Catch the latest updates on what’s happening with PFAS in the Great Lakes region. Check back for more PFAS news roundups every other week on our website.
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission recently approved a proposal from the Pennsylvania-American Water Company (PAWC) to issue over $18 million in bill credits to customers. These one-time credits will amount to approximately $26 per customer. This money comes from a PFAS settlement from chemical manufacturers to PAWC and will impact about 690,000 customers across the commonwealth.
An investigation done by Canada’s National Post showed that in 2012 the Department of National Defence found high levels of PFAS in the “waters that feed North Bay’s wells and municipal system.” It took the government entity five years to reveal the discovery to the residents, in what some are referring to as a “cover-up.”
Recent reporting from Wisconsin Public Radio suggests that cleanup costs to target PFAS could be several billion dollars, over the course of multiple budget cycles. A bill was recently proposed by a bipartisan group of Wisconsin state legislators that would require the DNR to warn county and tribal health departments when PFAS is detected above state groundwater standards.
Rhinelander, WI has plans in motion to treat two municipal wells that were shut down in 2019 after elevated levels of “forever chemicals” were detected. In nearby Stella, WI, residents are still demanding action and answers. According to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) the primary polluters are Ahlstrom Rhinelander LLC, the current owners of a nearby paper mill.
In Minnesota, the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe filed a federal lawsuit against chemical manufacturing companies 3M, DuPont, Chemours and others. The claim alleges these companies polluted the Tribe’s drinking water, lakes and wildlife, according to reporting from MPR News. The Tribe said they discovered “alarming” levels of these pollutants downstream from Bemidji Regional Airport and in Cass Lake and Pike Bay. They started supplying bottled water to a nearby Tribal school when unsafe levels were detected in 2022.
Michigan residents are worried about the rise in data centers, particularly in how they could “deplete groundwater aquifers and disrupt ecosystems through thermal pollution of surface waters, alongside pollution with PFAS, methane and other harmful chemicals,” according to the Michigan Advance. And researchers at Michigan State University’s Toxic Action Lab honor Mary Zack’s citizen science legacy, investigating the link between cancer and contaminants in Otsego, MI. Zack founded Justice for Otsego in 2018. She died of cancer in March 2025.
In national news, Tom Perkins reports for The Guardian that the Trump administration is set to approve a new pesticide ingredient known as trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), which is also classified as a per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS).
“At least 60% of active ingredients approved for use in common pesticides over the last 10 years fit the most widely accepted definition of PFAS, and about 40% overall, a 2023 analysis of EPA data found,” wrote Perkins.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced their plan to narrow the largest federal data collection on “forever chemicals.” This comes after the Department of Justice and National Economic Council put out a request for manufacturing trade groups to report how state chemical laws are impacting the U.S. economy.
More PFAS news in case you missed it:
-Gavin Newsom recently vetoed a bill to ban PFAS in California.
-A study published in Nature explores how when mice are exposed to PFAS it can alter the sperm epigenome.
-The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is studying pine needles to learn more about PFAS pollution once it’s in the air.
-New research out of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology suggests that when unhatched mallard ducklings are exposed to PFAS, the genes that regulate fat metabolism in the liver change. They also found “increased activity in a gene that normally helps detect viral infections,” but it is still unclear how this impacts birds.
-The National Resources Defence Council explains how PFAS settlement money for water utilities is poised to evaporate.
Catch more news at Great Lakes Now:
Roads in the Great Lakes region get riskier after daylight saving ends
Sludge is used as fertilizer across Wisconsin. How much is tainted by PFAS?
Featured image: Firefighting foam remains on the ground surface following a tanker truck accident. EPA tests show that aqueous film forming foam used to fight flammable liquid fires have contaminated area drinking water with PFAS. (Photo Credit: iStock)
