GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Gov. Tony Evers and Attorney General Josh Kaul are taking action against businesses that they say contaminated the environment with PFAS.
Kaul filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking to force nearly 20 companies to reimburse the state for investigations and cleanup efforts.
The lawsuit, filed in Dane County court, names the companies, which include 3M, Tyco Fire Products and BASF.
In Northeast Wisconsin, PFAS have contaminated water in and around Marinette and the Town of Peshtigo.
Trygve Rhude has spent 35 years trying to clean the Menominee River of arsenic.
He and others were successful. But now a different chemical is threatening the water systems in Marinette County.
“Literally within days, I find that my wells have been contaminated with PFAS from the same company,” said Rhude.
PFAS are found in many bodies of water in Marinette county. Rhude says a creek near the UW-Green Bay, Marinette Campus is extremely contaminated.
“It’s been a real kick in the pants. It hurts; it really hurts.”
Rhude is happy to hear the state is stepping in to hold companies accountable.
These companies include Johnson Control and Tyco Fire Products in Marinette. They are facing a separate state lawsuit for contaminating water with PFAS from a firefighting foam.
Attorney General Josh Kaul says the other claim is against the state’s spills law.
“It focuses specifically on the spills in the Marinette and Peshtigo area and failure to address those spills. This is a separate case. It’s a much broader case. This includes claims as to public nuisance; it argues there was a failure to warn the public about the danger of PFAS and it also alleges there was a design defect.”
Tyco JCI sent FOX 11 News the following statement:
“Tyco took responsibility for its part in PFAS contamination in Wisconsin many years ago and has spent millions of dollars on a comprehensive clean-up program that is well ahead of any other effort in the state and likely the country. The state is well aware that PFAS contamination is widespread in Wisconsin from multiple sources but has done little to deal with those other sources, include them in today’s lawsuit, or ensure clean water for its people. Unfortunately, today’s lawsuit appears to be about politics and a fast-approaching election more than it is about public health or the environment.”
The state says the cost from PFAS contamination could be more than a billion dollars.
“Wisconsinites shouldn’t have to foot the bill for polluters. We should have known what they were doing wrong all along,” said Evers.
“This is a huge, I don’t want to say a win because it’s not a win yet, but it’s huge to at least have the state step up to the plate,” said Rhude.
Rhude says, for his sake and thousands of other Wisconsinites who don’t have clean drinking water, he hopes the suits will move forward quickly.
