If you pollute, you sometimes pay. Following the $1.185 million agreements announced earlier this month by Chemours, DuPont and Corteva, it was the manufacturing and chemical giant 3M this Thursday that settled out of court to pay up to $12.5 billion for water pollution with its perfluoroalkyls (PFAS), a group of chemical substances that do not decompose and can accumulate over time, which can have harmful effects on human health.

3M said in a statement that the payouts will be made over a 13-year period and the current value is $10.3 billion. This implies that the actual payouts will be a higher amount, which plaintiffs have estimated at $12.5 billion. 3M itself admits in filings with the Market and Stock Exchange Commission (SEC) that it expects the final figure to rise to that 12,500 million (about $12,000 million at current exchange rates).

The agreement provides that 3M will make annual payments from 2024 to 2036. The final amount may vary somewhat and depends on various factors, most notably which of the plaintiffs and like-minded individuals are entitled to compensation if they test positive for contamination.

The full text of the 45-page agreement has been filed with the SEC. The agreement gives 3M the option to terminate it if the number of plaintiffs and employees who qualify for awards but choose not to participate and sue alone exceeds certain thresholds. In the text, 3M expressly admits no fault or wrongdoing and does not waive a defense.

“This historic settlement is the highest amount ever paid by a single company to resolve a lawsuit related to contaminated drinking water and represents critical compensation to protect our nation’s drinking water supply and improve our water treatment infrastructure to address this new threat.” to face,” said Paul Napoli, a plaintiffs’ attorney who negotiated the compensation, said in a statement. “This agreement sends a clear signal that companies like 3M must take responsibility for the consequences of the chemicals they produce,” he added.

3M has avoided a lawsuit scheduled to begin this month in Charleston, South Carolina. By the time it was suspended, it was already revealed that it was because a multimillion-dollar out-of-court settlement had been reached, for which there was no confirmation as of this Thursday.

According to 3M, the agreement, subject to court approval, will provide funding for PFAS purification technologies to drinking water utilities across the country without the need for further litigation, including those that may prove PFAS in the future. The agreement provides funding for water utilities to test for PFAS.

Also resolves water film-forming foam (AFFF) pollution litigation in Charleston, South Carolina. This fire extinguishing agent contained pollutants and was used in numerous tests before it was found to permanently contaminate the water. According to the plaintiffs, 3M was the only company that manufactured and sold AFFF containing perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), a particularly harmful type of PFAS that studies have linked to an increased risk of cancer and other serious diseases.

Impact on Results

“This is significant progress for 3M that builds on our actions, including our announced phase-out of PFOA and PFOS manufacturing more than 20 years ago and our recent investments in state-of-the-art water filtration technology in our chemical manufacturing operations, and our announcement, that we will cease all PFAS production by the end of 2025,” said Mike Roman, 3M chairman and chief executive officer, in a statement.

3M will record a pre-tax charge of approximately $10.3 billion for second quarter 2023 results. That means the company is going to lose not just for the quarter, but most likely for the year as a whole. In 2022, it made a profit of $5.777 million.

Researchers have found that PFAS, an industrial product used since the 1950s in products ranging from computer chips and non-stick pans to cosmetics and fire-fighting foam, never naturally degrades. They remain in the water or in the body unless removed or destroyed by incineration or new technologies. The US Environmental Protection Agency claims that PFAS are linked to developmental delays in children and an increased risk of cancer, although 3M denies this.

3M is the leading manufacturer of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances. The out-of-court settlement covers claims by local water utilities, but does not protect the company from claims by federal prosecutors for river and stream pollution, allegations by the federal government, claims for personal injury and property damage, or other class action lawsuits. Some analysts put the global liability 3M could face at tens of billions of dollars. The company said Thursday it “will continue to address other PFAS litigation, defending in court or through negotiated resolutions, as appropriate.”

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RECEIVE IT BY MAIL

The former driver of Pablo Neruda, whose testimony was crucial to the thesis of the assassination of the Nobel Prize winner in literature in 1973, has died in Chile at the age of 77, the Chilean Communist Party said on Wednesday.

“Manuel Araya’s testimony, his management and his courage were crucial to the existence of the elements that gave rise to the lawsuit that the party, with his family, presented over the poet’s death,” reads a press release from the Communist Party. It said the former driver died Tuesday in the city of San Antonio, west of Santiago.

The hypothesis of an assassination of the 1971 Nobel Prize winner in 1973 surfaced in 2011 following the revelations of Manuel Araya, a then-young activist whom the Chilean Communist Party had appointed as the writer’s assistant and driver, himself a member of the left.

Until then, the official version was that the poet died of prostate cancer on September 23, 1973.

According to this scientifically unexplained theory, Pablo Neruda would have succumbed to a mysterious injection given to him the day before he left for Mexico, where he intended to go into exile to lead the opposition to the Pinochet regime (1973-1990). .

“Neruda was a threat to Pinochet […] “Pinochet was not interested in (Neruda) leaving the country for any reason,” Manuel Araya declared last February to insist on the version of the assassination.

