"By the late 2000s, it was clear that forever chemicals were in the blood of nearly every American.
Alarmed by the threats to public health, Minnesota officials pressured 3M to dramatically reduce pollution released into the Mississippi River at its manufacturing plant southeast of Minneapolis-St. Paul, where the global conglomerate pioneered the highly toxic, almost indestructible chemicals after World War II.
In Alabama, a state known for its lax environmental laws, lawsuits prodded 3M to begin limiting pollution and cleaning up contaminated sites near another plant where it makes forever chemicals, also known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.
But for more than a decade state regulators in Illinois failed time and time again to hold 3M accountable for air and water pollution from its third PFAS plant in the United States, located on the Mississippi about 15 miles upstream from the Quad Cities."
Michael Hawthorne reports for the Chicago Tribune December 18, 2022.
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