Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser filed a lawsuit Monday against 15 manufacturers of a firefighting foam that contains toxic chemicals and contaminated water throughout the state, Weiser’s office announced in a news release.

The complaint alleges that companies including E.I. du Pont De Nemours and Company, DowDuPont, Inc., and Dupont De Nemours, Inc., among others, manufactured, distributed, marketed and sold firefighting foam that contained PFAS or “forever chemicals,” knowing, or should have known, that PFAS chemicals harm the environment and human health, according to the release.

PFAS chemicals build up in living organisms, and high levels of PFAS chemicals are associated with serious diseases and increased risk of cancer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Forever chemicals grabbed headlines in El Paso County in 2016 when Gazette reporting showed the Air Force continued to use firefighting foam despite research, going back decades, that it could be harmful. The firefighting foam contaminated groundwater used by Widefield, Security and Fountain — water providers that have since taken steps to ensure drinking water is safe.

Polis signs bills at Colorado Springs fire station to protect state residents from toxic foam effects

In June 2020, Gov. Jared Polis signed two bills he said would help protect Coloradans from the effects of a toxic foam used in firefighting. One bill required agencies using PFAS chemicals to register with the state within six months of obtaining the chemicals. It also set standards for the capture and disposal of the chemicals, as well as penalties for failing to register and/or capture and dispose.

The attorney general’s lawsuit seeks to require manufacturers of the chemicals to pay for “all costs to investigate, clean up, restore and monitor contamination at all sites in the state where PFAS-containing (aqueous film forming foam) was used, released, spilled, stored or disposed of.”

“In 2019, DuPont de Nemours was established as a new multi-industrial specialty products company,” said Daniel Turner, head of the company’s media relations. “DuPont de Nemours has never manufactured or sold (aqueous film forming foam). We believe this complaint is without merit, and is the latest example of DuPont being improperly named in litigation. We fully expect this suit will be transferred to the South Carolina MDL, where we look forward to vigorously defending our record of safety, health and environmental stewardship.”

This is first lawsuit brought by the attorney general during this ongoing investigation, and there may be more legal action to come, the release said.

SPECIAL REPORT – TOXIC LEGACY: Air Force studies dating back decades show danger of foam that contaminated local water