Minnesota pollution officials last week announced another big step in the fight against “forever” chemicals polluting the state’s waterways.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) released its draft wastewater permit for 3M’s plant in Cottage Grove, which now requires the removal of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, to be at levels below detection. This marks the first time numeric limits for PFAS have been included in such permits, and is the latest measure in an aggressive effort by the state to put a stop to the danger posed by PFAS on the environment and human health.
“The MPCA is committed to using all our authorities toward this end,” said Katrina Kessler, the agency’s commissioner. “This permit is an opportunity to leverage the latest science, technology, and regulations on PFAS to require 3M do even more to keep PFAS out of the Mississippi River.”
PFAS are manmade chemicals used by various industries as a type of protective coating on consumer products like nonstick cookware, cleaning products and cosmetics, among others. The long-lasting nature of the chemicals means that they don’t degrade, and as they have seeped into the environment polluting waterways nationwide, exposure to them has been linked to severe health outcomes including increased risk to multiple forms of cancer, high cholesterol and hypertension.
The 3M facility in Cottage Grove, one of several facilities that has produced the chemical for decades, discharges an excess of 5 to 6 million gallons of treated wastewater and stormwater per day into a creek that feeds into the Mississippi River. MPCA spokesman Adam Olson said PFAS have been detected in wastewater released by the facility, which is one of several 3M facilities that has produced the chemical for decades, though it’s unclear how much.
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“We don’t know how much has been released in total due to the history of PFAS production at this site, which dates back to the 1950s and contributed to drinking water contamination in the East Metro,” Olson said in a statement. “The MPCA’s monitoring data for specific types of PFAS in wastewater show that the amount of PFAS released by 3M’s Cottage Grove facility has been decreasing since at least 2011.”
The new permit also requires 3M to improve its monitoring efforts, including the addition of several new monitoring stations and study of aquatic life in the Mississippi River.
Heidi Guenther, an attorney at the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, called the move an important step in combatting PFAS pollution while setting a standard for the renewal of wastewater permits statewide going forward.
“In setting those numeric limits, it’s going to be a benchmark for all the other major wastewater permits that need to be renewed,” Guenther said. “It’s going to have an influence and potential impact on what those permit conditions will be so it’s really important to get this right the first time around, and having the MPCA as our state agency engaged in that work is a really important first step.”
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Since 2021, the company has been working to improve water quality and reduce the amount of water used in their manufacturing through efforts like updating existing infrastructure. A large piece of those efforts is a new Water Quality Building featuring new technologies that specifically captures PFAS from wastewater and stormwater before discharge, according to the company.
The price tag on the improvements, which are meant to be functional by mid-2024, is $200 million.
The permit arrives as 3M begins payments this summer on a settlement that will require it to pay out between $10.5 and $12.5 billion for the next 13 years to communities around the country impacted by PFAS contamination. This follows a 2018 settlement with the state worth $850 million after decades of chemical disposal by the Maplewood-based company was found to have seeped into the groundwater, contaminating the drinking water of hundreds of thousands of residents in the east Twin Cities metro.
At the same time, Minnesota has taken various robust actions to limit further pollution, becoming a leader nationwide in the process. The Legislature has passed several laws banning the sale of PFAS in everyday consumer products by 2025, as well as a ban on nonessential PFAS use by 2032. MPCA also launched a PFAS monitoring plan in 2022, and continues to develop its water quality standards.
The Environmental Protection Agency this spring also released new federal limits on six types of PFAS in drinking water.
Guenther said while the work Minnesota has done to become a leader in preventing and regulating PFAS entering the environment, she would like to see more accountability for polluters. Though funds from the settlements will go toward PFAS efforts, an MPCA report from last year anticipates costs of between $14 and $28 billion over the next 20 years to remove and destroy PFAS from wastewater streams, and taxpayers should not be on the hook for those costs, she said.
Another is allowing the public more opportunities to weigh in on the process. The 45-day public comment period runs from July 1 through Aug. 15, and residents will have the opportunity to attend either a virtual public hearing July 29 or an in-person hearing July 31 at the HERO Training Center, 10125 85th St. S., Cottage Grove.
Due to how dense and technical the more than 400-page permit is, and Minnesotans’ past experience with the pollutants, Guenther said the state agency should extend the comment period and hold more hearings to allow for the public to better engage with the permit and its aims.
“I think when people hear about PFAS, especially here in Minnesota, people are scared, and because of all of the work that MPCA has put into this permit, I think it’d be a really great service to both agency and the public if there were more opportunities for MPCA to explain it,” she said. “How did we get to these numeric limits? What does this mean for downstream communities, and how does this fit into the larger PFAS plan that the MPCA has begun in regulating this compound?”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect it is 5 to 6 million gallons of treated wastewater and stormwater leaving the 3M Cottage Grove site each day, not 15 million. The incorrect data was provided by MPCA and it has since updated its website.
Mohamed Ibrahim
Mohamed Ibrahim is MinnPost’s environment and public safety reporter. He can be reached at mibrahim@minnpost.com.
