Read the full article by Kilat Fitzgerald (FOX 9)
“(FOX 9) – The City of Hastings has filed a lawsuit against 3M accusing the company of contaminating five of its public drinking water wells with perfluorooctanoic acid, PFOA, a ‘forever chemical’ linked to serious health risks, via air emissions from its Cottage Grove facility.
This latest lawsuit, filed in late August 2026, comes after massive settlements that saw 3M pay billions of dollars for the contamination of public drinking water.
Hastings sues 3M
The backstory:
The civil lawsuit cites a standard set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency called the maximum containment level, or MCL, as 4 parts per trillion for PFOA in April 2024.
Because the MCL is a mandatory requirement for public water systems, Hastings must comply with it for each of its five affected wells, the lawsuit states.
By the numbers:
The City of Hastings says it owns and operates public drinking water wells that serve about 23,000 residents and more than 7,500 water customers.
The lawsuit, filed Aug. 26 in Dakota County District Court, focuses on five of those wells which the city says are contaminated with PFOA at levels that require treatment under a new federal drinking water standard.”…