Dear Neighbors,
As you know, the groundwater and drinking water situation has been stressful since we first learned about possible contamination from 3M. This, combined with the lawsuit from the state, has raised concerns, and rightfully so. The Minnesota Department of Health just yesterday released positive findings that shows good news for our area.
According to MDH Commissioner Jan Malcolm:
“Due to the concerns we heard from the community, we felt an obligation to reexamine the available data. We used well-established public health best practices to identify and investigate the concerns. What we found supports the state’s existing safeguards. Our data do not show unusual changes in rates of these specific conditions (certain cancer rates and adverse birth outcomes) over the time period we analyzed. However, this should not be misinterpreted as a message that we can ignore the risks presented by PFCs in drinking water. We’re going to continue monitoring this closely, and as new information comes in we will factor it into our protective guidance and share it with affected communities.”
If you’re interested, you can read the entire release here.
As a representative, my first concern is with the health and welfare of our area. Although this is good news, we need to remain vigilant in getting the answers we deserve for this problem. Not only that, we need to make sure 3M is responsible for the relevant costs of any remediation from this situation. Lastly, I’ll continue to work with state and local officials to ensure you’re informed on any news.
If you have any questions about this topic, please contact my office.
Best,
Keith