According to Judge Thomas W. Thrash Jr.’s ruling the Town of Trion and Mount Vernon Mills can be named in a lawsuit filed by Summerville resident, and former city councilman Earl Parris, Jr.   Parris filed the suit saying Summerville’s water supply had been contaminated by PFAS that were originally made by 3M corporation and used by Mount Vernon Mills in Trion.

The suit says that the PFAS went through the Town of Trion’s wastewater treatment plant and ended up in the Chattooga River or was disposed of as sludge in the Racoon Creek watershed where the City of Summerville gets its water supply.

Trion had argued that they could not be held liable because their treatment plant was operating within the terms of their permit.  However, that permit does not have any conditions related to PFAS, according to the Federal judge’s ruling.

The Federal court did say that it needs more information to determine if PFAS sludge is the “functional equivalent of a direct discharge” that requires a permit.