Despite having supported the assassination thesis for almost forty years, it was not until June 2011 that the PC called for a judicial inquiry that allowed for the exhumation and toxicological analyses.

However, the panel of experts investigating the poet’s mysterious death could not determine whether or not his death was due to poisoning.

The bacterium Clostridium botulinum “was present at the time of his death, but we still don’t know why. We just know it shouldn’t be there,” said Hendrik and Debi Poinar of Canada’s McMaster University, both members of the panel submitted its findings to the Chilean judge in charge of the case in February.

James Cameron was informed within 24 hours of the Titanic submarine’s disappearance that it had been heard imploding and he “did this whole sort of search over the next few days, with everyone running around with their hair on fire, observed with full force.’ Well that was futile.’

The film director and deep-sea expert, who has made over 30 dives to the wreck of the Titanic, said he was told Monday that the noise of a probable implosion had been picked up by underwater acoustic equipment.

“I tracked down some information that was probably military in origin, although it could also be for research purposes – because there are hydrophones all over the Atlantic – and got confirmation that there were loud noises indicative of an implosion,” said he told CNN.

He said he wasn’t surprised as he felt the OceanGate Expedition submarine’s carbon fiber hull, named Titan, was fundamentally unsuitable.

Cameron, director of the hit 1997 film Titanic, said his dives were conducted in a ceramic submarine, which was better able to withstand the intense underwater pressure.

James Cameron told Anderson Cooper on Thursday night that he wasn’t surprised the submersible had imploded – and learned of its probable fate within 24 hours

OceanGate Expeditions is one of the few companies offering these tours. Tickets cost up to $250,000

Cameron told Anderson Cooper Thursday night that he was “a little bit heartbreaking” about the result.

But he said he’s had more time than most to grapple with it.

“I’ve been living with this for a few days now, as have some of my peers in the deep submergence community,” he said.

“I was on a ship myself when this happened on Sunday.

“The first time I heard about it was on Monday morning.” I immediately checked into my network – as it’s a very small community in the deep submergence group – and learned within half an hour that they were the had lost communication and tracking at the same time.

“The only scenario I could think of that could explain this was an implosion.” “A shock wave event so powerful it actually destroyed a secondary system that has its own pressure vessel and battery power supply. This is the transponder that the ship uses to track where the submarine is.”

Cameron, 68, said he began speaking to friends and colleagues in the deepwater industry and quickly learned there was little doubt a catastrophic implosion had occurred.

“I have shared with everyone in my inner circle that we have lost our comrades and I have encouraged everyone to raise a glass in their honor on Monday.”

“Then over the next few days I watched this whole type of search, with everyone running around with their hair on fire, knowing it was futile, in the unnatural hope that I was wrong, but I knew that in my heart of hearts It was not me.’

Cameron said it “certainly came as no surprise” when the US Coast Guard and OceanGate confirmed on Thursday that all five on board were dead and wreckage from the imploded submarine was found on the seabed.

He said he had terrible sympathy for the families, saying they were having to “live through these false hopes that kept faltering over time.”

And he said he felt the team behind OceanGate was being ruthless.

“Here’s a clear case today where the collective didn’t remember the lesson from Titanic – these people at OceanGate didn’t,” he said.

“I just find it heartbreaking that it was so avoidable.”

Cameron told Cooper that the carbon fiber hull used by the OceanGate team was not suitable.

Stockton Rush, who founded the company in 2009 and was one of the fatalities, claimed he worked with Boeing, NASA and the University of Washington on the design, but all three have since denied any involvement.

Cameron said he was skeptical when he heard that OceanGate was building a deep-sea submersible with a carbon fiber and titanium composite hull.

“I thought it was a terrible idea. I wish I had spoken up but I assumed someone was smarter than me, you know, because I’ve never experimented with this technology, but at first glance it just sounded bad,” he told Portal on Thursday .

The cause of Titan’s implosion is unclear, but Cameron reckons the critics were right when they warned that a carbon fiber and titanium hull would allow for delamination and microscopic water infiltration, which would increase over time would lead to progressive failure.

Other industry experts and a whistleblower worker sounded the alarm in 2018, criticizing OceanGate for opting out of certification and refusing to operate as a test vessel.

OceanGate has not responded to recent questions about its decision not to seek third-party certification from the industry, such as the American Bureau of Shipping or European company DNV.

At the time, they said that certification was too long a process and would slow down their innovation.

The five deaths are the first deep-sea deaths for the industry, Cameron said.

The industry standard is to make pressure hulls out of cohesive materials like steel, titanium, ceramic or acrylic, which are better suited for conducting tests, Cameron said.

“We’re celebrating innovation, aren’t we?” “But you shouldn’t use a test vehicle for paying passengers who aren’t deep-sea engineers themselves,” Cameron said.

Cameron said both the Titanic and Titan tragedies were preceded by unheeded warnings.

In the case of the Titanic, the captain raced across the Atlantic on a moonless night despite being told of icebergs.

“Here they are again,” Cameron said.

‘And in the same place.’ Now one wreck lies next to another for the same damn reason.’

