Hastings sues 3M over PFAS contamination in 5 city drinking wells

The city of Hastings is suing 3M, alleging PFAS, or “forever chemicals,” from the company’s Cottage Grove facility contaminated five city drinking water wells.

According to court documents filed Wednesday, Hastings alleges that 3M released these chemicals through smokestack emissions from the Cottage Grove facility and that winds carried the particles into Hastings, where they later leached into groundwater and municipal wells.

The city says it must build new treatment plants to meet Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards, which would cost millions of dollars.

RELATED: Minnesota sues 3M again over PFAS pollution near Mississippi River

A company spokesperson for 3M sent 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS the following statement in response to the lawsuit:

“The City’s decision to pursue litigation is unfortunate. Over many years, 3M has led industry in addressing PFAS in the environment. In 2000, 3M announced it would exit the manufacture of certain long-chain PFAS and, in 2022, that it would discontinue the manufacture of all PFAS globally by the end of 2025. 3M successfully met that goal. Here in Minnesota, 3M in 2018 provided a commitment of $850 million to mitigate PFAS in the State—including drinking water in East Metro communities. That was followed in 2024 by a $10.3 billion commitment to assist public water suppliers across the United States that had detected PFAS in their water or would do so in the future, covering more than 11,000 public water systems across the country. 3M remains willing to engage with the City to discuss any legitimate concerns it may have.”

In court filings, Hastings noted that it opted out of the national public water systems settlement involving 3M and decided to pursue its own lawsuit to pay for treatment plants, monitoring, testing, and more.