Cass Lake, Minnesota – On September 25, 2025, the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe filed a lawsuit against 3M, BASF, DuPont, Tyco, and related companies for PFAS contamination in water supplies and natural resources on the Leech Lake Reservation.
Leech Lake initially identified PFAS contamination in the public water system at the Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig School, a tribally controlled Bureau of Indian Education (“BIE”) school operated by Leech Lake. The PFAS contamination at the Bug School was confirmed by the BIE and the Environmental Protection Agency during routine testing at the school. Leech Lake has also detected PFAS in its lakes, fish, and wild game, which threatens our Tribal citizens’ health and harms subsistence and cultural practices that are central to our Ojibwe lifeways.
In 2023 and 2024, the defendants in Leech Lake’s suit entered into separate nationwide settlements related to PFAS contamination in public water systems. Based on the number of people its water systems serve, Leech Lake could not have participated in many of these settlements. What’s more, the one prior settlement that Leech Lake could have participated in did not consider tribal interests, required a broad release of PFAS-related claims, and would not have adequately compensated Leech Lake for PFAS-related harms. Those trade-offs were not acceptable to the Band.
“For generations, our people have lived in balance with the land and the water—it’s part of who we are as Ojibwe,” said Leech Lake Tribal Chairman Faron Jackson Sr. “When powerful corporations put profit before people and knowingly poison that which sustains us, they must be held accountable. We will continue to stand up for our communities, our future generations, and for the protection of the natural world that our ancestors entrusted to us.”
The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe is committed to protecting and preserving the water, land, and sky that the Ojibwe people rely on for health, wellness, and spirituality. The corporations responsible for poisoning our water, land, and people must be held accountable for the damage they have caused in the name of profits for their shareholders. The products that have caused PFAS pollution were marketed as conveniences to make profits at the expense of the health of humans, animals, and the environment. The defendants in Leech Lake’s lawsuit knew the dangers PFAS posed to human health and the environment, and yet they continued to sell and distribute products containing PFAS. Leech Lake filed this suit to hold them accountable.