GREENEVILLE, Tenn. — A Greeneville attorney is urging utilities in Northeast Tennessee to join a new lawsuit against manufacturers of potentially cancer-causing chemicals.

Just last week, 3M agreed to pay more than $10 billion to settle lawsuits over “forever chemicals” contaminating public water systems.

The chemicals are known as PFAS, manufactured starting in the 1960s, for their water and oil proof qualities. It’s used in foams to fight chemical fires, plus in food packaging, clothing, floss, makeup and cleaning products.

Now it’s known to cause cancer.

“They knew the PFAS causes cancer,” attorney Crystal Jessee said. “They absolutely have known and have had the information that it would never go away since 1998.”

Jessee is now helping represent five utilities in Tennessee, including in Erwin and Hawkins and Carter counties. They’re suing 26 manufacturers of PFAS.

“They have continued to manufacture PFAS knowing that it never goes away,” Jessee said. “We can put it in the landfill, and it will still be there 20 years from now, still building up. It has gradually seeped into our water system and our sewer system.”

After 300 other utilities sued in federal court, 3M agreed to stop manufacturing PFAS and pay $10.3 billion. DuPont, Chemours and Corteva settled for more than $1 billion. They denied the allegations.

Now local utilities are also seeking damages to fund testing and mitigation.

“A typical filtration system of that magnitude for 10,000 people costs $250,000,” Jessee said. “You have to replace that system, just like you would have to replace the filter in a Brita water system, every four years. Our citizens shouldn’t have to bear the burden.”

The lawsuit comes as the Tennessee Association of Utility Districts urges filing claims quickly against Kidde-Fenwal, another PFAS manufacturer that is filing for bankruptcy as it faces multiple lawsuits.

We reached out to all 26 defendants.

3M statement:

As noted in our press release: 3M has entered into a broad class resolution to support PFAS remediation for public water suppliers (PWS) that detect PFAS at any level or may do so in the future. This agreement will benefit U.S.-based PWS nationwide that provide drinking water to a vast majority of Americans. Subject to court approval, the agreement provides funding for PWS across the country for PFAS treatment technologies without the need for further litigation.

This agreement is not an admission of liability. 3M acted responsibly in connection with products containing PFAS, including AFFF (aqueous film-forming foam) – a critical tool developed to serve an important need for military service members and other responders facing potentially life-threatening challenges. 3M also will continue to address other PFAS litigation by defending itself in court, as appropriate.

DuPont statement:

“In 2019, DuPont de Nemours was established as a new multi-industrial specialty products company. DuPont de Nemours has never manufactured PFOA, PFOS or firefighting foam. While we don’t comment on litigation matters, we believe this complaint is without merit, and we look forward to vigorously defending our record of safety, health and environmental stewardship.”

For background purposes — there is a clear difference between operations of DuPont de Nemours and legacy E.I. du Pont de Nemours (EID) operations from decades ago. Historically, EID was a commodity conglomerate made up of various product lines and chemical specialties. In 2015, EID spun off the chemicals businesses into an entity now known as the Chemours Company. The creation of DowDuPont – through the 2017 merger of the Dow Chemical Company and EID – grouped the remaining product lines and laid the framework for the creation of three new, highly-specialized companies in 2019. EID, now doing business as Corteva Agriscience, has a comprehensive and diverse agriculture business portfolio and owns the former agriculture businesses of the Dow Chemical Company. Dow is one of the largest chemical producers in the world. DuPont de Nemours, which inherited the specialty products manufacturing assets of both EID and Dow, is fully focused on the specialty products market. To implicate DuPont de Nemours in these past issues ignores this corporate evolution, and the movement of product lines and personnel that now exist with entirely different companies.