The Australian government has initiated legal action against American manufacturing giant 3M, demanding over $1.4 billion in damages related to chemical contamination at military installations, officials announced Thursday.
This unprecedented compensation claim targets contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly called PFAS, which affected 28 defense facilities. These synthetic compounds earn the nickname “forever chemicals” due to their inability to decompose naturally in the environment.
The legal action was filed in Minnesota’s Federal Court against both 3M Company and its Australian division, targeting the corporation’s home jurisdiction.
The company has vowed to contest Australia’s allegations.
“3M has never manufactured PFAS in Australia and ceased sales of the products at issue in Australia around two decades ago,” the company stated. “Despite this, the (Australian) Department of Defense continued to use PFAS-containing firefighting foams for nearly two decades longer.”
These chemical compounds have been utilized in consumer and commercial applications since the 1950s, providing resistance to heat, stains, grease and water. The firefighting foam containing these substances proved particularly effective against fuel-based fires.
In 2018, Australia’s Defense Department issued warnings to residents living near Richmond Air Base outside Sydney, advising them to limit consumption of locally sourced fish and eggs after detecting the chemicals in area groundwater.
Attorney-General Michelle Rowland accused the manufacturer of concealing environmental hazard information about the foam on Thursday.
“The Commonwealth (of Australia) is seeking more than AU$2 billion ($1.4 billion) in damages to recover significant past and future expenses incurred in investigating and managing contamination resulting from the historic storage and use of this foam,” Rowland told reporters.
Assistant Defense Minister Peter Khalil revealed his department has already invested AU$1.3 billion ($920 million) in addressing and reducing the foam’s environmental consequences. The department has extracted 200,000 metric tons (220,000 U.S. tons) of polluted soil from installations and processed 13 billion liters (3.4 billion gallons) of contaminated water, according to Khalil.
“We are prepared to take on powerful corporations when Australians and Australian communities have been impacted,” Khalil said.
