North Carolina AG sues companies over alleged PFAS contamination from firefighting foam

November 16, 2021

Read the full article by Staff (Blue Ridge Public Radio)

"Lawsuits filed by North Carolina's attorney general against 14 manufacturers of a fire suppressant claim the makers caused a public nuisance, created a design defect, failed to warn their customers and fraudulently transferred corporate assets to shield their profits, a news release said Thursday.

Attorney General Josh Stein filed four lawsuits which named 3M, Corteva, and DuPont, among others. In the lawsuit, Stein is asking the court to require the manufacturers to pay for investigations to determine the extent of the damage, clean up the damage, replace water treatment systems and wells, restore damaged natural resources and to monitor water quality.

“These companies made and sold firefighting foam with dangerous forever chemicals to our firefighters, military servicemembers, and first responders, long after they knew or should have known how harmful this foam was,” Stein said in the news release. “As a result, forever chemicals have seeped into our soil and groundwater and put people’s health at risk – all so these chemical companies could line their pockets. It’s wrong."