Wisconsin lawmakers approved $10 million in state funding Sept. 1 to address PFAS contamination in northeastern Wisconsin, directing money from a settlement with Tyco Fire Products to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR).
The Joint Committee on Finance (JFC) unanimously approved releasing the funds to the WDNR and Evers Administration as part of a civil settlement against Tyco, alleging the fire product company violated Wisconsin’s spills law and contaminated the water supply in northeastern Wisconsin with PFAS chemicals for decades.
PFAS, widely known as “forever chemicals,” are found in countless products. The chemicals are nicknamed due to how long it takes for them to break down in the environment.
The June 2026 settlement, State of Wisconsin v. Tyco Fire Products LP, was one of the first major efforts to hold polluters accountable for using “forever chemicals.” The settlement money will go to the PFAS Trust Fund, established in 2023, which guarantees PFAS settlement money will go toward relief efforts.
The settlement funding will ensure clean drinking water for affected residents in areas such as Marinette and Peshtigo.
“We appreciate the Joint Committee on Finance’s fast bipartisan action to release the funds Tyco paid into the PFAS Trust Fund as part of a settlement with the State,” the WDNR said in a statement to The Daily Cardinal. The WDNR plans to use these funds in line with priorities identified by the community during public input opportunities.”
The WDNR said one of the top concerns communities raised was safe drinking water and private wells contaminated with PFAS, which they said they will address with the new settlement funds.
“This is a big step in the right direction, and the DNR will continue to collaborate with local leaders and communities to ensure we get these funds out the door and to the impacted communities to address their most urgent needs in a timely fashion,” Gov. Tony Evers said in a press release.
Gavin Dehnert, who works at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Aquatic Sciences Center and is a member of UW-Madison’s PFAS Working Group, said researchers are still learning about how PFAS affect wildlife and ecosystems.
“We're at the very beginning of our understanding about the impacts of PFAS on our wildlife and our ecosystems,” Dehnert told the Cardinal.
There are around 15,000 different kinds of these chemicals, and researchers are still working to identify and locate them across the state.
“PFOA and PFOS, we know more about. Those ones at high levels can cause health effects for humans and animals,” Dehnert said.
High levels of POFA and PFOS have been attributed to high cholesterol, decreased antibody response and different kinds of cancers.
“I think [the relief money is] a great start, but the world of PFAS is very expensive,” Dehnert said.
A single sample to test for PFAS can cost anywhere from $500 to $600, Dehnert said. Even once PFAS is located, he added, the cost to remediate and remove it from lake systems is even more expensive. Dehnert said the chemical then needs to be destroyed and disposed of elsewhere.
“It's kind of this never-ending cycle,” Dehnert said.
Dehnert said UW-Madison’s PFAS Working Group is still finding new areas with high levels of PFAS in Wisconsin, and the group has to find where the PFAS are before figuring out the disposal process.
Dehnert said the long-term effects of PFAS on the ecosystem are unclear.
“We live in Wisconsin, we have all these beautiful lake ecosystems and animals and plants and everything that's out there,” Dehnert said. “What are these high levels of PFAS doing to them?”
Staff Writer
