According to sources familiar with the situation, 3M Co. has tentatively agreed to pay at least $10 billion to a number of American cities and towns to settle water contamination claims involving “forever chemicals,” according to a report published on Friday by Bloomberg News.
On Friday afternoon, shares of 3M were up 8.4% to $102.16.
The report was not immediately confirmed. Speaking on behalf of the corporation, 3M stated that it “does not comment on rumors or speculation.”
Chemours Co., DuPont de Nemours Inc., and Corteva Inc., among other chemical corporations, agreed to an agreement in principle for $1.19 billion hours earlier to settle charges that they poisoned public water systems in the United States with the potentially dangerous substances.
The City of Stuart, Florida, and 3M were to go on trial on Monday. It was unclear right first if the trial would go forward.
Stuart asserts that despite knowing for many years that PFAS can cause cancer and other diseases, the firm still manufactured or sold firefighting foams containing these chemicals. According to the city, it is requesting more than $100 million from 3M to pay for soil cleanup and water filtering.
According to 3M, at the concentrations found in drinking water, PFAS has not been related to health issues.
Stuart’s complaint is one of more than 4,000 that have been consolidated in federal court in South Carolina against 3M and other chemical companies by local governments, state governments, and private citizens from around the United States. As the first “bellwether” or test case in that dispute, the Stuart case was chosen.
In December, 3M said that it would stop making PFAS by 2025 due to increased regulatory scrutiny of the substances, which are known as “forever chemicals” because they are difficult to degrade in the environment or the human body. PFAS are used in everything from cell phones to semiconductors.
Companies like 3M, DuPont, and others face billions of dollars in liabilities as a result of the litigation around them.
In 2018, Stuart, a Florida coastal community of 20,000 people located 64 kilometers (40 miles) north of West Palm Beach, filed a lawsuit against 3M and others. According to the city, PFAS-containing firefighting foams were frequently sprayed at a nearby fire station, which allowed the chemicals to seep into the groundwater.
