Defending Minnesotans' health from "forever chemicals"

This is the first industrial permit in the state of Minnesota to have water quality based effluent limits for PFAS. This marks a huge step forward in our state's PFAS regulation. The permit sets extremely strict effluent limits for a large number of PFAS, and the permit requires 3M to analyze all PFAS that have been previously observed at the facility or that 3M has reason to believe may be present in any of the water exiting the facility. 3M has until April 30, 2027 to begin complying with the effluent limitations. This on-ramp gives time for the facility to install an advanced wastewater treatment train and to calibrate associate equipment.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency proposes a draft permit for the 3M Cottage Grove facility that requires PFAS be undetectable, the first industrial wastewater permit to limit PFAS. MCEA files comments supporting strong PFAS limits. 

MCEA published a sweeping report on PFAS contamination in our wastewater streams. The report focuses on the prevalence and problems associated with PFAS found in the effluent and biosolids from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), how PFAS travels through the soil where biosolids are land applied and into our waters, and the need to employ pretreatment of industrial wastewater to reduce the PFAS contamination cycle. MCEA worked alongside Dr. Matt Simcik, researcher and professor at the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health, to conduct field sampling at WWTPs effluent discharge sites and waters adjacent to lands where biosolids have been applied to illustrate the importance of addressing PFAS contamination in our wastewater streams. The report provides solutions that other states have employed to begin addressing PFAS contamination in biosolids and wastewater as well as recommendations for how Minnesota can take action on PFAS in wastewater streams.

Read the report here.

This comment was submitted to MPCA in response to its request for comment to add Water Quality Standards for six PFAS substances in Class 1 Waters. Class 1 waters include both surface and ground waters that supply drinking water to Minnesotans. MCEA and CURE submitted this comment to advocate that MPCA set the most stringent Water Quality Standards possible as we continue to address PFAS contamination in our water supplies.

The comment is written in support of the EPA setting strong safe drinking water limits for PFAS at the federal level, focusing on the stories and impacts of the forever-chemical on the health and lives of people in Minnesota.

MCEA celebrates the passage of Amara’s Law during a press conference with state Legislators. The new law bans non-essential uses of PFAS and requires information disclosure on PFAS in products to the MPCA to be publicly available on a website.

Certain industrial users use PFAS in part of the industrial process, and wastewater discharged from these facilities often has elevated levels of PFAS that must be addressed in the wastewater treatment process. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is only requiring wastewater treatment facilities to monitor for PFAS at the intake stage. This is a mistake. Monitoring the effluent of these facilities is vital to learning where we are sending our PFAS. MCEA is urging our state regulators to more aggressively monitor for PFAS at permitted facilities throughout the state.

MCEA’s Legislative Director, Water Program Director, and Staff Attorney testified at different House and Senate hearings in support of multiple pieces of Legislation aimed at curbing further PFAS pollution in the state. Andrea Lovoll, Carly Griffith, and Jay Eidsness spoke to lawmakers and the urgency these chemicals demand, and stressed the importance of source reduction at stopping further PFAS contamination throughout Minnesota.

Until recently, PFAS was a main component in nearly all of the high-performance ski waxes. Thankfully, many races and ski areas ban the use of fluorinated waxes. But lots of skiers have old PFAS ski wax in need of safe disposal. MCEA partnered with an organization to provide safe disposal of ski wax at the Twin Cities’ premier outdoor event of the year, and rallied the public to take action on PFAS legislation working its way through the Legislature.

The Minnesota House of Representatives is taking up debate on a bill that would ban PFAS in various consumer products, including cookware, cosmetics, and ski wax. “For generations, Minnesotans have applied makeup, cooked food, and skied without introducing toxic and poorly understood synthetic chemicals to our bodies and the environment,” Eidsness said. Measures to restrict the use of PFAS in consumer products is a needed first step in the fight against PFAS because “We cannot clean our way out ot the PFAS problem.”

Strong Legislative action is needed to help combat the growing PFAS problem in Minnesota. Since the DFL’s Environmental Caucus helps shape legislative priorities for future sessions, informing this audience about the public-health risks PFAS present is critical to solving this problem.

Published on the weekend of the 2021 fishing opener, MCEA staff attorney Jay Eidsness penned an opinion piece aimed at educating the public about the growing threat of PFAS in our lakes and rivers. At a time when thousands of Minnesotans across the state were casting a line hoping to hook dinner, the article explained why PFAS is not just a problem in the East Metro, and that unless meaningful action is taken, more water bodies will be populated with fish with toxic levels of PFAS in their tissue. Read the article here.

Fishing is synonymous with Minnesota, yet our storied tradition is fundamentally threatened by the growing spread of PFAS in our lakes and rivers. Dozens of waterways are currently listed as impaired for PFAS, and many of these waters are under strict fish consumption limits. In response to this crisis, the Pollution Control Agency is seeking to establish statewide standards for consuming PFOS, one chemical in the PFAS family, in fish tissue. In a comment letter to PCA, MCEA applauded this effort and encouraged the agency to explore setting additional standards for more PFAS chemicals. 

In response to the Minnesota Department of Health's announcement of its intention to revise the Health Risk Limits for an array of PFAS compounds, MCEA reminded MDH of its statutory obligation to establish safe drinking water standards based on best available science with a reasonable margin of safety. The pervasiveness and toxicity of PFAS demand an aggressive approach, and MCEA stressed the value of setting exacting standards to allow state regulators to implement best management practices to prevent or minimize the source of PFAS to the extent practicable. Without direct action from the state, PFAS will continue to infect drinking water supplies for thousands of Minnesotans. We cannot allow this to happen.

The Minnesota Department of Health, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency release Minnesota’s PFAS Blueprint, a nearly 200 page reference guide that details the scope of PFAS pollution across the state and identifies potential strategies to address it. MCEA was among a small group of environmental organizations asked to review and respond to the document before it’s public release

MCEA staff attorney, Jay Eidsness, testifies in favor of House Bill 78. The bill aims to classify PFAS as a hazardous substance under the Minnesota Environmental Rights Act (MERA) and hold polluters financially responsible for cleanup costs. 

The settlement is to pay for the costs of local governments to provide safe drinking water, and to ameliorate the impacts of pollution of lakes and streams.

Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, lacking information about the risk of the compound, asks the Minnesota Department of Health to develop health guidance. 

3M announced they had completed phasing out the use of PFAS. They announced their intent to end use of PFAS in 2000.