Commonwealth's PFAS case against 3M 'daunting', judge says
A $2 billion lawsuit for defence base contamination against the US chemical manufacturer is heard in court for the first time.
A Federal Court judge has described the Commonwealth's $2 billion lawsuit against 3M over PFAS contamination at Australian defence bases as daunting. The case, involving soil and water contamination at 28 defence bases across the country, is described as the largest legal claim ever brought by the federal government. The statement of claim, which spans 1,600 pages, alleges that 3M withheld results of its own environmental laboratory testing, demonstrating significant adverse environmental effects from its PFAS products.
3M, which ceased selling the products in Australia two decades ago, maintains that the Department of Defence continued to use them. The Commonwealth argues that PFAS compounds persist in the environment, failing to break down, and references research conducted by 3M, including a study on monkeys that showed the chemicals' persistence and toxicity.
The judge suggested that the parties select six defence sites to expedite the matter, emphasizing that the case likely won't run to completion within a traditional timeframe.
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