Fort Worth officials are looking to hold the U.S. Department of Defense, industrial conglomerate 3M, chemical company DuPont and other manufacturers liable for $420 million in damages related to water contamination from “forever chemicals.”
The suit was filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
Fort Worth leaders allege the manufacturers for years knowingly sold and distributed products containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, to customers based in North Texas. These chemicals are commonly referred to as “forever chemicals” and are known for accumulating in the environment rather than breaking down.
“The City of Fort Worth has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Defense and multiple manufacturers of PFAS chemicals to hold them accountable for contaminating Fort Worth’s drinking water sources. These ‘forever chemicals’ have been linked to serious health risks,” said city spokesperson Reyne Telles.
The products sold by the manufacturers include “aqueous film-forming foam,” a PFAS-containing substance commonly used to suppress fires. The product was sold to federal entities, including the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth and Fort Worth-based Air Force Plant 4, operated by major defense company Lockheed Martin.
The suit says the manufacturers were aware that the chemicals in the product presented “unreasonable risks to human health, water quality, and the environment,” and sold them without warning.
“They did so without regard to the health of the City’s residents or the City’s property interests, both of which could foreseeably be damaged once these chemicals infiltrated the environment,” the suit says.
Because of their widespread use, forever chemicals have been found in human and animal bloodstreams, a variety of food products and in the environment. Exposure to forever chemicals is linked to harmful health effects such as decreased fertility, developmental effects and increased risk of some cancers.
The defendants’ negligence of the development and the use of the foaming agent led to contamination in the city’s water supply, Fort Worth officials allege.
Fort Worth had to take on “significant” expenses to conduct water quality testing, construct filtration systems and respond to and mitigate the impacts of forever chemicals in the city, according to the suit. The city is responsible for supplying water to 1.4 million customers.
Under the Biden administration, the Environmental Protection Agency adopted regulations requiring cities to reduce forever chemical contamination in drinking water if levels are above acceptable standards.
When Fort Worth conducted federally required testing in 2023, it found that its North and South Holly water treatment plants would violate limits on at least one PFAS chemical capped at 10 parts per trillion. Sixteen samples at those plants were over the 4 parts per trillion limit for two major chemicals, but the average was not high enough to violate the EPA’s standards. One part per trillion is equal to one drop of impurity in 500,000 barrels of water.
Rather than participating in a 2023 class action settlement that would have “provided inadequate compensation,” Fort Worth leaders chose to pursue legal action and seek $420 million that will be used to respond to contamination, said Telles. The city is paying a firm $9.3 million to explore how to remove PFAS from its water collection system.
“We are committed to protecting our drinking water and public health; this legal action is a necessary step in that effort,” said Telles.
Neither 3M or DuPont immediately responded to requests for comment. A Department of Defense spokesperson declined to comment on the allegations.
The suit comes after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued 3M and DuPont in December, accusing the companies of knowingly selling products, such as common household staples, containing PFAS chemicals that could lead to human health issues.
A DuPont spokesperson told the Texas Tribune in December that the company has never manufactured PFOA and PFOS, two types of forever chemicals, or firefighting foam. The spokesperson added that Paxton’s complaint was “without merit.”
Suit accuses military bases, manufacturers of contaminating water
Beginning in the 1970s, several scientists conducted studies on the chemical makeup of 3M’s firefighting foam, finding a “wide range of toxic concentrations,” according to the suit. The company’s loss of profits led 3M to “influence” the science relating to PFAS to mount “defensive barriers to litigation.”
Despite the research, 3M did not disclose the research findings on the health and environmental impacts of the forever chemicals, the suit says.
For decades, 3M was the primary supplier of the foam agent to the Department of Defense, including to Fort Worth’s joint reserve base that formerly operated as Carswell Air Force Base. From the 1970s to 2023, the military exclusively used the foaming agent containing forever chemicals, according to the suit.
DuPont also largely distributed and sold firefighting foam with forever chemicals to the Fort Worth joint reserve base. Beginning in 2013, DuPont engaged in a series of “corporate restructurings” to shield the company from liabilities stemming from the sale of products with forever chemicals, according to city attorneys.
The Air Force and the Navy discharged and disposed of the foaming agent for training and fire response activities at the Fort Worth base, which ultimately released it into the city’s soil and water streams. The foaming agent was also washed into the city’s stormwater system which largely discharges into Lake Worth and the Trinity River, two of Fort Worth’s main water sources, the suit states. The foaming agent was also released into groundwater, wetlands, ponds and ditches.
Between January and March 2022, the Fort Worth joint reserve base collected 39 groundwater samples from affected areas. The maximum concentrations of forever chemicals in groundwater were measured at 29,800 parts per trillion, according to data included in the suit. The maximum concentrations of the chemicals found in soil, which the EPA has not set limits for, were measured at 5,470 parts per billion — or 5,470,000 parts per trillion.
The Environmental Protection Agency caps certain forever chemicals at 10 parts per trillion in drinking water and two major chemicals, PFOA and PFOS, at 4 parts per trillion. There is no known “safe” level of exposure to forever chemicals, according to the agency.
The National Defense Authorization Act of 2020 required all military sites to discontinue the use of PFAS-containing foaming agents no later than October 2024, but the Department of Defense later waived that deadline to October 2025.
While the EPA has only outlined PFAS limits for drinking water, the agency released a risk assessment in January concluding there may be human health risks associated with the exposure to forever chemicals in biosolids fertilizer — or sewage sludge.
Johnson County officials recently issued a state of disaster requesting federal and state emergency funds to address farmland, livestock and water wells contaminated by biosolids fertilizer containing forever chemicals. The biosolids were produced and applied by Synagro using sewage from Fort Worth’s wastewater treatment plant. The company took over the city’s biosolids processing operations in 2020.
Five Johnson County farmers filed a 2024 civil lawsuit against Synagro after environmental crimes investigator Dana Ames found high levels of PFAS contamination in a farmer’s land and cattle. In the lawsuit, the farmers argued Synagro is liable for the deaths of animals and health issues allegedly caused by the company’s biosolids fertilizer.
Fort Worth is not listed as a plaintiff in the suit. Since February, City Council members have twice discussed the city’s biosolids contract with Synagro in closed executive sessions.
Nicole Lopez is the environment reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at nicole.lopez@fortworthreport.org.
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