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The Auburn City Council is set to consider whether or not to bring on a law firm to represent the city in class action litigation involving toxic chemicals.
A resolution up for a vote at Thursday’s council meeting would authorize hiring the law firm Napoli Shkolnik, PLLC to represent the city in a class action lawsuit against manufacturers of PFOAs, or Perfluorooctanoic acid. The resolution from the Auburn website notes PFOAs and PFOs, or Perfluorooctane Sulfonate, are known as “forever chemicals.” These chemicals break down slowly over time and last in human bodies and the environment for years.
The Environmental Protection Agency is “in the process of promulgating rules which will set the allowable threshold of these chemicals” at four parts per trillion, the resolution added, noting these regulations contain standard monitoring, treatment requirements and public notice. The city also said compliance will start “”three years after the rule is promulgated.”
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Auburn’s water supply is not threatened by PFOAs, but because of the persistence and ubiquity of these chemicals, Department of Municipal Utilities staff anticipate wastewater treatment measures beyond what are currently in place will be needed to comply with the incoming EPA rule. Recovering funds through class action lawsuits “against the manufacturers of these chemicals anticipates and addresses the potential costs of these additional measures,” the resolution said.
Napoli Shkolnik represented Auburn in national opioid class action, the resolution said, adding that the firm has “agreed to advocate for the recovery of funds pursuant to class action litigation on behalf of the City of Auburn on a contingency basis.”
Other resolutions set to go in front of council Thursday include approving the city’s 2023-24 budget, which has a proposed general fund of $45,117,898.
