Australia seeks record damages from 3M over forever chemicals at military bases

Australia filed a Federal Court case against 3M and its Australian unit seeking more than AU$2 billion (about $1.4 billion) to cover past and future costs from PFAS contamination from firefighting foams at 28 defense bases. The Department of Defence has already spent about AU$1.3 billion on cleanup, removing 200,000 metric tons of contaminated soil and treating 13 billion liters of water. 3M says it never manufactured PFAS in Australia and that these products were no longer sold there decades ago, while the government notes the defense department continued using PFAS-containing foams for nearly two decades after that.