Washington – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) outlined a national plan Thursday to deal with public health risks of pollution caused by a family of chemicals used in many household products, including those produced by Minnesota-based 3M Co.
Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler told reporters Thursday that the EPA initiative is moving toward classifying PFAS as a hazardous substance under the EPA’s Superfund program, allowing the EPA to clean up sites and force polluters to pay.
Environmental and consumer groups said the EPA’s plan doesn’t go far enough.
They quickly challenged Wheeler’s decision not to push immediately for a national standard or other measures that will to lower allowable amounts of PFAS in drinking and groundwater.
No mandatory national standard exists for allowable levels of PFAS, only a federal advisory level.
Wheeler said Thursday that EPA feels "70 parts per trillion is a safe level for drinking water."
But Minnesota’s limits, like the federal limits, are "advisory rules, not regulatory standards, " said Jim Kelly, the state’s manager of environmental surveillance and assessments.
Wheeler said EPA will recommend mandatory PFAS toxicity standards by the end of the year but could not say how long the process of approval and implementation would take.
PFAS were discovered in drinking water in eastern Twin Cities in 2004.
"We’re ahead of most states already," said the MPCA’s Smith.

The next two weeks might be some of the best spring weather of the year.
Scattered showers and T-Storms roam southern Minnesota into Wednesday morning.
5:48pm CDT #SPC_Watch WW 60 SEVERE TSTM IA MN WI 012245Z – 020700Z, #iawx #mnwx #wiwx, https://t.co/JSh669bXIT pic.twitter.com/usnT93qY1u — NWS SPC (@NWSSPC) May 1, 2018 Farther north toward the Twin Cities, there is a marginal risk one or two storms could approach severe limits (1″ diameter hail, 58 mph winds) overnight.
Our weather pattern is trending dry overall for the next two weeks.
But I have a hunch we may be hearing the D-word (drought) tossed around soon.
Most of Minnesota will trend dry the next few days.
Areas to the south will see rain the next few days, while areas to the north remain dry #mnwx #wiwx pic.twitter.com/q9dcn27B50 — NWS Twin Cities (@NWSTwinCities) May 1, 2018 NOAA’s 7-day rainfall outlook suggest heavy rains into Iowa, southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois, but very little across Minnesota and the Dakotas.
NOAA’s GFS model 16-day precip outlook suggests less than an inch of rain in the next 16 days.
Of course this can change with one good local thunderstorm, but if it verifies things are going to get dry around parts of Minnesota in the next two weeks.
Numbers courtesy of the Twin Cities NWS.

The LimnoTech machines will monitor stream levels, temperature, dissolved oxygen and turbidity, the Post Bulletin reported.
The south, middle and north branches of the river will be monitored until they meet around Elba.
The state’s Legacy Amendment will fund the $500,000 project, said Neal Mundahl, a biology professor at the Winona State University who is leading the water study.
The study is expected to last two years, but the machines could be reused in other streams, he said.
Researchers will look for chemicals that are created when other chemicals breakdown.
"We are looking for some of those newer ones, the ones that have not been examined too often," Mundahl said.
"That was the kind of information that was lacking when we had that fish kill."
Thousands of fish were killed after heavy rain in July 2015.
The machines could help researchers identify the source of contaminated water if a contamination occurs.
"Our goal is never seeing a fish kill, never detect anything really nasty."

The LimnoTech machines will monitor stream levels, temperature, dissolved oxygen and turbidity, the Post Bulletin reported.
The south, middle and north branches of the river will be monitored until they meet around Elba.
The state’s Legacy Amendment will fund the $500,000 project, said Neal Mundahl, a biology professor at the Winona State University who is leading the water study.
The study is expected to last two years, but the machines could be reused in other streams, he said.
Researchers will look for chemicals that are created when other chemicals breakdown.
"We are looking for some of those newer ones, the ones that have not been examined too often," Mundahl said.
Thousands of fish were killed after heavy rain in July 2015.
The machines could help researchers identify the source of contaminated water if a contamination occurs.
"We will get tons of data, no matter what," Mundahl said.
"Our goal is never seeing a fish kill, never detect anything really nasty."

Farmers in Minnesota are using 10 to 15 percent more fertilizer than they need to maximize crop yields, one reason why drinking water across the state is increasingly contaminated with nitrogen, state agricultural officials say.
That is the incentive behind the state’s inaugural proposal to regulate farmers’ use of fertilizer, Minnesota Department of Agriculture officials said Tuesday as they made public the final version of a proposed regulation that has become a sore point between Governor Mark Dayton and Republican legislators.
Meanwhile, Dayton’s administration is moving forward with its proposed regulation, which has been years in the making.
But Hettver acknowledged that groundwater contamination "is a legitimate concern, and we need to be part of the solution."
It’s a modest step, but it sets up a good framework.” Environmental groups said that while the measure doesn’t go nearly far enough to fulfill the state’s responsibility to protect all groundwater, and not just drinking water, it is a start.
They also said the latest version now includes language that gives the agricultural commissioner greater latitude in forcing solutions to protecting water.
"It’s a modest step, but it sets up a good framework."
The state agriculture department considered, and then at the urging of farm interests rejected, a plan that would also cover private homeowners’ wells in rural townships.
Instead, the agricultural department will continue to support well testing and voluntary efforts by farmers to protect homeowners with private wells.
"A lot of our concerns have been addressed," said Thom Petersen of the Minnesota Farmers Union.

