© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The 3M brand is seen at its world headquarters in Maplewood, Minnesota, U.S. on March 4, 2020. REUTERS/Nicholas Pfosi/File Picture
By Clark Mindock
(Reuters) – A bunch of twenty-two states and U.S. territories on Wednesday moved to dam a proposed $10.3 billion settlement that might resolve claims in opposition to 3M Co over water air pollution tied to “ceaselessly chemical compounds,” claiming the deal fails to adequately maintain the corporate accountable.
The group, led by California and together with Texas, New York and the District of Columbia, filed a movement to intervene noting their opposition in South Carolina federal court docket, the place hundreds of lawsuits in opposition to 3M and different firms over per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are being fought.
The proposed deal would supply funds over a 13-year interval to cities, cities and different public water programs to check and deal with contamination of PFAS. However the states stated it is not sufficient to account for the harm brought on by the chemical compounds, that are utilized in a variety of merchandise from firefighting foam to non-stick cookware to cosmetics and have been linked to cancers, hormonal dysfunction and environmental harm.
The states stated the deal, introduced June 22, features a broad launch of legal responsibility, which might hamper future litigation.
Additionally they stated the deal might shift legal responsibility for future well being considerations brought on by PFAS from 3M onto the water programs themselves.
The settlement should be permitted by U.S. District Decide Richard Gergel, who’s overseeing the instances in South Carolina.
3M, which is dealing with hundreds of lawsuits over PFAS contamination, didn’t admit legal responsibility within the proposed settlement. It stated in June that the cash will assist assist remediation at public water programs that detect PFAS “at any stage.”
The deal didn’t cowl claims associated to non-public harm or property harm from PFAS contamination.
Three New York State cities with claims associated to cleansing up PFAS at superfund websites of their jurisdiction additionally moved to dam the settlement earlier this month. They claimed the water system settlement would scale back the quantity of 3M cash accessible to wash up these forms of websites throughout the nation, which the U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates might value greater than $17 billion.
The U.S. Environmental Safety Company has known as PFAS an “pressing public well being and environmental difficulty.” The substances are dubbed “ceaselessly chemical compounds” as a result of they don’t simply break down within the human physique or surroundings.
The EPA has taken a number of steps in recent times to tighten laws for the chemical compounds, and in March introduced the first-ever nationwide ingesting water requirements for six of the chemical compounds.
3M in December set a 2025 deadline to cease producing PFAS.
