Just outside of Bangor, Maine — hometown of famed horror author Stephen King — more than 500 students, faculty and staff attend Harmon High School every day.
But since November they can no longer drink water. All fountains are taped with plastic bags. Water bottles are stacked nearby. A water filtration system will be installed in the summer.
A fountain at Harmon High School in Maine has been taped off after water tested above state safety limits for PFAS chemicals.
CNBC
“We are very concerned,” Harmon School District Superintendent Micah Grant told CNBC.
Why? School water recently tested above state safety limits for PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, often referred to as “forever chemicals.”
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, even small exposures to PFAS in drinking water can cause serious health risks.
“We don’t fully understand why it’s in our water and it’s at the level we’re at,” Grant said.
According to Maine’s Attorney General, Aaron Frey, Harmon High School is an example of PFAS contamination currently affecting the community. According to Frey, the chemicals have been identified in the groundwater of cities and municipalities across the state, including several military facilities and farms.
“There are farmers who have had to let their livestock die because of chemical contamination,” Frey told CNBC.
Farmer Adam Nordell looks at the remains of his once-thriving Songbird Farm, now closed after its soil and crops tested positive for toxic “forever chemicals.”
CNBC
Maine recently joined a growing list of states — which now includes New Mexico, MarylandAnd Rhode Island – inside Filed lawsuits against several chemical manufacturers Claiming that they have caused significant damage to the state’s residents and natural resources.
“We allege that 3M and DuPont [and other manufacturers] These chemicals created … science that showed how dangerous they were, how toxic they were, how they were going to last forever,” Frey said. Profit from these chemicals.”
More than a dozen other states — including Alaska, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Vermont and Wisconsin — have filed lawsuits against PFAS manufacturers since then. Over the years.
Some have already reached the settlement. Minnesota, for example, Settled with 3M for $850 millionand settled with Delaware DuPont and its spinoffs for $50 millionResolving the company’s liability for damages in that state.
Wall Street is now awaiting a bellwether trial in federal court, set to begin Monday, in which the city of Stewart, Florida, alleges that firefighting foam chemicals manufactured by 3M contaminated its water supply.
What is PFAS?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, PFAS is a group of chemicals used to make coatings and products that resist heat, oil, stains, grease and water.
Man-made materials date back to the 1940s, and over the decades, they have been used in a variety of applications, including nonstick cookware, waterproof fabrics, carpeting, food packaging and cosmetics, as well as firefighting foam. The case centers on Stewart.
But as time went on, the concern grew. CDC officials say synthetic chemicals Don’t collapse in the environment and is associated with serious health risks.
“We’ve seen correlations with thyroid disease, certain types of cancer, kidney disease, liver dysfunction, it accumulates in the liver … these are called ‘permanent chemicals’ because they stay in your body,” former FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC. “I think what the government needs to do is test, make sure we have a better picture of where these chemicals are getting into the food source. [and] in water supply.”
While testing for PFAS is expected to become more common in the coming years, Gottlieb says there are steps consumers can take now to assess their exposure. Residents who live near a military base or an industrial plant known to produce these chemicals should ask their local water utility if it has tested PFAS levels, he said.
“A large analysis of several water municipalities a few years ago found that about 1% of all municipal water sources contained some level of PFAS,” Gottlieb said.
According to an EPA report released in March, more than 64 million people are affected by drinking water contaminated with PFAS—represented by readings of 4 parts per trillion or higher.
Manufacturers respond
Several manufacturers have announced plans to reduce or stop production of PFAS in the coming years.
“The science and technology of PFAS, societal and regulatory expectations, and our expectations of ourselves have evolved, so has how we manage PFAS.” 3M The company plans to end production of the chemical by 2025, the spokesperson said in a statement to CNBC.
The company has expressed a commitment to remediating PFAS contamination, investing in water treatment and collaborating with communities.
DuPontOn the other hand, it says it “did not manufacture” the harmful chemicals and believes the legal charges are “without merit.”
The company, formerly EI du Pont de Nemours, separated its chemical business in 2015, forming the Chemours company. It then merged with Dow in 2017 to form DowDuPont and then split into three separate entities in 2019: Corteva Agriscience, Dow and the new DuPont.
All of these companies, along with others, are named as defendants in the Maine lawsuit. DuPont and Chemours have been dissociated from the bellwether trial in which the city of Stuart, Florida, is the lead plaintiff.
On Friday, DuPont, Chemours and Corteva announced a $1.19 billion fund that will be used to address “PFAS-related drinking water claims.” But the fund added an addendum to a joint statement announcing that it “does not include claims for personal injury due to alleged exposure to PFAS or claims by state attorneys general that PFAS contamination has damaged the state’s natural resources.”
Chemours pledged in 2018 to reduce PFAS emissions at its manufacturing sites by at least 99% by 2030. A spokesman said in a statement that it had made significant progress in implementing advanced technologies to reduce emissions of fluorinated organic compounds.