The dry pattern continued for the drought stricken areas of the southern Rockies and Plains and parts of the Southeast.
Recent precipitation allowed D0 to be contracted in northern Maryland and D1 to be contracted around Washington D.C. Southeast Precipitation was above normal (1-2 inch surplus) across much of Virginia and North Carolina during the USDM period.
In Florida, recent dryness has continued, prompting the expansion of D0 in the central part of the state where the 180-day precipitation deficits are 7-10 inches.
South Precipitation was generally above normal (0.5-2.0 inch surpluses) across north central Texas, eastern Oklahoma and extreme northwestern Arkansas during the USDM period.
Moderate and Extreme drought was expanded in central and parts of southern Texas.
Precipitation continues to miss western Oklahoma where 28-day streamflows are running below the fifth percentile and precipitation for the last 6-months is around 20 percent of normal.
High Plains Precipitation was light across the region during the USDM period as, generally speaking, less than 1 inch of precipitation fell.
At the 6-month time scale, precipitation amounts are 30-50 percent of normal in Southern California.
However, for the same period (6-month), the recent storm brought the precipitation totals closer to normal in the central and northern Sierra.
Elsewhere, lighter precipitation is forecasted to fall in the northern and central Rockies, High Plains, and Northeast.

News that the state of Minnesota recently settled a lawsuit against 3M caught our eye.
That’s the company whose chemicals were used by Wolverine Worldwide to water-proof shoes – chemicals that have now contaminated drinking water in the Grand Rapids area.
The $850 million settlement was over water contamination from similar chemicals that are all part of a broader group called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
Studies suggest they’re linked with various health problems, including cancers and miscarriages.
And they’ve been found in groundwater in 28 sites in 14 communities around Michigan.
We wondered how the Minnesota lawsuit could inform Michigan’s response to the PFAS contamination.
Elizabeth Dunbar covered this lawsuit for Minnesota Public Radio and joined Stateside today to explain what led to the lawsuit, why the state settled for much less than initially requested, what the state plans to do with that money, and what this might mean for states like Michigan seeking funds to alleviate problems with PFAS.
(Subscribe to the Stateside podcast on iTunes, Google Play, or with this RSS link)

Legal dispute between Minnesota and 3M over perfluorinated compounds ends as company agrees to pay remediation costs US manufacturing giant 3M has agreed to pay $850 million (£610 million) to the state of Minnesota to settle a lawsuit accusing the company of contaminating groundwater with perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs).
The settlement, which came on 20 February when the trial was set to kick-off, will see the money will go to projects to improve aquatic habitats in the state’s east, which was hit hardest by the contamination.
Finalised on the courthouse steps, the agreement came after six weeks of negotiations.
The 3M grant, which will be administered by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, will also finance the continued delivery of water to residents.
The company has agreed to pay for bottled water and in-home water filtration systems for the owners of private wells contaminated by PFCs, for at least the next five years.
‘We are proud of our record of environmental stewardship, and while we do not believe there is a PFC-related public health issue, 3M will work with the state on these important projects,’ said John Banovetz, the company’s chief technology officer and senior vice president of research and development.
US Environmental Protection Agency research has found that PFCs have the potential to bioaccumulate in wildlife.
The agency also points to animal studies that link these compounds to developmental, reproductive and systemic effects.
However, in the days leading up to the trial, the Minnesota Department of Health released a report that concluded that pollution from the 3M sites did not lead to any increase in cancer, low birth-weight babies or premature births.
The trial is scheduled for March 2019.

On Tuesday, a trial over Minnesota’s $5 billion lawsuit against manufacturer 3M Company – the biggest environmental lawsuit in state history – was set to begin with jury selection.
But on that very same day, the Maplewood-based manufacturer agreed to an $850 million settlement, finally putting an end to eight years of litigation over the water pollution case.
The lawsuit was originally filed by Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson back in 2010, claiming 3M contaminated the state’s water supply from 1950 until the early 2000s by dumping millions of pounds of waste into the ground and the Mississippi River from the production of perfluorochemicals, or PFCs, that the company used in its lines of nonstick products such as Scotchgard.
The manufacturing conglomerate “knew or should have known” the toxic chemicals posed a risk to drinking water, harmed wildlife and human health long before stopping its production in 2002, officials said.
The Minnesota Department of Health says higher levels of PFCs in a person’s body are associated with higher cholesterol, changes to liver function, reduced immune response, thyroid disease, and kidney and testicular cancer.
Under the settlement, 3M will provide an $850 million grant aimed at improving “water quality and sustainability.” The money will be paid for projects that safeguard drinking water in the East Metro.
“This money is dedicated to fixing the problem,” Swanson said at a news conference in Minneapolis.
“This was hard-fought litigation.” The company denies any wrong-doing and insists it disposed the chemicals legally at the time.
The settlement does not require an admission of liability.
“We are proud of our record of environmental stewardship, and while we do not believe there is a PFC-related public health issue, 3M will work with the state on these important projects,” John Banovetz, 3M’s chief technology officer, said in a statement to the Wall Street Journal.

The company, based in the state capital St Paul for more than 115 years, said it reached an agreement with local authorities to end a lawsuit over "certain PFCs (perfluorinated chemicals) present in the environment."
These chemical compounds were used, among other things, for the production of a carpet cleaner — and were sold to DuPont USA for the manufacture of products containing Teflon.
The money paid by 3M will go toward a fund that finances water sustainability projects in the area.
"While we do not believe there is a PFC-related public health issue, 3M will work with the state on these important projects," said 3M chief technology officer John Banovetz, who also serves as senior vice president of research and development.
Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton called the settlement an "enormously important advance to protect the health of over 67,000 Minnesotans in our East Metro area, who deserve clean and safe drinking water."
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