The Australian government is threatening to sue Wall Street giant 3M Company for nationwide “forever chemicals” pollution that has seen tens of thousands of properties across the country poisoned and taxpayers forking out nearly $400 million in compensation.
It comes following a landmark US federal court settlement approved over the weekend under which the company will pay up to $US12.5 billion ($19 billion) to remove forever chemicals from thousands of water supplies in one of the largest pollution cases in American history.
3M’s global headquarters in Maplewood, Minnesota.Credit: Bloomberg
Approving the settlement on Saturday, Judge Richard Gergel said the deal avoided many years of future litigation over the plaintiffs’ allegations 3M knew of the environmental and potential human health risks of its forever chemicals but “failed to warn users, bystanders, or public agencies of the risks”.
The size of the settlement is so large the judge flagged the risk of bankruptcy for 3M.
For decades, forever chemicals were the key ingredient in firefighting foam supplied by 3M to airports, fire stations, ports and defence bases across Australia and the rest of the world.
One of the forever chemicals found in the foam was deemed carcinogenic by the World Health Organisation in December.
Forever chemicals have also featured in a raft of household products and became a billion-dollar industrial powerhouse for their unique ability to repel water, grease and stains, with uses including food packaging, frying pans, make-up and school uniforms.
Most Australians can expect to find forever chemicals – also known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals (PFAS) – in their blood, according to Australia’s Department of Health.
Since 2020, Australia’s Defence Department has paid out more than $366 million to settle class action lawsuits over its use of the firefighting foam but has so far chosen not to counter-sue 3M, leaving taxpayers shouldering the bill.
It appears that may be about to change, with revelations the federal government is weighing up the rare move of bringing proceedings against the Fortune 500 company, which first developed the aqueous film-forming foam in the 1960s.
“The Commonwealth is currently considering its options in relation to potential action against the manufacturers and suppliers that may have been responsible for manufacturing, importing and/or selling aqueous film-forming foam waste,” a Defence spokesperson told this masthead.
Defence has spent the past eight years with teams of lawyers vigorously defending class actions by more than 30,000 residents of 11 Australian towns who have found themselves in the path of the toxic foam, including at Richmond in Sydney.
Members of Australia’s legal fraternity have long questioned why 3M Company appeared to have skirted any responsibility for one of the largest environmental disasters in Australia’s history.
“The buck should stop with 3M,” said one legal source familiar with the matters, who requested anonymity, so they could speak freely.
A mounting body of scientific evidence globally has tied the chemicals to adverse human health effects, including suppression of the immune system, high cholesterol and cancer.
This masthead has exposed several clusters of cancer in towns heavily exposed to forever chemicals, including Williamtown, north of Newcastle in NSW; the Aboriginal community of Wreck Bay in the Jervis Bay Territory; and a US high school on the doorstep of 3M’s headquarters.
The near decade-long investigation – featuring in an upcoming Stan documentary, How to Poison a Planet – has chronicled the plight of families grappling with devastating questions about what the chemicals have done to their health and unearthed revelations about how 3M is alleged to have deceived the world about forever chemicals over decades.
Aviation firefighters use foam contaminated with PFAS in Victoria in 1998.
The clean-up of “forever chemicals”, so-called because they are nearly indestructible and linger for hundreds of years in the environment, at more than 100 sites across Australia, will put a considerable drain on government coffers if it can be achieved at all.
3M has agreed to pay between $US10.5 billion and $US12.5 billion to remove forever chemicals from up to 12,000 water supplies across the United States polluted by the firefighting foam.
The settlement does not contain any admission of liability.
“This is yet another important step forward for 3M as we continue to deliver on our priorities,” 3M chairman and chief executive Mike Roman said on Monday.
“The final approval of this settlement and continued progress toward exiting all PFAS manufacturing by the end of 2025 will further our efforts to reduce risk and uncertainty as we move forward.”
Gergel dismissed the protests of a small number of objectors who argued the manufacturer should pay more, noting the case gave rise to a bankruptcy risk that had already resulted in the financial collapse of one of 3M’s co-defendants.
The settlement resolves only the first leg of the mammoth lawsuit under which 3M will also be pursued over thousands of personal injury claims.
Gergel noted the plaintiffs had spent more than 431,000 hours working on the case over 4½ years.
In reaching his decision that the settlement was fair and reasonable, Gergel noted: “Success against 3M is not guaranteed and would only come, if ever, after years of protracted, expensive, complex litigation.”
In December, the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer classified one of the forever chemicals found in the foam, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a category 1 carcinogen.
PFOA was formerly used by Dupont in the manufacture of its non-stick Teflon frying pans but was phased out in 2013.
This masthead’s investigation will feature in an upcoming Stan Original documentary Revealed: How to Poison a Planet by iKandy Films, directed by Katrina McGowan and produced by Janine Hosking, Katrina McGowan and Mat Cornwell and supported by Shark Island Foundation, Screen Australia and Screen NSW.