Sunday, December 1, 2024–4:53 p.m.
-Staff reports-
Calhoun-based Mohawk Industries has filed suit claiming they were kept in the dark regarding the risk of PFAS in products used to make carpet stain-resistant.
Defendants in the suit filed last month in Whitfield County Superior Court include 3M, DuPont, Daikin America, and Chemours—which was formed in 2015 when DuPont spun off its performance chemicals division.
In the 59-page civil action, Mohawk alleges fraud and negligent misrepresentation stating the defendants concealed the risks of PFAS and made false and/or misleading assurances regarding the safety of the chemicals.
Mohawk has been named as a defendant in a series of lawsuits alleging that PFAS in the wastewater of carpet companies eventually made its way into local drinking water sources or onto other landowners’ properties, requiring expensive cleanup.
They are seeking to be reimbursed by the defendants for past and future settlements and judgments, as well as PFAS reduction, removal, or remediation that Mohawk has or be required to undertake in the future.
In June of 2023, the Rome City Commission approved a settlement in a legal action filed in 2019 against upstream chemical companies, carpet manufacturers, and Dalton Utilities regarding the discharge of PFAS into the Oostanaula River, impacting Rome’s drinking water supply. Funds from that lawsuit are required to go toward the construction of a reverse osmosis water filtration plant to remove the chemicals.
In April, the US Environmental Protection Agency announced new water quality standards, which are essentially zero-tolerance for PFAS. The standards will be enforced starting in 2029. The enforceable levels for PFOA and PFOS, which are the two main PFAS that Rome is dealing with, will be 4 parts per trillion.
PFAS, also known as forever chemicals, don’t break down readily in the environment or the human body. The chemicals have been linked to a number of health related effects including some types of cancers.
