Editor's note: This story has been updated to include a statement from 3M.
Springfield City Utilities filed a civil suit in federal court against 3M, also known as Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, for dumping pollutants at its Springfield plant on Chestnut Expressway. The lawsuit alleges the pollutant chemicals contaminated the groundwater and the James River, a source of drinking water for City Utilities’ Blackman Water Treatment Plant.
In the 65-page suit filed Monday, June 3, CU alleges 3M “discharged and is discharging various pollutants through its stormwater outfalls and into groundwater in violation of its federal and State discharge permits and the CWA, and such illegally discharged pollutants are presenting an imminent and substantial danger to human health and the environment in violation of RCRA.”
The RCRA is the U.S. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, a law Congress passed in 1976 in effort to reduce the volume of industrial waste being released into the environment across the United States.
According to the lawsuit, the pollutants at the 3M plant — PFAS, including PFOA, PFOS, PFHxS, and PFBS — are a class of thousands of synthetic chemical compounds containing fluorine and carbon. They are referred to as “forever chemicals” because the flourine-carbon bond makes them highly resistant to breaking down over time.
“The presence of multiple carbonfluorine bonds in these substances makes them exceptionally strong, thermally, chemically, and biologically stable, and resistant to environmental degradation due to light, water, and biological processes,” the CU lawsuit alleges.
The substances dissolve easily in water and can spread through the environment. They can also contaminate soils and leach from the soil into surface and groundwater over time, the suit alleges. Because PFOA, PFOS, PFHxS, PFBS, and other PFAS are mobile and stabile, they may travel great distances and remain in the same chemical state for long periods of time.
The lawsuit alleges that 3M is violating terms of the Clean Water Act/Missouri DNR National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) by discharging PFAS chemicals from 3M’s plant site into area surface and ground waters. The PFAS chemicals result from 3M having improperly handled spent fire-fighting foam from their on-site fire suppression system.
A 3M spokesperson provided a statement in response to the lawsuit:
“As the science and technology of PFAS, societal and regulatory expectations, and our expectations of ourselves have evolved, so has how we manage PFAS,” 3M senior communications strategist Carolyn LaViolette wrote in an email to the Hauxeda. “3M will address PFAS litigation by defending itself in court or through negotiated resolutions, all as appropriate.”
CU believes 3M has known about the PFAS contamination on its property for years
City Utilities spokesperson Joel Alexander provided the Hauxeda with a statement that reads in part:
“We believe 3M’s mishandling of PFAS at their site has also contaminated groundwater in the area as well as Jones Spring. We are not aware of any public or privately operated supplies affected by 3M’s contamination other than City Utilities’ Blackman Water Treatment Plant.
“City Utilities believes that 3M has known about the PFAS contamination on their property for years. Missouri DNR notified 3M in writing of the illegal discharges several years ago. Despite this knowledge, 3M has not taken adequate steps to halt the illegal discharges, evaluate the impacts to area water resources including Jones Spring and the James River, or to assist City Utilities in installing PFAS barrier technology at the Blackman WTP.
“Through this lawsuit, City Utilities intends to hold 3M accountable to stop the illegal discharges of PFAS, clean up impacted water sources, and pay for the PFAS barrier technology needed at the Blackman WTP as a result of 3M’s mismanagement of PFAS chemicals at the plant site.
City Utilities has other litigation pending that relates to allegations of PFAS contaminating the environment in Springfield, particularly its drinking water sources.
“Last year, City Utilities filed a separate lawsuit against approximately 30 PFAS manufacturers, including 3M and DuPont, over their knowing manufacture and use of PFAS chemicals in a wide range of products despite hiding the risks of those chemicals from regulators and the public,” Alexander wrote in the statement.
“PFAS is a group of man-made compounds found in everyday items like fire-fighting foams, popcorn bags, cleaning products, non-stick cookware, stain repellent carpeting and many more.
“While the full impact of health effects to humans is still unknown, concerns have prompted the EPA to pass rules limiting some PFAS levels in drinking water to no more than 4 parts per trillion (ppt). To put this in perspective, 1 ppt is equivalent to one drop of water in 20 Olympic-size swimming pools or equivalent to one second in 32,000 years.
“In an effort to be proactive, CU began testing its water supply for PFAS in November 2022.
“Over the last year, CU detected a range of 3.1 to 16.0 ppt PFOS, which is a chemical in the PFAS family, in the James River. In response, CU has implemented an operational policy to blend water from the James River with Fellows Lake to stay below the proposed Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) of 4 ppt PFOS. CU is also working with an engineering consulting firm to explore three long-term removal options, including granular activated carbon, ion exchange, and reverse osmosis.
“Tap samples tested on March 5, 2024, showed all PFAS levels below the new EPA levels. At City Utilities, excellence is the standard. The drinking water we provide to our customers is no exception. We will continue to take steps to ensure that our drinking water maintains these standards for generations to come.”
