300 and Counting

In March 2010, residents of Oscoda, Michigan, received the first indications that something was wrong with their water. Fifteen years later, the state has reached a grim milestone in its fight against per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known collectively as PFAS: officials have now identified the 300th confirmed contamination site in the state,.

The 300th site, the Nankin Township Landfill in Wayne County, serves as a potent symbol of the crisis. Between the 1940s and 1960s, the landfill received industrial waste from chemical giant 3M. Despite a federal cleanup in the mid-1990s, investigators from the Michigan PFAS Action Response Team (MPART) recently discovered groundwater concentrations of PFOA—one of the most common PFAS compounds—at 80 parts per trillion (ppt), ten times higher than the state’s enforceable cleanup standard,.

While Michigan is often cited as a national leader in identifying these "forever chemicals," the sheer scale of the contamination is testing the limits of regulation, remediation technology, and the economy.

PFAS are a family of nearly 15,000 synthetic chemicals used for decades to make products water-, stain-, and heat-resistant, ranging from firefighting foam and food packaging to nonstick cookware,,. They are dubbed "forever chemicals" because they do not naturally break down in the environment and are highly mobile, continuously moving through ground, water, and air.

"We are not even close to solving the PFAS crisis," wrote Tony Spaniola, co-founder of the Great Lakes PFAS Action Network, noting that state regulators have identified over 11,000 potential contamination sites in Michigan alone. A significant concern is the agricultural sector; more than half of these potential sites are farms that use wastewater treatment plant sludge, known as "biosolids," to fertilize crops.

Recent peer-reviewed research has illustrated just how ubiquitous these chemicals have become. A study of the Great Lakes basin revealed that PFAS are present in the air, rain, and water across the region, which holds nearly 95 per cent of the United States' fresh surface water.

Marta Venier, a co-author of the study, noted that precipitation is likely a major contributor to lake contamination, with chemical levels in rain remaining consistent whether in industrialized Chicago or the remote Sleeping Bear Dunes,. Water contamination levels were found to be highest in Lake Ontario, which receives the cumulative flow from the other lakes and is surrounded by major urban centres.

Behind the data points are communities grappling with fear and illness. In Belmont, Michigan, Sandy Wynn-Stelt and her husband, Joe Stelt, unknowingly drank water contaminated by a nearby dump belonging to shoemaker Wolverine World Wide,. The dump contained waste treated with Scotchgard, a 3M product.

Tests eventually revealed PFAS levels in their well as high as 90,000 ppt; the EPA’s advisory limit at the time was 70 ppt. By the time the contamination was discovered in 2017, Joe Stelt had already died of liver cancer,.

"I’m sitting here full of this stuff and not knowing what it’s going to do to me five years, 10 years from now," Wynn-Stelt told The Guardian.

Similar stories echo through the state. Jen Carney, a neighbour of the House Street dump in Belmont, reported that her family suffered from unexplained twitching, migraines, and numbness before switching water sources. These chemicals have been linked to kidney disease, thyroid issues, decreased immunity, and cancer,.

Michigan has attempted to move faster than the federal government. In 2017, the state established MPART, a multi-agency body that includes departments of health, environment, agriculture, and military affairs,. MPART is considered a "one-of-a-kind agency" designed to coordinate a complex response.

In 2020, under Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Michigan adopted some of the strictest drinking water standards in the country, limiting PFOA to 8 ppt and PFOS to 16 ppt,. This move came over objections from industry groups like the Michigan Chemistry Council, which argued the process was "rushed" and "unreasonable".

However, advocates argue the state is stalling on other fronts. Tony Spaniola points out that legislation to ban intentionally added PFAS in products has stalled in Michigan, even as neighbouring Minnesota enacted similar bans. Furthermore, while Michigan has identified contamination in biosolids, it has lagged behind states like Maine and Connecticut in banning sludge fertilizers containing PFAS.

Federal entities are also under scrutiny. The Department of Defense (DoD) has spent $2.6 billion USD addressing PFAS releases, primarily from firefighting foam, but estimates suggests the cost to complete future investigations and cleanup could exceed $9.3 billion USD,.

The financial implications of removing PFAS from the environment are staggering. A 2024 discussion paper estimated that removing PFAS from the environment at the rate they are currently being emitted would cost between $20 trillion and $7,000 trillion USD per year—a figure that exceeds the global GDP.

Because remediation is technically difficult and economically unfeasible at a global scale, experts argue that "source reduction"—stopping the production and release of these chemicals—is the only viable path forward.

Litigation has begun to shift some costs to manufacturers. In 2023, 3M reached a $10.3 billion USD settlement with U.S. public water systems, while DuPont and related companies agreed to a $1.19 billion USD settlement. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has also initiated large-scale litigation against manufacturers to hold them accountable for the "unconscionable" pollution,.

Despite the settlements and new regulations, the flow of "forever chemicals" continues. The EPA recently released a draft risk assessment regarding PFOA and PFOS in sewage sludge, acknowledging that current wastewater treatment does not destroy these contaminants,.

As Michigan marks 15 years since the discovery in Oscoda, the discovery of the 300th site at Nankin Township serves as a reminder that the crisis is far from over,. With thousands of potential sites left to investigate and "forever chemicals" cycling through the rain and air, the burden falls on states and communities to navigate a toxic legacy that will persist for generations,.

"It is time for Michigan to step forward and act boldly on PFAS," Spaniola urged. "The future of our Great Lakes and the lives of more than 10 million people are at stake".

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