BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 16, 2023
3M has agreed to pay out $10.3 billion in settlement payments in response to lawsuits claiming that their per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, contaminated drinking water. The funds are supposed to be used to filter PFAS from water supplies where it has been detected, and test for other sites of contamination. This is especially important for Mainers, where legislators have begun a process to ban PFAS in consumer products sold in the state. One might think that the 3M settlement proves Maine is on the right track, but it isn’t that simple. For semiconductors, manufacturers say PFAS are a vital part of the production process. Efforts to ban PFAS may seriously jeopardize chip manufacturing and ultimately make the chip shortage much worse before it gets better.