Hartford Business Journal

HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | MARCH 18, 2024 11 Finding solutions For Aquarion, another hurdle is the small public water facilities it owns, including some with 100 or fewer customer connections. In certain cases, the company believes it may be more cost-efficient to shut down those water sources and connect them to a larger system, rather than remove PFAS. That's because the proportional cost of mitigation is much higher for a small system, Morrissey said. Another concern is that, as the nation's water companies rush to meet the EPA's deadline, demand for PFAS-removal goods and services will spike, putting pressure on the supply chain that could lead to procurement delays. Morrissey said Aquarion will triage its PFAS-removal installations, prior- itizing them based on an assess- ment of their need. "We're trying to hit those systems that have the highest PFAS levels, if you will, the highest grade ones that are most important, and knock those out," Morrissey said. Legal action PFAS, discovered in 1939, were first used as the nonstick agent in Teflon. They have since been added to numerous consumer products to make them resistant to heat, water, oil and corrosion, according to the New York Times. Exposure to PFAS has been linked to a number of health problems, including cancer, liver deficiencies, thyroid issues, birth defects, kidney disease, decreased immunity and other serious health issues. While there is evidence that manufacturers, such as DuPont, knew PFAS were toxic to the body as early as 1966, according to the New York Times, the wide range of health problems they can cause weren't documented until recently. It wasn't until 2021 that the EPA released a "roadmap plan" for curtailing PFAS contamination. PFAS are also being targeted at their source — the manufacturing companies that created them. Stamford law firm Silver Golub & Teitell recently filed a class-action suit against Texas-based manufac- turer Kimberly-Clark Corp., seeking more than $5 million in damages for the alleged release of PFAS into the drinking water in New Milford, where the company has a plant that produces facial tissues. Kimberly-Clark says it has phased out the use of PFAS chemicals. In January, Connecticut Attorney General William Tong announced he was filing PFAS lawsuits against 3M, DuPont and more than two dozen other compa- nies that produce firefighting foam. Many states, including Connecticut, have partial bans on PFAS use. This PFAS treatment system at an Aquarion plant in New Hampshire is similar to what the company will install in Connecticut. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED CT lawmakers propose new restrictions on private industry's use of PFAS By Andrew Larson alarson@hartfordbusiness.com W hile water utility companies await new PFAS regulation from the federal govern- ment, state lawmakers are also looking to crack down on the use of forever chemicals by private industry. Policymakers in the General Assembly have proposed several PFAS-related bills this legislative session. One would require manufacturers that sell "intention- ally added PFAS" in Connecticut to submit information about the product — and the amount of PFAS in it — to the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) starting Jan. 1, 2027. Manufac- turers would be prohibited from selling any products containing PFAS if they fail to provide that information. Also, the proposed bill would ban specific categories of products containing PFAS starting Jan. 1, 2026. On Jan. 1, 2032, it would ban the sale of any product containing PFAS, unless DEEP determined the use of PFAS in the product was "currently unavoidable." Attorney Lee D. Hoffman, chair of law firm Pullman & Comley in Hartford, said he's concerned about total bans on PFAS stifling business. "I think that we need to think long and hard about regulating PFAS in Connecticut, without having a better understanding of global supply chains that our companies are going to face," Hoffman said. He noted that defense contractors, and other compa- nies, may not be able to detect whether certain compo- nents contain PFAS. "We've never had an issue where we're trying to regulate contaminants at the micro level as we're trying to do with PFAS," Hoffman said. "That's OK. Not that we shouldn't try. However, we've got to recognize that this is incredibly difficult. It's never been tried before. Businesses are concerned about the unknown, and understandably so." Hoffman said another PFAS-related bill, proposed by the Commerce Committee, makes good sense as it would fund a PFAS background data study "for the purpose of facilitating property remediation processes to enhance economic development in the state." Connecticut, like many other states, already has partial bans on PFAS use. State law, for example, bans firefighting foam and food packaging containing PFAS. Attorney Lee D. Hoffman, chair of law firm Pullman & Comley in Hartford. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED In its guidance to investors, Eversource said in its 2023 annual report that compli- ance with PFAS and lead requirements will require it to "incur significant costs relating to environmental permitting, monitoring, maintenance and upgrading of facilities, remediation and reporting." But the company said the regulatory risk on PFAS is not a significant worry to financial analysts because the costs of providing safe drinking water are already baked into being a regulated water company. Recently, Eversource said it's exploring the possible sale of Aquarion to help cover its need for $1.3 billion in equity. Morrissey said the potential sale is not linked to PFAS. There has been a nationwide trend of water company consolidations. Recently, Connecticut Water's owner — San Jose, California-based SJW Group — announced that one of its subsidiaries was seeking to acquire a 270-customer water system in Texas. There are about 50,000 public water systems across the country, about half of which serve fewer than 500 customers, according to Patla. "Even prior to the recent conversation around PFAS mitigation, partnerships and system consolidation are critical means of expanding access to high- quality, reliable water service across the country," Patla said. "Small systems unable to invest in infrastructure, technology and treatment can benefit from the economies of scale associ- ated with consolidation with a larger water company." Water utilities' burden In the meantime, water companies are tasked with cleaning up contami- nation caused by other entities. "I think that's a really important point: this is a problem that we did not create," Morrissey said. "We don't use PFAS. We're trying to remove it from the environment. We did not put it in the environment." But water companies are being targeted by law firms, too. Silver Golub & Teitell has filed class-action suits against both Aquarion and Connecticut Water, alleging the companies know- ingly sold unsafe drinking water containing PFAS to customers.

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