A Georgia environmental advocacy group and a farm owner have launched a legal battle against 3M Co., DuPont de Nemours Inc., and other key players in the state’s carpeting industry, holding them responsible for the widespread pollution of the Conasauga River with dangerous “forever chemicals.”
The Allegations: Decades of PFAS Contamination
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Georgia federal court, the Coosa River Basin Initiative, Raymond J. Perkins Jr., and J. Perkins Farms LLC argue that chemical manufacturers, including 3M, DuPont, Chemours Co., and Corteva Inc., were fully aware of the hazardous nature of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) for more than 30 years.
Despite this knowledge, the lawsuit claims, these companies continued supplying PFAS-based chemicals to carpet manufacturers in Dalton, Georgia—the so-called “Carpet Capital of the World”—without ensuring proper environmental safeguards to prevent contamination.
Carpet Industry’s Role in River Pollution
For years, Dalton-based carpet manufacturers, including Shaw Industries Inc. and Mohawk Industries Inc., incorporated tens of millions of pounds of PFAS-laced chemicals into their products for water and stain resistance. However, not all the chemicals adhered to the carpets, leading to an unchecked discharge into the environment.
