Chemical makers have dropped billions of dollars in settlements this year to resolve lawsuit claims regarding PFAS contamination nationwide.
Over the summer, 3M, DuPont, Chemours and Corteva reached a settlement totaling over $11 billion to resolve a class action lawsuit of public water systems all over the U.S. Some cities have rejected the settlement and others are taking part, but some say it still isn’t enough to cover the ongoing expenses and treatment.
And the lawsuits keep coming. In October, the state of Delaware filed a lawsuit against chemical giant 3M, BASF, Daikin America and 11 other companies for allegedly contaminating the state’s natural resources with forever chemicals.
The Environmental Protection Agency has also been releasing new PFAS manufacturing regulations as part of its PFAS Strategic Roadmap. Last month, the federal agency enacted two rules that require manufacturers to submit information on every PFAS they used, produced or imported in an effort to research, monitor and regulate the toxic substances and keep the public informed.
States like Maine and Minnesota have gone a step further and banned the use of toxic “forever chemicals” in various sectors, from food packaging to cookware, with few exceptions.
Read on to see how much chemical titans like DuPont are paying to resolve PFAS claims, and what states are doing to limit the use of forever chemicals into the future.
