HASTINGS, MN — Minnesota's attorney general now is stepping into the debate over the safety of drinking water in six cities near St. Paul, according to a March 8 Minnesota Public Radio report.
Attorney General Lori Swanson now is examining the chemicals that are tainting wells that supply the cities' drinking water and whether legal action should be taken, the report states.
A related Associated Press report states that health officials found traces of the perfluorochemical (PFC) pentafluorobenzoic acid (PFBA) as high as 1.8 parts per billion (ppb) in Cottage Grove and 2.3 ppb in St. Paul Park; 1 ppb is the standard the MN Department of Health uses to notify the public until it determines a uniform standard at which it would declare the levels unhealthy.
PFCs are made by 3M Co. in Cottage Grove for use in household and industrial products; PFBA was made by 3M at its Cottage Grove facility, reportedly for use in film coatings, the MN Department of Health reports, noting that PFBA also may be a breakdown product of other PFCs.
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