Everywhere and Forever

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.

The 3M Company has vowed to stop manufacturing PFAS chemicals by the end of 2025. The FOX 9 Investigators reviewed hundreds of hours of video depositions that shed new light on how company executives and scientists responded after first learning about the widespread contamination.

Concentrations of toxic PFAS chemicals in the east metro’s ground water supply “appear to be slowly increasing" as the contamination plume approaches the Mississippi and St. Croix rivers, according to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

Hundreds of recorded depositions obtained by the FOX 9 Investigators show 3M executives and scientists were aware of potential environmental and health risks associated with PFAS chemicals decades before the company began phasing out the manufacturing of some chemicals. 

Depositions obtained by the FOX 9 Investigators show how 3M executives and scientists implemented a strategy designed to influence the science surrounding PFAS chemicals, shaped public perception, and attempted to keep some information secret.

A former 3M scientist and self-proclaimed "watchdog" said during a recorded deposition that he "agonized" over his decision to quit his job after his efforts to make the company aware of the dangers associated with PFAS chemicals were met with "roadblocks, delays and indecision."

When former 3M lab scientist Kris Hansen found the company’s chemicals were in human blood in 1997, she said "it was like finding the big red 3M logo in the blood of the general population." 

Insurance company AIG filed a lawsuit against Minnesota-based manufacturer 3M to avoid paying for thousands of lawsuits related to 3M’s production and dumping of PFAS chemicals.

Minnesota-based 3M is required to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to clean up PFAS-contaminated drinking water in the Twin Cities after the company dumped chemical waste in the east metro for decades. But with money from a 2018 settlement agreement running out, the company is now pushing back on whether all of those projects are “reasonable and necessary."