Chemical, Flooring Makers Sued For PFAS Contamination in Georgia

A trio of lawsuits filed on behalf of Northwest Georgia property owners allege two of the region's largest employers dumped toxic forever chemicals" into the environment, posing a hazard to residents and requiring millions of dollars worth of cleanup.

PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, were produced by the companies 3M, DuPont, Chemours and Invista for products like Scotchgard, Stainmaster and Teflon, the lawsuits said. These products were in turn used by flooring-makers Shaw Industries and Mohawk Industries in their manufacturing processes, the complaint said.

Shaw and Mohawk "boil and coat their carpets in the chemical cocktail all while spewing the chemicals in every possible way: emitting the chemicals as vapor into the atmosphere, dumping them as liquids in the sewer, spilling them as liquids onto the ground and releasing them as dust into the air," the lawsuits said.

"Thanks to Shaw's and Mohawk's recklessness, the chemicals pollute everything around their facilities: air, rain and snow, surface water, soil and dust and groundwater," the complaint said.

The affected landowners own property near the Shaw and Mohawk facilities and are "bombarded constantly" by the toxic chemicals "from above, from below and from all sides," the lawsuits allege.

Their soil, groundwater and dust are all heavily polluted and re-polluted with the chemicals. Containing, capturing and destroying PFAS could cost an estimated $1 million per acre, the lawsuits said.

PHASED OUT

Both Mohawk and Shaw said they do not currently use PFAS-based chemicals in their carpet manufacturing operations.

"More than 15 years ago, the company phased out PFOS- and PFOA-based chemicals," Robert Webb, a spokesperson for Mohawk, said in an email. "PFAS chemicals are still legally used in the production of food packaging, clothing, cosmetics and many other consumer products and were not unique to the flooring industry.

"Mohawk has filed a lawsuit against the manufacturing companies that once provided these treatments for fraudulently misguiding the company regarding their chemicals, and the company will offer a vigorous defense against the PFAS Georgia complaints."

A group of lawyers and advocates called PFAS Georgia has been holding town halls around the northwestern part of the state about the problem, and they have urged landowners to test their water, soil and dirt. Members of this legal team are now representing property owners in these lawsuits, and consumer advocate Erin Brockovich has been acting as a spokesperson for the group.

In November, Mohawk sued several chemical makers, including 3M, Chemours and Daikin American, alleging the companies concealed the risks of PFAS and made false or misleading assurances to the company about their safety.

Sara Martin, a spokesperson for Shaw Industries, said there are thousands of PFAS chemicals, and they are used in numerous consumer, commercial and industrial products and are therefore found throughout the environment. Shaw stopped using PFAS-based soil-resistant treatments in its U.S. carpet manufacturing operations in January 2019.

"We will address all these allegations further in the litigation, but the claim that Shaw currently uses and/or boils and coats its carpets with PFAS chemicals to treat its carpet for stain and soil resistance is simply incorrect," she said.

Also called "forever chemicals," PFAS are a human-made group of compounds used for decades in firefighting foam, fast food wrappers, cookware, carpets and other commercial products. PFAS are known for their heat- and stain-resistant properties, and they take a long time to break down in the environment, meaning they can accumulate in animals through food or water.

Studies indicate the chemicals may cause developmental delays in children, increase the risk of certain cancers and reduce the body's ability to fight infections, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. According to the lawsuits, it takes women six to eight years to rid their bodies of PFAS and eight to 13 years for men.

The defendants include Georgia-based manufacturers Shaw Industries and Mohawk Industries as well as the chemical-makers 3M Co., The Chemours Co., Corteva Inc., EIDP Inc. (referred to in the lawsuit as DuPont) and INV Performance Surfaces LLC (referred to in the lawsuit as Invista). 3M, Corteva and Invista did not respond to a request for comment.

In an email Tuesday, spokesperson Cassie Olszewski said Chemours does not have a manufacturing footprint in the state of Georgia.

"Since Chemours became an independent company in July 2015, the company has never intentionally manufactured or used PFOA in any of its manufacturing processes, and sites currently owned by Chemours ceased using PFOA before the company was created," Olszewski said. "Furthermore, Chemours has never made, used, or sold PFOS."

CHEMICAL SOUP

Collectively, the three lawsuits were filed by 18 households in Whitfield, Gordon and Catoosa counties and include the results of dust, soil and water testing on 26 properties. The lawsuits specifically list concentrations of PFOA and PFOS, which are two of the most common types of forever chemicals.

For PFOA, the median test result was 7,100 parts per trillion for dust samples, 1,150 parts per trillion for soil samples and 32 parts per trillion for water samples, according to a Chattanooga Times Free Press analysis of the data. For PFOS, the median test results were 12,000 parts per trillion for dust samples, 11,500 for soil samples and 59 for water samples. A median is the middle value in a chronological set of numbers.

Many of these results exceeded federal guidelines, according to the lawsuit. The EPA set enforceable limits on PFOA and PFOS in drinking water at four parts per trillion. Meanwhile, the EPA's screening levels for PFOA in soil and dust is 19 parts per trillion. That level is 6,300 parts per trillion for PFOS. The lawsuits describe those screening levels as "cleanup goals." One part per trillion is equivalent to one drop of ink in 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

During the carpet-making process, companies apply PFAS to carpet in a step called boiling, the lawsuits allege. After being blown into piles "as if in a cotton-candy machine," carpet fiber slivers are collected and spun into yarn, which is boiled in a "chemical soup" of PFAS.

That soup is chemically treated without destroying the PFAS, and it's ultimately dumped into the sewer system for treatment at local wastewater facilities, the lawsuits allege. However, those facilities are not designed to treat PFAS. The chemicals are either incidentally captured in sludge called biosolids, or they pass through the facility into the environment. The PFAS-rich biosolids are collected and often dumped on land to act as fertilizer.

According to the lawsuit, Mohawk "publicly admitted" using PFOS in making carpet until 2002, PFOA until 2009 and PFAS until 2019. Shaw, meanwhile, stopped using products with PFOS in 2001 and stopped using PFAS in residential and commercial flooring products sold in the United States in 2018, the lawsuit said.

"In reality, Shaw was using PFAS that Shaw designed and made itself, and which it continues to use in its products to this day," the lawsuit said.

Martin, the company's spokesperson, said Shaw has never made PFAS.

SHIELD

Earlier this year, Georgia lawmakers debated a bill that would have shielded manufacturers like Mohawk and Shaw from PFAS-related lawsuits. The legislation would have specifically protected employers that receive PFAS products from chemical manufacturers as well as cities and counties responsible for treating water and treating landfill materials.

Ben Finley, a lawyer with PFAS Georgia, said during a June 12 town hall the legislation was ultimately defeated, noting the group had mobilized people to speak against the bill during a hearing at the Georgia State Capitol. However, state Rep. Kasey Carpenter, R-Dalton, said the bill is not dead.

During a hearing in March, Carpenter said the legislation would help protect 50,000 jobs in Northwest Georgia and hundreds of thousands across the state. The bill was designed to focus legal attention on the chemical companies responsible for creating these products and claimed they were safe. Companies like Mohawk that received these products were facing endless lawsuits, he said.

"Millions in litigation expenses will not help with cancer and will not help with cleanup," Carpenter said at the time.

Mark Rogers, deputy general counsel for Mohawk, told lawmakers that carpet manufacturers were assured by chemical companies that the products were safe. At the beginning of 2024, Rogers was handling four cases related to PFAS, and as of March, that had grown to 20.

"These lawsuits are a risk for the company, and that's why we're here, Rogers said in March.

Contact David Floyd at [email protected] or 423-757-6249.