The Michigan Supreme Court issued an order Friday returning an industry challenge to the state’s PFAS drinking water standards to a lower court.
A divided Supreme Court instructed the Michigan Court of Appeals to consider the fact that the chemical manufacturer 3M challenged a rule drafted in 2019 before the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy adopted final standards in 2020.
It’s a complicated case, but a central question is whether EGLE violated the Administrative Procedures Act because it did not come up with an estimate of cleanup costs for groundwater. The state argues 3M is demanding an impossible standard.
PFAS are a family of industrial chemicals linked to some types of cancer and other health issues.
If the rules are struck down, the state would have no enforceable limits on PFAS in drinking water.
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case last November.
Democratic Party-nominated Justices Richard Bernstein, Megan Cavanagh, Elizabeth Welch and Kyra Bolden voted to return the case to the appeals court while Republican Party-nominated Justices Elizabeth Clement and Brian Zahra would have let stand the appeals court decision in favor of 3M. Justice Kimberly Thomas abstained because she was not serving on the court when the oral arguments were heard last year.
