DNR seeks more detail on ‘forever’ chemicals
Johnson Controls given 60 days to provide data
State regulators want more details on the potential spread of pollution from a fire foam manufacturing company owned by Johnson Controls International in Marinette where the highest known contamination of “forever” chemicals have been found in the state.
The manufacturing plant and training site of Tyco Fire Products in northeastern Wisconsin have been identified as sources of potentially harmful perfluorinated chemicals.
The chemicals have contaminated groundwater, local streams and have been detected offshore in Green Bay.
Commonly known as PFAS, the compounds are under scrutiny nationally because of the growing number of discoveries found in drinking water.
The chemicals, which do not break down easily in the environment, also pose harm to human health. Studies cited in a federal report last year suggest an increased risk of pregnancyinduced hypertension, liver damage, thyroid disease, asthma, decreased fertility, some cancers and a drop in responses to vaccines.
Aside from its work in Marinette, the Department of Natural Resources is in the early stages of assessing the extent of PFAs contamination across Wisconsin.
This year, it embarked on a plan to survey select waterways. And last month, it asked 125 municipal wastewater treatment systems, including Milwaukee’s, to begin testing for the contaminants.
Now, as it casts a wider net, the DNR is directing Glendale-based Johnson Controls to turn over information on where the compounds might have traveled; the names of former businesses it owned that manufactured products with PFAS ingredients; and results of field samples from a former environmental consultant.
The DNR said it believes a company that recycled containers that at one point held PFAS is the former Kitzinger Cooperage of St. Francis, which has come under scrutiny from state and federal regulators.
In a July 2 letter, the DNR gave Johnson Controls 60 days to provide the information it requested.
“We are trying to get ahead of this to see if there are other sites we should be considering,” said Dave Neste, a DNR hydrogeologist.
In a statement, spokesman Ryan P. Nolan of Johnson Controls International said the company is preparing a response to the DNR. “We will continue to collaborate with DNR and we look forward to future discussions,” Nolan said in an email.
PFAS have been found in Marinette sanitary sewers. Also, tests show sludge, or biosolids, from the city’s wastewater treatment plant is contaminated with PFAS.
Last month, DNR officials ordered Johnson Controls to test soil and water in areas covering more than 3,500 acres where Marinette’s sludge has been spread.
Nolan said “it is a matter of fact that the biosolids referenced in DNR’s letters come from a variety of sources and we have no involvement in the city’s production of distribution of those biosolids.”
In June, the DNR referred Johnson Controls to the state Department of Justice for civil prosecution after the company waited several years to report contamination and allowed some residents to unknowingly drink contaminated water.
Neste said that DNR is interested in the chain of custody of the chemicals, including where wastewater containing the compounds was sent.
Using records from the company and other information, he said the agency believes the compounds could be in waste besides Marinette.
The DNR, for example, believes that wastewater containing PFAS from the Tyco plant was treated at a facility in Kimberly, near Appleton.
It also said containers, or totes, that contained PFAS were recycled or disposed by Kitzinger Cooperage, which is currently owned by MidAmerica Steel Drum Co. The DNR asked for a list of other providers that Tyco, or former owners of the company, used for such work.
Johnson Controls declined to comment on shipments involving Kitzinger or Mid-America.
State and federal agencies have leveled more than 70 violations of environmental laws against the three MidAmerica plants in the Milwaukee area. The violations came following an investigation by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that documented danger in the plants to workers and residents in surrounding neighborhoods.
The plants are operated by Container Life Cycle Management, a joint venture majority owned by Greif Inc., an Ohiobased firm.
The DNR referred its case to the state Department of Justice for possible prosecution.
The Environmental Protection Agency recorded violations and has opened a criminal investigation, according to a whistleblower who once worked as a consultant to Container Life Cycle.
The DNR and EPA have declined to comment on the cases.