One woman suggested the water had killed her dog. “There was always a perception in our community that cancer was caused by the drinking water,” Bailey said, but after the state’s announcement, “people freaked out.” He got dozens of angry calls and social-media posts a day. Podcast: How a Minnesota lawyer discovered PFAS was in people’s blood →
That new evidence had stirred Minnesota’s health department to act. Recent studies have linked widely used PFAS, including the varieties called PFOA and PFOS, to reduced immune response and cancer. Scientists have tracked them in biosolids and leafy greens like kale. Even when excreted through urine, they persist. While the so-called “forever” chemicals had long been detected in most people’s bodies, research has shown how they accumulate and can take years to leave. And the same property that makes them so effective in consumer products-one of the strongest molecular bonds ever discovered-means they are almost impossible to get rid of and don’t break down in the environment. The company stopped using some kinds in 2002, but has since made others. 3M also sold its PFAS to other companies to make Teflon, outdoor gear, greaseproof food papers and firefighting foams. 3M’s factory had been churning out some varieties since the 1950s for the water- and stain-repellant Scotchgard. He had known for years that per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (or PFAS, pronounced “PEE-fas”), which don’t occur in nature, lingered in the water around Cottage Grove. “I had a sinking feeling in my stomach,” Bailey recalled. It said there was no emergency, but stricter limits would better protect infants and young children. And Cottage Grove’s would exceed the new threshold. It was about to set a new, lower level for a type of unregulated chemical found in Minnesota’s drinking water. It was May 22, 2017, and the state health department wanted to give Bailey a heads-up. Behind him, the city’s administrator kept stepping away to take phone calls. A screen flashed the iconic red logo of the town’s most famous corporate resident, 3M Co., whose 1,750-acre factory sits along the banks of the Mississippi River. Cottage Grove is the place,” proclaimed a banner in his booth.
When Cottage Grove, Minnesota’s drinking-water panic began, Mayor Myron Bailey was at a conference in Las Vegas trying to lure new business to town.