ALGOMA TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- Negotiations among Wolverine Worldwide, Plainfield and Algoma townships were going smoothly until Wolverine did an about face this week, according to Algoma Township Supervisor Kevin Green.
"Just this week, [Wolverine] told us that they are basically walking away from the negotiation table," Green said, who added that both townships are preparing to officially file a lawsuit.
Both townships want the company to pay for the installation of municipal water lines in PFAS-affected areas. Wolverine admitted to dumping hazardous waste decades ago. The waste contained PFAS, which contaminated well water.
"We gave [Wolverine] a couple of extensions already," Green explained. "So they had time to give us discovery and give us their input, and we gave them two extensions, and then they asked for another one."
"We pushed it and said, 'No, we don't want to give you another extension, because we really want shovels in the ground by 2019,'" he said.
Wolverine walked away because the company wants 3M, the maker of Scotchguard, which contained PFAS, to contribute to the project as well. "We're okay with them doing that," Green noted. "That's not the problem. The problem is they're saying they want it contingent upon [3M] paying some."
He added, "The litigation could take five, 10 years, if ever."
In its PFAS-related blog Tuesday, Wolverine reiterated they believe "multiple parties contributed to the water quality issues in our community, and that any solution must include all relevant parties."
Green said the time to include 3M has passed. "If Wolverine really wanted to get them involved, they should have added them to the suit a year ago, and they didn't. So, it's very frustrating to us," Green said. "Plainfield Township has spent half a million dollars getting the engineering plans and things in place on good faith. We all stuck ourselves out on a limb, on our word, and now Wolverine is not keeping their word."
Wolverine paid for water filtration systems for affected homes which are routinely checked for PFAS. However, Green said, the filtration systems are just a temporary fix.
FOX 17 reached out to Plainfield Township for comment on today's story. We were subsequently informed we were intentionally excluded from a press conference Tuesday morning because of prior reporting on this issue within Plainfield Township.
We will continue to follow this situation and will continue to bring you updates.
