Cleanup system approved for 'forever chemicals' in groundwater beneath Tyco Fire Products facility in Marinette

Laura Schulte
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A company known for mixing firefighting foam containing "forever chemicals" in northeastern Wisconsin is aiming to reduce the amount of contamination in the soil beneath its facility, but it won't be able to eliminate the hazardous compounds completely. 

Tyco Fire Products, a subsidiary of Johnson Controls, will begin work on a groundwater extraction treatment system this year, according to conditional approval it received from the state Department of Natural Resources. The system is expected to be built and start cleaning water by the end of the year. 

The system will remove water from the ground underneath the company's property via extraction wells, according to a DNR release, and will be fed into a treatment system building on the property. The treated water will then be released into what is known on the site as Ditch B, near Pierce Avenue in Marinette. 

Ditch B, near the Tyco Fire Products facility in Marinette. The ditch is being treated for PFAS contamination.

Though the system will reduce the amount of PFAS in the groundwater below the facility, it will not completely rid the water of the compound, according to the DNR. The treatment system will focus only on the contaminants below and to the east of the facility, but will not address the larger contaminant plume that includes hundreds of homes and private wells. 

"Additional work will be required of JCI/Tyco to address other areas of contamination," the DNR said in the approval release. 

As a part of the conditional approval, the company will be required to complete a series of actions before it can fully implement the treatment system, including: obtaining required permits for high-capacity well and wetlands, monitoring ground and surface water, complete a commissioning plan and revise its long-term plan to track the performance of the system.

The company will also be required to host a public meeting to let surrounding residents know how the system will work and how it will affect the overall PFAS contamination. 

None of the conditions are expected to delay the construction or implementation of the system, said Alyssa Sellwood, a hydrogeologist program coordinator with the DNR, during a listening session about the Marinette site Wednesday. 

In a statement, Kathleen Cantillon, the director of environmental communications for Johnson Controls, said the approval will allow the company to move forward with the most important phase of remediation: the removal of PFAS. 

"We are pleased that we are aligned with WDNR on the path forward," Cantillon said in the statement. 

Sellwood said that the conditional approval of the treatment system is just the first in a series of several steps that will be needed to remediate the area polluted around the Tyco plant. 

"This is an excellent first step, but it may not be the only thing that needs to get done in order to restore the environment here," she said. "But it's really an important big first step."

Sellwood said that JCI/Tyco will also begin to remove contaminated soil from its fire testing center this year. The soil will be sent by train to a Waste Management site in Arlington, Oregon. At 30 trainloads per week, removal from the site will likely take 10 to 15 weeks.

PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of man-made chemicals used for their water- and stain-resistant qualities in products including clothing and carpet, nonstick cookware, packaging and firefighting foam.

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The chemicals are persistent, remaining both in the environment and human body over time. Accumulation of the chemicals in the body has been linked to cancer, studies have shown, or other adverse health effects. The chemicals have also shown up in fish and deer, for which the DNR has issued advisories. 

PFAS have been found in water across the state, including 52 sites of fires where PFAS-containing foam was used to put out the flames, landfills and spill sites.

The state's worst contamination is in Marinette and Peshtigo, originating in the area around the Tyco Fire Products testing facility, which was used to test firefighting foam for years before the practice was ended in 2017. 

Tyco Fire Product operates a fire technology center in Marinette where chemicals used in firefighting foam have been found in groundwater.

The contamination in Marinette and Peshtigo requires remediation and that drinking water be delivered to several homeowners who can no longer safely consume water from their wells. In 2019, Johnson Controls, Tyco's parent company, said it was setting aside $140 million for cleanup. Part of that money is what will be used to help remediate water and soil in Peshtigo, according to company representatives. 

The company in January reached a settlement with over 270 households in Peshtigo over the contamination, agreeing to provide $17.5 million. Of that money, $15 million will be allocated for class-wide claims, such as property damage, while $2.5 million will be allocated for people who have been diagnosed with testicular cancer, kidney cancer, ulcerative colitis, thyroid disease and preeclampsia. 

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The company has also been referred by the DNR to the state Department of Justice, alleging the company waited four years to report the release of hazardous chemicals at its plant in Marinette. That release resulted in residents unknowingly drinking water that was contaminated for years. 

More recently, the company has pushed back against the DNR after the agency called for testing more private wells in the Peshtigo area. The company said the DNR had not worked to identify other parties that could be responsible for the contamination. The DNR ended up paying for the testing late last year, and PFAS were found in wells, some at levels above the state Department of Health's recommended combined standard of 20 parts per trillion. 

Laura Schulte can be reached at leschulte@jrn.com and on Twitter at @SchulteLaura