More: Internal documents show 3M hid PFAS dangers for decades

More: State, townships near $69.5M settlement with Wolverine shoe maker over PFAS contamination

Nessel said out-of-state law firms with expertise and experience suing chemical manufacturers have been hired on a contingency basis to work on the case with attorneys from her office.

The Free Press reported in May that a 3M environmental specialist, in a scathing resignation letter, accused company officials of being "unethical" and more "concerned with markets, legal defensibility and image over environmental safety" when it came to PFAS.

PFOS, one of 3M's chief PFAS products, "is the most insidious pollutant since PCB," Richard Purdy stated in his March 28, 1999, resignation letter, referring to a compound used in 3M's ScotchGard stain-protection product line, among other uses.

"It is probably more damaging than PCB because it does not degrade, whereas PCB does; it is more toxic to wildlife," he stated, adding that PFOS's end point in the environment appeared to be plants and animals, not soil and sediment like PCB.

Purdy's explosive resignation letter was just one of a large cache of internal 3M memos and documents obtained by the Free Press through public records law from the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office. Then-Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson obtained the internal documents from the Minnesota-based company after suing 3M in 2010 over its environmental contamination in the state. The company settled the suit last year for $850 million.

PFAS is the biggest emerging contaminant problem in Michigan and elsewhere in the nation. The nonstick compounds were used for decades, from the 1950s to the 2000s, in aqueous firefighting foam, industrial processes and a host of popular consumer products: Teflon nonstick pots and pans, ScotchGard stain protectants on carpets and upholstery; Gore-Tex water-resistant shoes and clothing, and more.

But the same qualities that made PFAS compounds so useful also makes them almost indestructible in the environment, giving them the ominous nickname "the forever chemicals."

Two of the most common and most studied PFAS compounds, known as PFOS and PFOA, have been linked to cancer; conditions affecting the liver, thyroid and pancreas; ulcerative colitis; hormone and immune system interference; high cholesterol; pre-eclampsia in pregnant women, and negative effects on growth, learning and behavior in infants and children.

PFAS can now be found in the blood of nearly 99% of Americans. It has even been found in polar bears in the Arctic Circle, as the chemicals have worked their way up the food chain from fish and seals.

Dozens of sites in Michigan are known to have groundwater with PFAS levels above the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's lifetime health advisory guideline of 70 parts per trillion, a level above which a person consuming the water for a lifetime might expect health problems. And state officials have identified more than 11,000 sites in Michigan where PFAS was used and contamination may be an issue.

And it's not just the Great Lakes State's problem. In a new study, citing updated federal government data, the Washington-based nonprofit Environmental Working Group identified 610 sites in 43 U.S. states or territories known to be contaminated with PFAS, including drinking water systems serving 19 million people.

Nicholas Coulson, an environmental class-action attorney from Detroit, is using the 3M internal documents from Minnesota in his own lawsuit. Coulson represents current and former residents of the city of Parchment, in Kalamazoo County, in a lawsuit against 3M and Georgia-Pacific, final owner of a long-standing paper mill in the city that made food-wrap paper coated with 3M's PFAS. The mill left a toxic mess in its nearby landfill, and PFAS compounds leached from it into Parchment's municipal water supply. Thousands in the city have been exposed to high levels of the compounds in their drinking water for an unknown number of years.

In May, 3M responded to Free Press requests for an interview with an emailed statement. It read, in part: "The small set of documents from the Minnesota litigation portrays an incomplete and misleading story that distorts the full record regarding 3M’s actions with respect to PFOA and PFOS, as well as who we are as a company."

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4. Read more on Michigan politics and sign up for our elections newsletter.