Dow has denied producing PFAS and says it is not accused of any environmental pollution.
A spokesperson for Corteva told CNBC that it “does not comment on ongoing legal matters.”
Mounting liability for 3M
RBC Capital Markets managing director Dean Dray sees the lawsuits as a particular financial risk for 3M.
“At this stage, based on the evaluation and what we know about the PFAS lawsuit, we consider 3M not worth the investment at this point,” Dray told CNBC.
3M Global Headquarters in Maplewood, Minnesota, US, on Thursday, January 26, 2023.
Ben Brewer | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Shares of 3M have been under pressure this year, down 20% in the past six months, trading at their lowest level in more than 10 years.
“I expect that PFAS will be a front-page news item for the next few years,” Dre said, noting that the substances are now used in many semiconductor applications and military weapons systems.
According to RBC Capital, 3M’s PFAS liability exposure is estimated at $20 billion to $25 billion.
3M is showing signs it’s feeling the pressure: In its latest earnings report it unveiled a restructuring plan that includes layoffs affecting 6,000 employees worldwide that the company says will save up to $900 million a year. It plans to spin off its health-care business in early 2024, which analysts say will create billions of dollars in capital losses.
The industry giant is already facing separate lawsuits over it Military combat weapon earplugs. The suits have been brought by more than 200,000 military service members and veterans who claim that 3M’s earplugs were defective and failed to protect them from hearing loss during combat and training.
3M’s Combat Arms CAEv2 Earplugs
CNBC
3M attorney Eric Rucker told CNBC in March that the earplugs work when used as directed and that any assumption of liability was “purely speculative.”
PFAS and politics
Last year, the Biden administration announced that $10 billion from the bipartisan Infrastructure Act would be used to address PFAS contamination.
In the same month, the EPA was launched for the first time New standards for drinking water That addresses the amount of PFAS allowed for use.
The industry is awaiting word on whether the EPA will move forward with designating PFAS compounds as hazardous chemicals, which experts say could open the door to more lawsuits and pressure water utilities to make necessary upgrades to their filtration systems.
Although the company has publicly acknowledged its intention to do so, experts including Capstone energy analyst Gianna Kinsman say a formal designation could come later this year.
Kinsman added that the 2024 presidential election could also affect the timeline: “I think we’ll probably see a slowdown in PFAS regulations if a Republican takes office, whereas if Biden wins a second term, I believe his PFAS regulatory agenda will be the same. More Ambitious, potentially tackling PFAS by the broader sector rather than individually.”
RBC’s Dre added that there is a national security interest in increasing the use of PFAS due to the lack of alternatives on the market.
“[It will take] A decade to develop one more molecule and then all the tests,” he said.
Meanwhile, scientists and industry experts are in an arms race to develop a safer alternative to PFAS. Others are researching technologies that use electrification and heat to break down synthetic chemicals, as well as treatment options for exposed areas.
Grassroots Action
About 30 miles from Harmon High School, in the rural farming town of Unity, Maine, are the remains of the once prosperous Songbird Farm.
Nine years ago, Adam Nordell — who is now an advocate for the nonprofit Defend Our Health — and his wife, Johanna Davis, came to the property to grow healthy and fresh produce to sell in their community.
At the time, Songbird was rich and lush, and over the years the couple made a mix of grains and vegetables, including tomatoes, peppers, garlic, onions, sweet potatoes and cantaloupe.
But when Nordel and Davis tested their soil two years ago after a customer called about a local news report, he saw details of a farm contaminated with PFAS.
When the test results came back, their worst fears were realized.
“We learned our land was severely contaminated with chemicals forever,” Nordell said. “As soon as we learned, we stopped.”
The family has since learned that the land was spread with municipal wastewater treatment sludge in the early 1990s. Nordell then said it was marketed to farmers as a free or cheap source of fertilization.
“Farmers were told they were fertilizing their crops. Unfortunately, that wastewater contains all kinds of industrial chemicals that are leaching into consumer products,” he said.
The nonprofit he now works for aims to reduce human exposure to toxic chemicals, raise awareness among farmers across the country, and hold chemical manufacturers accountable..
“They need to step up to the plate and pay for the impact they’ve had on the world,” Nordell said.
Where we collect the information from Source link
Disclaimer:- We include in each post a link to where each content on our website is collected from.If there is a complaint against any post please contact us directly.
Email: post-support.dailyfastnews24.com
You can also write on the popular online news portal dailyfastnews24.com. Writing topics feature, travel, lifestyle, career, IT, agriculture and nature. Send your entry today to [email protected]
advertisement:-If you would like to advertise on our website please contact us here.Our Ads team will contact you very soon.
Email: [email protected]
The cost of advertising:- 1 Post 100 USD Lifetime.
Thank you very much for visiting our website. Have a good day.