This scientist blew the whistle on forever chemicals…and then lost her career

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - In her first interview in nearly 20 years, a former whistleblower at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency details how her early research into forever chemicals was shut down. The FOX 9 Investigators recently interviewed Dr. Fardin Oliaei at her home in Philadelphia as part of a documentary on how the state of Minnesota and the 3M Company responded to PFAS contaminations.

HOW TO WATCH: EVERYWHERE & FOREVER: BLOOD. WATER. AND THE POLITICS OF PFAS.

PFAS whistle-blower found widespread contamination

Why you should care:

The documentary includes video depositions of 3M executives and scientists obtained by the FOX 9 Investigators. The videos, which had not been previously reported, shed new light on the relationship that 3M had with state regulators, including former MPCA Commissioner Sheryl Corrigan.

Corrigan previously worked as an environmental manager at 3M in the 1990s, and was responsible for public relations related to PFAS-contaminated sites.

"She worked specifically with PFAS at 3M," Oliaei said.

After she was appointed commissioner of the MPCA in 2003, Corrigan claimed to have recused herself from all matters involving 3M, including Oliaei’s research that had uncovered the widespread contamination of PFAS in wildlife across the state.

"My job was to focus on the chemicals…that are not being regulated," Oliaei said.

She wanted to expand her research after finding forever chemicals in the blood of fish in Voyageurs National Park, far from where 3M manufactured the chemical, which was used in blockbuster products such as Scotchgard.

3M, the MPCA and PFAS

In a video deposition recorded in 2012 as part of the state’s environmental lawsuit against 3M, Corrigan admitted granting a meeting with 3M executives after becoming the MPCA commissioner.

Corrigan said it was "purely a courtesy meeting" she had granted to her former colleague, Mike Santoro, who was an environmental engineer at 3M.

Oliaei didn’t know Corrigan had granted that meeting to 3M executives until the FOX 9 Investigators showed her the depositions.

"If you are recusing yourself, then why are you sitting there in the meeting?" Oliaei said.

She did recall meeting with Santoro to discuss her research into forever chemicals on several other occasions at the MPCA headquarters in St. Paul.

"(Santoro) was always, honestly, like a shadow there," Oliaei said.

In her deposition, Corrigan said she could not remember what was discussed during the meeting she granted to 3M executives.

But Santoro took notes.

What they're saying:

"I recall meeting with the state agency about our findings of widespread presence of PFAS," Santoro said in his own deposition.

Sara Ethier, another 3M executive who attended the meeting, testified that Corrigan clearly stated where the agency stood when it came to PFAS regulation.

"Sheryl indicated that (MPCA) did not consider (PFAS) as hazardous under the environmental regulations," Ethier said. 

Corrigan did not respond to FOX 9 requests to be interviewed for the documentary. She is now a vice president at Koch Industries.

PFAS research defunded 20 years ago

By the numbers:

The MPCA ultimately defunded Oliaei’s research into forever chemicals.

"I have said numerous times, whether it was in this context or not, that the MPCA is a regulatory agency," Corrigan said in the deposition, repeating previous claims that it was not the state agency’s job to conduct scientific research. "Research around any kind of chemical, whether it's for chemicals or not, really belongs at the EPA."

Oliaei had requested $144,000 to expand the research and find out how far the contamination had spread. When that was turned down, she trimmed her funding request back to just $14,000 but it was still denied, she remembered.

"It wasn't that we didn't have the money to pay for it, it was that the commissioner's office didn't want to do it," said Sen. John Marty (DFL-Roseville). "They wanted to silence it." 

The backstory:

Frustrated by the state’s response, Oliaei decided to speak out publicly when two reporters at Minnesota Public Radio started investigating PFAS contamination.

"I remember the story just came tumbling out of her like she had been waiting for the call," said Sasha Aslanian.

Aslanian and Mike Edgerly’s series Toxic Traces led to state senate hearings.

At the capitol, Oliaei testified that she had been harassed and retaliated against by agency officials for trying to do her job.

"They abuse their authority so much that they use the entire weight of state machinery to crush one individual," she said in 2005.

The MPCA reprimanded her for violating the agency’s media policy.

"So it was directly traced to her participation in the story," Aslanian said.

Oliaei later filed a whistleblower lawsuit that was settled for $325,000. She resigned in early 2006 and left Minnesota. She never worked in government research again.

Twenty years later, Oliaei said she knew she would lose her job for granting the interview to MPR and testifying at the capitol. 

"I said, ‘I cannot lie, I have been working since 2000 on this chemical, I cannot lie and I cannot hide the toxicity of this chemical,'" Oliaei said during an interview with the FOX 9 Investigators last February.

Big picture view:

In the 20 years that followed, 3M would be sued thousands of times across the world because of PFAS contamination. It has paid $14 billion to settle litigation across the country, including nearly $900 million to the state of Minnesota in 2018.

The company has also vowed to stop manufacturing all PFAS chemicals by the end of 2025.

"And so there were big ripple effects," Aslanian said. "But Fardin paid the price."

What's next:

"Everywhere & Forever: Blood. Water. And the Politics of PFAS." premieres on July 31. 

 You can watch the hour-long documentary live on FOX 9 at 8 p.m. or stream it on the FOX LOCAL app and YouTube.

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