MARINETTE (NBC 26) — Some residents impacted by PFAS, or forever chemicals, from Tyco Fire Products in Marinette say $10 million is too little a price for the damage the manufacturer has inflicted on the local water supply.
- Tyco settled with the DOJ this month for its role in contaminating Marinette and Town of Peshtigo water, paying $10 million to the state PFAS fund.
- Save our Water is a grassroots organization pushing for better PFAS and ground water regulations.
- Save our Water president says the Tyco settlement isn't enough money, doesn't cover the entirety of the impacted area and doesn't guarantee the money will come to Marinette.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
In 2020, the Department of Justice sued Tyco Fire Products for contaminating the water supply with PFAS- forever chemicals- and failing to inform the public. This month, Tyco settled for $10 million, but some locals say the money isn't enough.
For residents of Marinette, the fight began years before the lawsuit.
"It's been a long battle," Doug Oitzinger says.
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Oitzinger is a longtime resident of the City of Marinette. He was formerly the Mayor but now serves as the president of Save Our Water, a local grassroots organization advocating for stronger PFAS and groundwater regulations.
Oitzinger says the settlement is disappointing.
"We're deeply disappointed... It wasn't what we were hoping for in a lot of ways," he says. "First of all, $10 million?... This isn't like a big chunk of money coming out of the profits of Tyco Johnson Controls, so the dollar amount seems rather small."
More than the money, Oitzinger says Tyco has refused to take responsibility for a large area in the Town of Peshtigo, despite the DNR finding contaminated wells throughout most of the Town.
"This settlement takes away all responsibility from Tyco to do anything more in that area," Oitzinger says. "This was a shocker. This was a real shocker."
The settlement has Tyco pay $10 million to the state PFAS Trust Fund, which Sen. Eric Wimberger (R-Gillet) helped create.
"The idea from the beginning was to offer some legal protections that did not exist in the law to protect innocent land owners," Wimberger says. "Then when there were settlements that came about for responsible parties, that it would go into a trust fund, rather than the general fund that could be used for anything."
Wimberger says they can't guarantee that the $10 million will go to the City of Marinette and the Town of Peshtigo.
“That would be something that the executive branch hopefully uses appropriately, and I'll be pushing for that, but our role is rather limited at this point," he says.
For Oitzinger, the settlement is disappointing, but the fight against PFAS has just begun.
“There's not a person alive today in the Marinette, Peshtigo area who will live long enough to see the PFAS cleaned up," he says. "It's a forever chemical, which means it’s a forever problem.”
The DNR is hosting a listening session on PFAS and the Tyco settlement on Monday, June 22, at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, Room MN 101/12 from 4-6 p.m.
There will be an optional listening session from 11 a.m.- 3 p.m. when people can come for a one-on-one discussion with DNR staff.
More information is on the DNR website.