The Nova Kakhovka Dam on June 5th. Maxar Technologies/Handout via Portal

• In early June, the destruction of a dam caused flooding along the Dnieper River in southern Ukraine.

• Russia is suspected of destroying the dam to disrupt Ukrainian military operations in the region.

• But the flooding altered nearby shorelines and waterways, which could ultimately benefit Ukrainian forces.

In early June, explosions ruptured the Nova Kakhovka Dam and hydroelectric power station, releasing a multi-billion-gallon reservoir and flooding cities along the Dnieper River in southern Ukraine.

The demolition of the Soviet-designed dam appears to have been orchestrated by Russian forces, likely to deny Ukrainian troops access to nearby territory as their long-awaited counteroffensive began.

But the flow of water flowing down the Dnieper towards the important city of Kherson has altered the surrounding waterways and forced the Russian military to withdraw from certain locations.

A changed coastline, a larger sea area and fewer Russian troops could benefit Ukraine. In fact, the destruction of the dam could be crucial for Ukraine’s special forces.

A “playground” for special operations

Ukrainian troops guard a flooded area in Kherson June 8.Maxym Marusenko/NurPhoto via Getty Images

The rapid draining of the reservoir has uncovered remnants of past battles, including a human skull apparently wearing a WWII-era German helmet. Downriver there are now tens of thousands of acres of new naval battlespace.

The Russian military has already had to move troops out of the area in response to Ukrainian attacks elsewhere, and patrolling and protecting the new coastline will pose another challenge for Russian forces – and a potential opportunity for Ukraine.

“While Russia now sees the terrain south of Kherson as safe, Ukrainian special forces should see an opportunity. With a new coastline and fewer opposing forces, the southern Kherson region could become a special operations playground,” said Timothy Heck and Zachary Griffiths, both US military officers, writing in an article for the Modern War Institute at West Point.

The story goes on

A flooded residential area in Kherson on June 8. Alex Babenko/Getty Images

New and larger waterways will make it easier for Ukrainian special forces to transport men and equipment by boat. According to Heck and Griffiths, with easier access, Ukrainian commandos operating from the Kherson area could use drones and missiles to threaten Russian communications and supply lines to Crimea.

Ukrainian troops in the region could also use shoulder-launched missiles to threaten Russian planes flying to and from Crimea, potentially forcing them to use longer routes instead.

“With Russia drawing significant support from Crimea, disrupting communications through increased special operations in South Kherson could certainly aid Ukraine’s counteroffensive,” Heck and Griffiths write.

Ukrainian troops and volunteers evacuate a flooded area in Kherson June 8.GENYA SAVILOV/AFP via Getty Images

Ukrainian special forces have been very actively involved in the ongoing Kiev counter-offensive in the Donbass region and southern Ukraine.

A recent video appears to show commandos from Ukraine’s 73rd Naval Center of Special Operations, a secret Navy SEAL-like unit, clearing a Russian trench and killing several Russian soldiers during fighting in southern Ukraine.

In addition to direct operations, Ukrainian special forces have also used disposable attack drones to disrupt and weaken Russian forces by destroying heavy weapons, including main battle tanks, artillery pieces and armored personnel carriers.

But soon Ukrainian commandos could support an amphibious operation in southern Ukraine.

Commandos and amphibious operations of Ukraine

The collapsed Antonovskiy Bridge over the Dnieper River in the city of Kherson, seen after the withdrawal of Russian troops in November. Narciso Contreras/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Ukrainian military leaders have certainly contemplated a major amphibious operation across the Dnieper. Recent security aid shows that Ukraine’s NATO partners had similar thoughts.

In March, the White House approved a military-aid package that included armored-vehicle-launched bridges and heavy-duty systems that move with armored columns, allowing them to cross rivers, streams, trenches and trenches.

What makes armored vehicle-launched bridges particularly useful is their ability to detach and re-deploy across another obstacle.

During an exercise in January 1985, an armored vehicle launched M60 bridge is laid across the German Lahn river. US Department of Defense/Tech Sgt. Boyd Belcher

Germany also provided 23 Beaver armored bridges and 20 heavy and medium bridge systems. In addition, the UK has launched an “urgent bidding round” to the industry for medium girder bridges, bridge launchers and reusable bridges capable of supporting Ukraine’s new M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, as well as Ukraine’s Challenger 2 and Leopard 2 tanks.

Should the Ukrainian military conduct an amphibious operation in Kherson or Crimea, naval commandos will play a key role in scouting, surveying and clearing potential beaches. They could also be used to distract Russian forces with diversionary attacks elsewhere on the battlefield.

Ukraine’s counteroffensive is still in its early stages, but judging from what has been seen so far, special forces will play a crucial role in Kiev’s push to liberate its country and people.

Stavros Atlamazoglou is a defense journalist specializing in special operations, a veteran of the Hellenic Army (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army Headquarters) and a graduate of Johns Hopkins University. He is pursuing a master’s degree in Strategy and Cybersecurity from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Read the original article on Business Insider