State Nears Settlement with Johnson Controls/Tyco Over PFAS Spills

An aerial view of Tyco’s Fire Training Center in Marinette. The DNR has said it has data showing that wastewater containing PFAS came from the training center. The chemicals are known to build up in biosolids generated by treatment plants, which were then spread on farm fields. Photo courtesy of Johnson Controls International

A settlement is pending in the state’s case against a Marinette manufacturer of firefighting foam over alleged violations of the state’s spills law for failing to report PFAS contamination.

In March 2022, the Wisconsin Department of Justice sued Johnson Controls International and its subsidiary Tyco Fire Products. The lawsuit alleges Tyco failed to immediately notify the state of PFAS contamination in and around its fire training facility when it was first discovered through sampling in 2013. The company didn’t alert the state about release of the chemicals until four years later.

“We are pleased that the agreement we are finalizing with the state recognizes the work Tyco has taken proactively since 2017 in addressing PFAS and doing right by our neighbors,” a Tyco spokesperson said in a statement.

During a Nov. 26 update, an attorney for JCI/Tyco told a Marinette County judge documents are being finalized and a status conference has been set for Dec. 19. A spokesperson for the Wisconsin Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

From the 1960s until 2017, Tyco and its predecessor Ansul Company had used aqueous film forming foam that contained PFAS at its 380-acre fire technology center in Marinette.

Sampling revealed PFAS levels in groundwater as high as 254,000 parts per trillion. That’s tens of thousands of times higher than federal drinking water limits set by the Environmental Protection Agency last year.

Residents in the city of Marinette and the town of Peshtigo have long struggled with PFAS contamination of private wells stemming from Tyco’s facility. Sampling shows 236 of 776 wells tested by Tyco or the DNR have PFAS levels beyond state health advisory levels for groundwater, which mirror federal drinking water standards.

“We are far along in providing deep wells for clean, sustainable drinking water for those whose water may have been affected. In addition, our state-of-the-art groundwater extraction and treatment system has already treated hundreds of millions of gallons of water and will continue to return clean, safe water to the environment,” Tyco said in a statement.

More than 300 million gallons have been treated by Tyco’s groundwater extraction system since 2022. The system has reduced PFAS levels discharged to a nearby ditch or creek, but it has not eliminated the chemicals in groundwater. In September, the company said 141 out of 169 residents living nearby the fire training facility have asked it to drill a deep well to secure safe water.

The state has also sued JCI/Tyco and other companies to recover costs from cleaning up PFAS contamination. In 2022, the town of Peshtigo also sued Tyco and others. Both cases were moved to U.S. District Court in South Carolina as part of multidistrict litigation involving thousands of cases over PFAS contamination from firefighting foam.

Last year, Tyco settled a lawsuit filed by public water systems for $750 million. The company also reached a $17.5 million settlement with Peshtigo residents, covering roughly 270 homes in the area facing contamination.

Settlement nears in Wisconsin lawsuit against Tyco, Johnson Controls over PFAS was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.