Brockovich PFC Lawsuit Targets Foam Manufacturers

A law firm affiliated with famed environmentalist Erin Brockovich is trying to fight for the victims of perfluorinated chemical (PFC) contamination in the Philadelphia suburbs.

It is a new front in the community’s battle for accountability amid a water contamination crisis that threatened public health and raised water treatment costs for municipalities.

The firm Weitz and Luxenberg “filed a lawsuit against the manufacturers of the firefighting foam which they say led to the contamination of the water supply in portions of Montgomery and Bucks counties,” Patch reported.

The firm targeted the suit at the manufacturer and five other defendants “in a case involving potentially hundreds of former and current residents” living in the suburbs outside Philadelphia, NBC 10 reported.

The suit claims that firefighting foam used on military bases, including the defunct Willow Grove Naval Air Station and current day Horsham Air Guard Station, contaminated the water supply for locals. Robin Greenwald, head of the Environmental and Consumer Protection Unit at Weitz & Luxenberg, described the suit in a statement.

“For years, residents living near military bases in eastern Pennsylvania were unknowingly exposed to dangerous chemicals in their drinking water,” she said. “With this lawsuit, we are fighting to ensure that the companies who manufactured and marketed products containing these chemicals — and put their profits ahead of public health in the process — are brought to justice for their wrongdoing.”

The companies named as defendants in the suit include 3M Company (formerly known as Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co.); Angus Fire; The Ansul Company; Buckeye Fire Protection Company; Chemguard; and National Foam.

Brockovich previously spoke up about the water contamination in Bucks and Montgomery counties in June, when she and the law firm announced that they would investigate the contamination scandal. She levelled with the victims about what they are up against.

“Superman is not coming,” Brockovich said, per NBC 10. “We are going to have to jump in there and begin the act of saving ourselves.”

She said the U.S. EPA and other government agencies are unlikely to swoop in and fix the situation, according to the report.  

The EPA issued a health advisory in May about exposure to perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) as various cities wage high-profile battles against the compounds, including Hoosick Falls, NY, and factory towns across the country. PFCs are industrial contaminants, and research has tied them to cancer.

The lawsuit is not the first attempt to seek accountability for the victims of PFC contamination in the Philadelphia suburbs. Horsham, PA, for instance, is looking for answers from the military, which used the firefighting foam at its bases.

“Acknowledging the frustration of Horsham residents following a recent increase in water bills, the township council passed a resolution calling on the military to fully foot the cost of water contamination,” The Intelligencer reported.

To read more about PFCs visit Water Online’s Source Water Contamination Solutions Center.