Communities Grapple with Legacy of Water Contamination

When Derek Lowen was 14, he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and underwent surgery to remove a tumor the size of a baseball from his brain. He soon discovered that he was one of many Tartan High School students in Oakdale, Minnesota, to be suffering from cancer. In the 18 years since, Derek and the rest of the Twin Cities East Metro community have been left to wonder how much a local manufacturing plant has to do with it. 

Manufacturing giant 3M dumped industrial waste in the area surrounding its Cottage Grove, MN plant for decades — some of which contained PFAs, so-called "forever chemicals" that have been linked to adverse health effects including decreased fertility, decreased immunity, and certain cancers. The state settled a lawsuit against 3M in 2018 without establishing a definitive link between stories like Derek's and the plant. But recently, more states have followed MN's lead, suing companies alleged to be responsible for PFAs contamination. In December 2022, 3M announced it would end the production and use of PFAs by the end of 2025.

We speak with Chloe Johnson, environmental reporter at the Star Tribune, about the scope of PFAs pollution and the lingering impacts on Minnesota residents.

For more accounts from residents, read the Minnesota Reformer's story, "There Must Be Something in the Water."

3M responded to The Takeaway's request for comments with the following statement:

"Information about 3M’s decision to end PFAS manufacturing is available in our Dec. 20 news release and can be found here. As noted in the release: “We plan to put our innovation to work toward a future less reliant upon PFAS. We said we would stop PFAS production and work to remove PFAS from our products by the end of 2025. Our decision is based on careful consideration and a thorough evaluation of the evolving external landscape, including multiple factors such as accelerating regulatory trends focused on reducing or eliminating the presence of PFAS in the environment and changing stakeholder expectations. This is a moment that demands the kind of innovation 3M is known for. While PFAS can be safely made and used, we also see an opportunity to lead in a rapidly evolving external regulatory and business landscape to make the greatest impact for those we serve.” It is incorrect to characterize our work solely “as a result of publicity and/or lawsuits”. 3M announced our proactive investment in technologies to achieve our corporate environmental goals in February 2021, which includes efforts to reduce the amount of water used overall in our operations. We have installed state of the art technology at all of our PFAS manufacturing sites and are committed to remediating PFAS where we are responsible. On remediation and litigation: 3M will continue to remediate PFAS and address litigation by defending ourselves in court or through negotiated resolutions, all as appropriate. 3M acted responsibly in connection with products containing PFAS and will vigorously defend its record of environmental stewardship. On health science: 3M is committed to sharing our knowledge about health science to help people better understand this important topic. For more information on research and clinical studies related to fluorochemistries, especially PFOS and PFOA, please click here."