RHINELANDER, WI (WSAU-WXPR) – Some residents with PFAS-contaminated wells in Oneida County are suing Ahlstrom Munksjo, owners of the Rhinelander paper mill.
PFAS levels thousands of times higher than Wisconsin’s health recommendation level have been found in dozens of private wells in the Town of Stella.
Six residents in the Town of Stella filed a class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin. They claim their wells and their drinking water is contaminated because the Ahlstrom-Munksjo paper mill in Rhinelander spread millions of pounds of PFAS-contaminated sludge on farmland in the area.
They’re suing the mill and 3M for providing the PFAS chemicals to the mill.
The lawsuit claims that Ahlstrom and previous owners of the mill knew or should have known about the risk and dangers of applying the PFAS-contaminated waste to farmland.
Ahlstrom -Munksjo says it doesn’t comment in detail on open litigation, but noted the complaint appears to focus on activities that are alleged to have occurred before Ahlstrom’s bought the mill in 2018.
In a news briefing Tuesday, the Wisconsin DNR said it has not confirmed a source of contamination.
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