{"id":381,"date":"2026-05-28T10:08:27","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T10:08:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=381"},"modified":"2026-05-28T10:08:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T10:08:27","slug":"australia-sues-3m-for-1-4b-over-forever-chemicals-at-defense-bases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=381","title":{"rendered":"Australia sues 3M for $1.4B over \u2018forever chemicals\u2019 at defense bases"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

SYDNEY \u2014 The Australian government said Thursday that it had launched legal action against 3M over contamination from firefighting foam supplied by the U.S. company that contained PFAS, or \u201cforever chemicals,\u201d seeking more than 2 billion Australian dollars ($1.43 billion) in damages.<\/p>\n

Read more U.S. dismisses report of Kyiv embassy drawdown after Russia warning; Zelenskyy pens Trump letter asking for air defense<\/a><\/p>\n

The claim against the Minnesota-based chemicals maker and its local unit is the largest ever brought by Australia, reflecting the past and future environmental, economic and cultural costs of the contamination, the government said.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u201cMake no mistake, this legal action against 3M is significant,\u201d Attorney General Michelle Rowland told reporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Commonwealth is seeking more than AUD$2 billion in damages to recover significant past and future expenses incurred in investigating and managing contamination resulting from the historical storage and use of this foam.\u201d<\/p>\n

The government, which used the firefighting foam at 28 defense bases across the country, alleged 3M gave assurances the substance was safe to dispose of, biodegradable and non-toxic.<\/p>\n

But 3M withheld its own testing showing \u201csignificant adverse environmental effects\u201d associated with its use, Rowland alleged.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

3M said in a statement that it would defend itself against the claims in court.<\/p>\n

\u201c3M has never manufactured PFAS in Australia and ceased sales of the products at issue in Australia around two decades ago,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite this, the Department of Defense continued to use PFAS-containing firefighting foams for nearly two decades longer.\u201d<\/p>\n

PFAS are a group of manufactured chemicals that are widely used in products resistant to heat, stains, grease and water.<\/p>\n

Read more Think it\u2019s hot now? The next five years will smash records, U.N. says<\/a><\/p>\n

Known as \u201cforever chemicals,\u201d they do not naturally break down in the environment, raising concerns about their \u200baccumulation in ecosystems, drinking water and the human body.<\/p>\n

Research has linked exposure to PFAS to health issues \u200bincluding liver damage, lower birth weight and testicular cancer.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Assistant Defense Minister Peter Khalil said the department has spent AUD$1.3 billion in dealing with the impacts of the contamination, including paying AUD$408 million in legal settlements to affected communities.<\/p>\n

The department has also treated or removed more than 200,000 metric tons of contaminated soil and treated more than 13 billion liters of water.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the most significant legal action undertaken by Commonwealth and Defense in living memory,\u201d Khalil said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo put it plainly, we are taking on 3M on behalf of the Australian people and the Australians that are affected.\u201d<\/p>\n

3M has faced thousands of lawsuits over PFAS contamination. In 2023 it reached a $10.3 billion settlement with a host of U.S. public water systems to resolve water pollution claims.<\/p>\n

Read more Baby gorilla delivered via rare C-section at Seattle zoo<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australia has sued 3M over contamination from firefighting foam that contained PFAS, or \u201cforever chemicals,\u201d seeking $1.4 billion in damages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":380,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia"],"yoast_head":"\nAustralia sues 3M for $1.4B over \u2018forever chemicals\u2019 at defense bases - Trusted Moving Group<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=381\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Australia sues 3M for $1.4B over \u2018forever chemicals\u2019 at defense bases - Trusted Moving Group\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Australia has sued 3M over contamination from firefighting foam that contained PFAS, or \u201cforever chemicals,\u201d seeking $1.4 billion in damages.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=381\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Trusted Moving Group\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-28T10:08:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/?p=381#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/?p=381\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/98cd83efb686ecde03e082abca618eaa\"},\"headline\":\"Australia sues 3M for $1.4B over \u2018forever chemicals\u2019 at defense bases\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-28T10:08:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/?p=381\"},\"wordCount\":466,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/?p=381#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/46287a283f5b513e8417ba97de58e857.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Asia\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/?p=381#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/?p=381\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/?p=381\",\"name\":\"Australia sues 3M for $1.4B over \u2018forever chemicals\u2019 at defense bases - Trusted Moving Group\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/?p=381#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/?p=381#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/46287a283f5b513e8417ba97de58e857.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-28T10:08:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/98cd83efb686ecde03e082abca618eaa\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/?p=381#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/?p=381\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/?p=381#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/46287a283f5b513e8417ba97de58e857.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/46287a283f5b513e8417ba97de58e857.webp\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/?p=381#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Australia sues 3M for $1.4B over \u2018forever chemicals\u2019 at defense bases\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Trusted Moving Group\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/98cd83efb686ecde03e082abca618eaa\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/trustedmovinggroups.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Australia sues 3M for $1.4B over \u2018forever chemicals\u2019 at defense bases - Trusted Moving Group","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=381","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Australia sues 3M for $1.4B over \u2018forever chemicals\u2019 at defense bases - Trusted Moving Group","og_description":"Australia has sued 3M over contamination from firefighting foam that contained PFAS, or \u201cforever chemicals,\u201d seeking $1.4 billion in damages.","og_url":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=381","og_site_name":"Trusted Moving Group","article_published_time":"2026-05-28T10:08:27+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=381#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=381"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/#\/schema\/person\/98cd83efb686ecde03e082abca618eaa"},"headline":"Australia sues 3M for $1.4B over \u2018forever chemicals\u2019 at defense bases","datePublished":"2026-05-28T10:08:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=381"},"wordCount":466,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=381#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/46287a283f5b513e8417ba97de58e857.webp","articleSection":["Asia"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=381#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=381","url":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=381","name":"Australia sues 3M for $1.4B over \u2018forever chemicals\u2019 at defense bases - Trusted Moving Group","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=381#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=381#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/46287a283f5b513e8417ba97de58e857.webp","datePublished":"2026-05-28T10:08:27+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/#\/schema\/person\/98cd83efb686ecde03e082abca618eaa"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=381#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=381"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=381#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/46287a283f5b513e8417ba97de58e857.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/46287a283f5b513e8417ba97de58e857.webp","width":1200,"height":630},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=381#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Australia sues 3M for $1.4B over \u2018forever chemicals\u2019 at defense bases"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/","name":"Trusted Moving Group","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/#\/schema\/person\/98cd83efb686ecde03e082abca618eaa","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com"],"url":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}