The city of Hastings will receive aid from the Minnesota settlement to 3M to pay for the treatment of “permanent chemicals” in its drinking water supply.
All six wells in the city contain PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. Five of the wells are at levels that exceed new enforceable federal standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
But until now, Hastings was not eligible for funding from the state’s 2018 legal settlement over PFAS contamination in the eastern Twin Cities metro. That’s because state officials had not directly linked the city’s contamination to 3M chemicals. This $850 million settlement helped several other communities pay for treatment systems to remove PFAS.
This week, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency announced it had linked PFAS in one of Hastings’ wells to a 3M manufacturing site in Cottage Grove. Assistant Commissioner Kirk Koudelka said the state will help cover the city’s cost of treating water from its wells with the settlement money.
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“Now they have the funding source to move some of these treatment facilities forward so they don’t have to go to residents,” Koudelka said. “This will ease the burden on Hastings residents.”
City Administrator Dan Wieteka said Hastings is expected to receive about $14.5 million from the 3M settlement, but that will fall short of the $70 million needed to build three new treatment facilities.
“This is a huge help,” he said, but added: “It’s still a budget drain for Hastings residents and businesses.” We still have a long way to go. ”
Koudelka said an investigation determined that Hastings’ wells were coming from a new 3M chemical known as TFSI, rather than the federally regulated chemical that is driving the city’s treatment project. said.
“Rather, it’s helping to pave the way for how other PFAS get into the well,” he says.
He said the chemicals likely traveled down the Mississippi River through fault lines along the Mississippi River, where they entered groundwater and entered the city’s wells.
Koudelka said the MPCA continues to investigate the source of PFAS in other wells in the city.
Wieteka said Hastings city officials disagree that the terms of the 2018 settlement require the city to demonstrate a direct connection to the MPCA to qualify.
“There has been a lot of effort over the last year and a half to prove that there is a link,” Wieteka said. He said the city will continue to work with the MPCA to investigate connections to other wells, but “we’re not at that point yet.”
When the EPA issued its new drinking water standards in April, it gave cities with PFAS contamination five years to meet them. Hastings is one of 22 cities in Minnesota with PFAS levels above the standard.
3M did not respond to requests for comment on the MPCA’s findings.
The Maplewood-based company has been manufacturing PFAS at its Cottage Grove facility since the 1950s. They were used in a variety of consumer and industrial products, including furniture, cookware, carpets, and water-resistant clothing. These are known as “forever chemicals” because they tend to persist in the environment, humans, and wildlife.
Some compounds have been linked to human health effects, including kidney and thyroid problems, reproductive problems, and cancer.
3M phased out the production of two of the most widely known and harmful PFAS compounds, known as PFOS and PFOS, in the early 2000s. However, production of other alternative PFASs with shorter carbon chains continues.
The company announced that it plans to stop producing PFAS by the end of 2025.
