Williamtown in NSW is one of the 28 defence base communities impacted by PFAS contamination. (ABC News: Ben Clifford\u00a0)<\/p>\n
The legal teams for the Commonwealth and chemical manufacturer 3M discuss the complexities of a $2 billion suit over PFAS contamination.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The federal government is seeking to recoup the costs of remediating 28 defence bases across Australia.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The matter will return to court in October.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A Federal Court judge has described the Commonwealth's $2 billion lawsuit against the chemical manufacturing company 3M over PFAS contamination at defence bases as "daunting".<\/p>\n
During the first case management hearing in Federal Court today the two parties agreed the Australian government's claim was "large and complex".<\/p>\n
It heard a 1,600 page statement of claim has been filed about alleged soil and water contamination at 28 defence bases across Australia, where firefighting foam containing PFAS chemicals was used.<\/p>\n
Justice Catherine Button told the court sitting in Melbourne she had "never seen a claim like this \u2026 and to characterise it as daunting would be an understatement, daunting for everybody".<\/p>\n
3M Company has manufactured PFAS chemicals since the 1950s.\u00a0 (Supplied: 3M)<\/p>\n
In March the Commonwealth announced it was seeking damages from US-based chemical manufacturer 3M and 3M Australia.<\/p>\n
It the largest legal claim ever brought by the federal government, attempting to recoup the costs associated with investigating, managing and remediating contamination from the legacy use of AFFF firefighting foam.<\/p>\n
It alleges the company withheld the results of its own environmental laboratory testing that shows there were significant adverse environmental effects associated with its PFAS products.<\/p>\n
3M released a statement saying "we will defend ourselves against these claims through legal process", and despite ceasing the sale of the products at issue in Australia two decades ago the Department of Defence continued to use them.<\/p>\n
The Commonwealth is seeking damages from the manufacturer of a firefighting foam that contaminated 28 defence bases. (ABC News)<\/p>\n
3M has faced a number of lawsuits over PFAS contamination across the globe.<\/p>\n