News Coverage
3M faces Cottage Grove suit; Chemical-contamination claim joins two others filed in Alabama
Published October 13, 2004
3M Co. now faces three lawsuits alleging perfluorochemical contamination, the latest one filed by two Cottage Grove residents claiming 3M's "Chemolite" plant there polluted their air, water and soil with the omnipresent manmade compounds, one of which was used to produce the company's Scotchgard fabric protector.
The lawsuit, filed Friday in Washington County District Court in Stillwater, names Cottage Grove residents Felicia Palmer and Sesario Briseno as plaintiffs. Attorneys, who are seeking class-action status, are asking for more than $50,000 per plaintiff and want 3M to set up a medical monitoring program as part of the relief.
Palmer said she couldn't talk to the media; Briseno couldn't be reached. Minneapolis attorney Gale Pearson, who is co-representing them, called 3M "a good company" but said she was shocked by the track record the compounds have left behind.
"I was very very concerned that we have a product that is everywhere in the environment and it doesn't go away," Pearson said. "I was shocked by that."
3M spokesman Rick Renner said Wednesday the lawsuit has no merit. The Maplewood-based company has done many studies on the compounds, he said, and found no evidence they injure people or cause problems in the soil or water near its plants. 3M is proud of its record on the matter, he said.
The new complaint follows two similar lawsuits aimed at 3M's plant in Alabama and a landmark class-action lawsuit over perfluorochemical contamination in West Virginia that DuPont Co. agreed last month to settle for as much as $343 million. A good chunk of the large DuPont settlement hangs on the conclusions of a panel of three independent epidemiologists that is to evaluate existing scientific research on the substances and once and for all decide just how toxic they are. Those findings will be key to the Minnesota lawsuit, Pearson said.
The growing case load had turned the public light on two little-known synthetic compounds 3M made for decades at its plants in Cottage Grove and Decatur, Ala. The manmade chemicals -- perfluorooctane sulfonate and perfluorooctanoic acid, commonly called PFOS and PFOA -- don't break down in the environment and have been found everywhere, including in birds, polar bears and human blood in four continents. They have been linked to a variety of human health effects, including stroke, liver problems, cancer and birth defects.
The Environmental Working Group, a Washington, D.C., group lobbying the Environmental Protection Agency to limit or ban the chemicals, called the lawsuits a good thing.
"If that's what it takes to enact some real safe-health standards for this family of chemicals then it's a good development," said the group's spokeswoman, Lauren Sucher.
3M has monitored workers at the Cottage Grove plant for years. It insists the chemicals don't pose health or environmental threats. However, the company halted nearly all production of the two chemicals in recent years on concerns about the environmental impacts. It still makes a small amount of PFOA in Europe for internal company use.
PFOS was the key ingredient in 3M's original Scotchgard recipe, which it has since reformulated with a different perfluorochemical. PFOA is an important industrial chemical used to make tough plastics and rubbers that go into a variety of products such as non-stick fry pans, silicon wafer carriers, flame retardant fabrics and spacecraft. For years, 3M sold PFOA to DuPont for making Teflon.
The new Minnesota lawsuit alleges that 3M knew about the problems with the chemicals at Cottage Grove and didn't take adequate action. It charges 3M with breach of duty, negligence and concealment, public and private nuisance and trespass and battery.
"As recently as February 2004, 3M dumped contaminated water measuring 127 parts per billion (ppb) of PFOA directly into the Mississippi River at its Cottage Grove facility, far in excess of Minnesota Department of Health recommendations for drinking water of 7 ppb," the lawsuit charges.
Renner on Friday repeated earlier company statements that 3M has handled the chemicals responsibly and shared its studies with regulators and others.
"Allegations in the complaint misrepresent extensive scientific research and many other facts," he said in a prepared statement. "We are not aware of any evidence that our production or use of these compounds has caused any problems with the soil or water on any properties in the vicinity of our facilities."