In a Melbourne courtroom this winter, Australia's Federal Court began hearing a $2 billion lawsuit brought by the Commonwealth against 3M, the American chemical manufacturer, over decades of PFAS contamination at twenty-eight defence bases across the country. The case rests on the allegation that 3M possessed its own evidence of the chemicals' persistence and toxicity yet withheld that knowledge from regulators and the public, allowing harm to accumulate in soil and water long after it might have been addressed. It is the largest legal claim the Australian federal government has ever brought a
Federal Court hears 'daunting' $2B PFAS case against 3M over defence base contamination
PFAS contamination at 28 defence bases has affected soil and water quality, with safe drinking water thresholds exceeded at some locations and ongoing environmental migration.