ST. PAUL, Minn. – The state Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has been containing “forever chemicals” from a contaminated Winona County landfill by separating them from other trash, according to Kirk Koudelka, the agency’s assistant commissioner. In effect, the poison percolates through solids, leaving leachates that then are sent to a waste-water treatment plant, Koudelka said. “This is having a good benefit to the groundwater in the surrounding area,” Koudelka told the Winona Daily News. Even so, he added, more funding is needed for further studies to determine the best way to remove PFAS from leachate, he said.
Koudelka. With the state pollution control agency since 2012. Focus is land policy and strategic initiatives.
Bibliography. Callie Lyons. “Stain-Resistant, Nonstick, Waterproof and Lethal: The Hidden Dangers of C8” (Praeger, 2007).
Nathaniel Rich. “ The Lawyer Who Became DuPont’s Worst Nightmare,” New York Times Magazine (January 6, 2016).
Filmography. The 2019 film “Dark Waters,” a legal thriller directed by Todd Haynes, tells how chemical manufacturer DuPont created a dump site with unregulated “forever chemicals” and contaminated a whole West Virginia town.
“Forever chems” profile
PFAS are manufactured chemicals that don’t break down in the human body and cause cancer and myriad diseased. Because are so dangerous PFAS no longer are manufactured, but they don’t go away. You can’t just bury them. Besides cancer, the indestructible contaminants cause liver damage, thyroid disease, decreased fertility, high cholesterol, and obesity.