State officials tell committee PFAS settlements will cover only a sliver of cleanup costs

At an April 8 hearing of the House Capital Investment Committee, Oliver Larson, an assistant attorney general who manages the Environmental and Natural Resources Division, and Kirk Adelka, assistant commissioner at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, told lawmakers that multibillion-dollar national settlements over PFAS contamination will not be enough to fully fund local drinking-water projects.

The briefings came as several East Metro communities are seeking state aid to respond to PFAS contamination and related infrastructure needs.

Larson said two national settlements — one with DuPont and one with 3M — together make about $12 billion to $13 billion available to eligible water systems, but recovery will be slow and individual communities should not expect full funding. “I would be shocked if there's any community that's going to get more than about 10% of what they need to build the projects that they're contemplating,” Larson said. He added that a typical payout is likely to be closer to 3%–5% of project…