Another victory in the fight for PFAS protections

By Jay Eidsness,  Senior Staff Attorney

Minnesota took a big step this month in its fight to curtail industrial PFAS pollution. On June 2, the state issued its first industrial wastewater discharge permit that includes limits on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or “PFAS” forever chemicals. Notably, the Clean Water Act discharge permit was issued for 3M’s Cottage Grove’s facility, the corporation primarily responsible for the development and later mass production of products containing PFAS.   

This means that the 3M facility will have to continuously monitor its discharge stream to ensure dozens of PFAS are at or below allowable levels written into its permit. For PFOS and PFOA—two of the most toxic and persistent PFAS—the permit sets an extremely stringent compliance limit of approximately 2 parts per trillion. In effect, if the chemicals can be measured at all, 3M will be out of compliance with its permit. 

This is an important win in the ongoing battle to better protect Minnesotans from the wide-ranging public health harms associated with PFAS exposure, including increased risk for developing various cancers, decreased fertility, developmental delays in children, and more. 

MCEA advocated hard for MPCA to set strict PFAS limits in this permit during the agency’s public comment process. We partnered with two PFAS experts to articulate the science necessitating stringent limits and broke down the tremendous ways 3M has  

profited from manufacturing Forever Chemicals at the expense of public and environmental health. We also underscored the opportunity this permit represented for the agency to both force 3M to drastically limit further PFAS pollution from entering the Mississippi River as well as put other PFAS polluters in Minnesota on notice that the days of unregulated PFAS discharges are coming to an end.

Experts universally agree that the best way to fight PFAS pollution is to stop PFAS from entering the environment in the first place. This permit does precisely that. When paired with legislation that eliminates PFAS from our consumer products, this permit shows that Minnesota is taking needed and appropriate steps to protect public and environmental health from PFAS. 

We are grateful to all of you who responded to our Call to Action and urged MPCA to center public health and corporate responsibility in this first of its kind permit. This is yet another example of decision makers listening when the public takes the initiative to speak up. 

Our work to curb PFAS pollution still has a long way to go. The 3M facility is just one of hundreds of industrial facilities across the state discharging PFAS into our environment. This list includes manufacturing and industrial facilities, wastewater treatment plants, airports, and landfills. As of today, none of these facilities have permits with PFAS limits like the 3M permit. That needs to change. MCEA will continue to  fight for our public health and pressure our state agencies to vigorously regulate PFAS dischargers. With your support, we can do this.