By Shereen Siewert

Manufacturer 3M Co., which operates a plant in a Wausau neighborhood, announced on Thursday the company reached a settlement to put an end to thousands of lawsuits filed nationwide over contaminated public drinking water systems.

The news comes one month after officials in Wausau voted to explore a lawsuit to recover costs and identify polluters contributing to the city’s drinking water contamination, the cost of which has so far fallen on the backs of taxpayers. 3M is facing about 4,000 lawsuits by state and municipalities over contamination by PFAS, the so-called “forever chemicals” used by the company in manufacturing operations.

What the settlement means for Wausau is not yet clear. Mayor Katie Rosenberg said city officials are working with their attorney to determine next steps.

“We hope to have something to share sooner rather than later but I’m not sure when that will be,” Rosenberg told Wausau Pilot & Review.

Under mounting regulatory and financial pressure, 3M in December said it would end the manufacture of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and discontinue their use in its products by the end of 2025. PFAS are widely used in hundreds of products, from nonstick cookware coatings to food packaging, stain- and water-resistant clothing and firefighting foams.

Studies have found that most products labeled stain- or water-resistant contained PFAS – even if those products are labeled as “nontoxic” or “green.”

“Once people are exposed to PFAS, the chemicals remain in their bodies for a long time – months to years, depending on the specific compound – and they can accumulate over time,” wrote Middlebury College environmental health scholar Kathryn Crawford. A 2021 review of PFAS toxicity studies in humans “concluded with a high degree of certainty that PFAS contribute to thyroid disease, elevated cholesterol, liver damage and kidney and testicular cancer.”

The review also found strong evidence that in utero PFAS exposure increases the chances that babies will be born at low birth weights and have reduced immune responses to vaccines. Other possible effects yet to be confirmed include “inflammatory bowel disease, reduced fertility, breast cancer and an increased likelihood of miscarriage and developing high blood pressure and preeclampsia during pregnancy.”

3M is facing about 4,000 lawsuits by states and municipalities for PFAS contamination. Minnesota’s Attorney General filed one of the earliest such cases against chemical manufacturers, seeking $5 billion from 3M for harm to drinking water and the environment in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. In 2018, 3M settled the case for $850 million without conceding liability.

Other Wisconsin municipalities have filed similar lawsuits that seek to recover cleanup costs. In 2021, for example, the City of La Crosse claimed products containing PFAS chemicals caused contamination of public and private wells in their lawsuit, which was filed against nearly two dozen chemical companies including 3M.

Under the terms of the 3M settlement announced June 22, the company will contribute up to $10.3 billion over the next 13 years to public water suppliers nationwide that have detected PFAS in drinking water, as well as for suppliers that detect PFAS “at any level in the future.” The company did not admit liability in the settlement, which is subject to court approval.

In a statement, 3M chairman and CEO Mike Roman called the settlement an “important step forward for 3M.”

Carolyn LaViolette, communications strategist for 3M in Minnesota, referred Wausau Pilot & Review to a news release and did not answer specific questions about the impact for the city or whether the decision would impact jobs at the company, which announced in April it would slash thousands of positions to streamline corporate operations and reduce management layers. Those cuts were in addition to about 2,500 manufacturing jobs eliminated in January.

The company’s Wausau location, at 144 E. Rosencrans St., employs about 100 people.

In June, the Environmental Protection Agency updated draft health advisories for some PFAS to levels so low as to suggest that no amount is safe for consumption.

The agency sent four draft scientific documents on the two most commonly-cited “forever chemicals,” PFOA and PFOS, to its Science Advisory Board, including a finding that PFOA likely causes cancer, even at much lower levels than earlier advisories warned. The more than 400 studies cited prompted the EPA to lower interim health advisory levels for lifetime exposure from a combined 70 parts per trillion to .004 ppt for PFOA and .02 ppt for PFOS.

“Near zero. Near zero,” Fox said, according to a News & Observer report.

Wausau has undertaken several strategies after PFAS levels detected in all six of the city’s wells were finally made public. Among them: granular activated carbon, or GAC, filtration systems at the city’s new water treatment plant. The plant became operational in December.

But taxpayers in Wausau are frustrated by the costs incurred. City officials this week announced a 54 percent rate hike that will go into effect next month. The average Wausau resident will see their water bill increase from about $292 annually to about $448 including the public fire protection charge. Residents are billed quarterly.

Though the settlement could offer significant help for municipalities, local taxpayers won’t be off the hook. Mike Mortell, the Stuart, Fla. city manager, told the New York Times that residents will continue to foot much of the bills for cleanup. Mortell was previously the city attorney for Stuart, which sued 3M and several other companies in federal court claiming that its water supply had been contaminated by firefighting foam containing PFAS. In Stuart, damages and cleanup was estimated between $100 million and $120 million.

Citizens for a Clean Wausau, the grassroots environmental advocacy group that for years has fought to hold polluters accountable, applauded the settlement in cautious, but optimistic terms.

“While we do not know any more about this settlement than the general public, we believe that major polluters should always be held fully accountable and responsible for the environmental and health damage that they cause….and continue to cause….and that includes 3M Company,” said Terry Kilian, CCW spokesperson. “We are always appreciative to know that major polluters have been called out on these significant issues.”

Read 3M’s news release here.