IRON MOUNTAIN — Law firms that represented Dickinson County in opioid litigation will now pursue possible claims against manufacturers of products containing “forever chemicals.”

Notably for the county, perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, were used for decades in firefighting foams. Sampling at Ford Airport in Kingsford has shown PFAS exceeding groundwater cleanup criteria at two locations — a former training area and where a plane crashed in 1980.

PFAS have also been found in groundwater at the closed Central Landfill east of Hydraulic Falls Road in Breitung Township and the closed Grede Landfill in Kingsford, according to the Michigan PFAS Action Response team. MPART is a multi-agency team that is coordinating state resources to address PFAS contamination.

The law firms named in an agreement the county board approved Monday are Baron & Budd, P.C.; Cossich, Sumich, Parsiola & Taylor L.L.C.; and Smith & Johnson Attorneys, P.C. They will provide services seeking damages, compensation and other relief.

Having legal representation provides protection in meeting any costs associated with PFAS contamination, county board members said. There is no upfront cost to the county in the PFAS litigation, Controller Brian Bousley said.

The attorneys would receive a contingency fee of 25% of any gross recovery before the deduction of costs and expenses. Dickinson County’s share of opioid lawsuit settlement distributions has been roughly estimated at nearly $1.7 million.

According to MPART, a grant was awarded in 2020 to conduct a PFAS investigation based on the historical use of firefighting foams at the county airport. Nineteen private drinking wells were identified in the area near the presumed direction of groundwater flow. Of the 11 residents who elected to have their wells sampled, seven were non-detect for PFAS while four had detections described by MPART as “below criteria.”

Both the Menominee River and Cowboy Lake were non-detect for PFAS in surface water samples taken during the same investigation. There has been no update for Ford Airport on the the Michigan PFAS Action Response Team website since 2022.

PFAS have been used globally during the past century in manufacturing, firefighting and thousands of common household and other consumer products. The chemicals are persistent in the environment and in the human body — meaning they don’t break down and can accumulate over time. They have been potentially linked to certain cancers and other health issues.

Public water supplies covered under the Michigan Safe Drinking Water Act are regularly sampled for the presence of PFAS compounds. For private wells, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy works with local units of government and agencies to evaluate which homes need to be sampled.

Under a 2024 action by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, water providers were given three years to test for PFAS. They would also need to tell the public if results are too high. Utilities would then have two more years to install treatment.

The EPA has estimated that 6% to 10% of water systems will have levels above its new limits.