LI to benefit from $10B settlement over contamination of water systems
A water sample is poured into a glass container as part of drinking water and PFAS research at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Center For Environmental Solutions and Emergency Response in Cincinnati. The 3M chemical company has announced a $10.3 billion settlement with U.S. water utilities and agencies over PFAS pollution. Credit: AP/Joshua A. Bickel
Dozens of Long Island water providers and municipalities could benefit from a $10.3 billion settlement reached Thursday with chemical manufacturer 3M over lawsuits alleging the company polluted the nation’s drinking water supply with harmful compounds known as “forever chemicals.”
Local officials said it's too early to determine how much money they might receive and whether it could have an immediate impact on ratepayers.
The Suffolk County Water Authority, Hempstead Town, East Hampton Town and many others have sued St. Paul, Minnesota-based 3M and other companies for making a class of chemicals known as PFAS which are used in non-stick and water-resistant products. Many of the lawsuits referenced its presence in fire suppression foam which was often used in training drills and to extinguish fires and left to dissolve in the ground.
The chemicals have been linked to certain cancers, reproductive problems and other health impacts, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. They are pervasive in the environment, commonly found in Long Island groundwater and can be detected in the blood of almost every American.
3M admitted no responsibility as part of the settlement but agreed to pay $10.3 billion over the next 13 years to help the nation’s water providers recoup the cost of removing PFAS from drinking water.
It is not immediately clear how much of the money will flow to Long Island’s approximately 50 water providers or when, water district representatives said Friday.
“We look forward to learning more as the parties work through the details,” said Dennis Kelleher, spokesman for the Long Island Water Conference, a consortium of water providers. “We remain committed to holding 3M and other defendants in our lawsuit accountable for PFAS contamination in our water supply.”
New York State in 2020 set drinking water standards of 10 parts per trillion for the two most common PFAS compounds, PFOS and PFOA. The chemicals, which do not degrade over time, are typically removed with granular activated carbon filters. The cost of installing and maintaining these systems has been funded largely through state grants, rate hikes and surcharges passed onto consumers.
The cost to remove PFAS from the public water supply will grow as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in March proposed further lowering the limits allowed drinking in water to 4 parts per trillion, said Jeff Szabo, CEO of the Suffolk County Water Authority. Ratepayers of the SCWA, which provides water to 1.2 million people, in 2020 began paying an annual $80 surcharge to offset the cost of treating PFAS and the likely carcinogen 1,4-dioxane.
Szabo said the settlement news was “potentially an enormous victory for drinking water suppliers, and the residents of Suffolk County” but could not say if the money would translate into ratepayer savings.
“That's a decision, once we have more specific information, that the board at the water authority will make,” he said. “But we just don't know enough quite yet.”
A trial in a test case brought by the city of Stuart, Florida was set to begin in a South Carolina federal court earlier this month but was delayed as settlement talks began.
3M, formerly the Minnesota and Manufacturing Mining Company, is a multi-national company making 60,000 products ranging from duct tape to N95 masks. The company has promised to phase out manufacturing PFAS in its products by 2025.
“This is an important step forward for 3M, which builds on our actions that include our announced exit of PFOA and PFOS manufacturing more than 20 years ago, our more recent investments in state-of-the-art water filtration technology in our chemical manufacturing operations, and our announcement that we will exit all PFAS manufacturing by the end of 2025," 3M chairman and CEO Mike Roman said in a statement on the company's website.
Vera Chinese joined Newsday in 2017 after working as an editor for the East End lifestyle publication northforker and a general assignment reporter for the New York Daily News.
NewsdayTV's ultimate holiday shopping show With everything from shopping small to the hottest gifts, even where to eat while you are on a mall marathon, NewsdayTV's Elisa DiStefano and Newsday deputy lifestyle editor Meghan Giannotta have it covered.
NewsdayTV's ultimate holiday shopping show With everything from shopping small to the hottest gifts, even where to eat while you are on a mall marathon, NewsdayTV's Elisa DiStefano and Newsday deputy lifestyle editor Meghan Giannotta have it covered.
