Research and data analysis contributions by Sunlight Research Center’s Jonmaesha Beltran and Seraphina Feron.
Spokane County Commissioner Al French, who has been accused of covering up “forever chemicals” contamination in West Plains groundwater, reported in his financial affairs disclosure forms stock investments in three companies that manufacture products containing the chemicals.
In his 2024 campaign disclosures with the Washington Public Disclosure Commission (PDC), French reported between $0 and $29,999 of investments in each of the following companies: the Chemours Company, DuPont and Corteva, Inc. Each manufactures or has subsidiaries that allegedly manufacture the fire-fighting foam whose active ingredients are some forms of a family of chemicals called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which have been found in aquifers that provide drinking water to people in French’s district. Those chemicals are increasingly thought to be linked to deadly diseases, including some cancers.
DuPont carries a statement on its website denying the manufacture of the foam; however, this is misleading. According to a report by the National Sea Grant Law Center, a national environmental research partnership between universities and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the corporation sold it through Chemours, a DuPont subsidiary until 2015. Last year, the three companies settled a class-action lawsuit over drinking water contamination for $1.185 billion.
For decades, Fairchild Air Force Base and Spokane International Airport (SIA) used a foam called aqueous film forming foam (AFFF), which is similar to that manufactured by the companies French is invested in. Its use was required by federal regulations for fighting jet fuel fires. Not knowing the AFFF was toxic to human health at that time, firefighters washed it into the soil after training or cleaning equipment, and it sank into the groundwater.
In an email to RANGE, French explained that his stocks had belonged to his mother. His full statement reads: “My PDC filing for my last campaign listed several stocks. These stocks are in my mother’s estate which is still in probate. I am a beneficiary in her will and will receive these stocks when the probate is closed. While I technically do not ‘own’ the stocks yet I will when probate is closed so they are a ‘pending asset.’ I listed them in an effort to be fully transparent. I do not have the ability to sell the stocks until they are fully transferred to me. When that happens I have every intention to sell the stocks that you refer to as well as others in her estate and reinvest into other companies.”
SIA, whose board French sits on as vice chair, found PFAS in the groundwater under the airport, which is connected to private wells used for drinking water in the rural areas between Spokane and Airway Heights in 2017. From 2018 to 2020, he held a member position; from 2020 to 2022, he was the board secretary. But the airport did not tell anyone about that contamination, even when state law began requiring disclosure in 2021. French learned of the contamination in 2017 along with the airport and the entire airport board, he said in a public meeting last summer.
French also sat on the Spokane Regional Health District Board and chairs the board of S3R3 Solutions, a “client-centered firm” that is publicly funded and privately managed — formerly known as the West Plains/Airport Area Public Development Authority — that works closely with the airport to bring economic activity to the West Plains.
John Hancock, a West Plains resident and founder of the West Plains Water Coalition, which advocates for clean water for his neighbors whose wells are contaminated with PFAS, said makers of PFAS products had no way of knowing their products were toxic. That’s because chemical manufacturers 3M and DuPont hid from the public view internal research suggesting exposure to PFAS could kill people, a saga that has spurred decades of class action litigation.
“I think if you swim upstream in the class action suit, you’ll see how successful 3M and DuPont were about hiding the science from the resellers of their poisonous product,” Hancock said. “So the manufacturers of the fire extinguishers, for instance, were not knowingly selling a dangerous product, in my opinion.”
Asked about the stock investments French reported, Hancock said, “It may be true, but I don’t think it’s conversation-worthy.”
SIA was forced to reveal its well test results that showed several wells on the airport campus were contaminated in 2023 through a public records request by a concerned West Plains resident. The person gave the test results to the Washington Department of Ecology, which initiated and is now overseeing a cleanup of the site conducted under a state-mandated process.
As RANGE has reported, between 2017 and SIA’s release of the test results, French and SIA CEO Larry Krauter lobbied in Olympia against legislation that would have banned the use of PFAS-containing aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF).
Some citizens and activists see Krauter’s and French’s nondisclosure of the contamination as a coverup. It became a potent campaign issue in 2024 after French proposed an ambitious plan to pipe water to every contaminated household from the Spokane River. French won the election, beating his opponent, Molly Marshall, 52% to 48%.
Jason Grant, the director of Advocacy at the ICMA, an international nonprofit that fights for ethics and integrity in local governments, said public officials who sit on multiple bodies, as French has for many years, can be restricted from disclosing information pertinent to the public good by conflicting interests on the different boards.
“ Elected officials may be totally aware” of something that affects their constituencies, Grant said in an interview. “But they’re not allowed to say anything to the public because of greater concern. … When we get to ethics, ‘Can I disclose this to the public or not?’ Because now I have an ethical obligation in terms of my role with the organization of what I’m allowed to do or not, and that creates a different type of ethical dilemma.”
Addressing investments held by public officials — but not commenting directly on French’s investments — Grant said the ethical purpose of disclosing information pertinent to people’s lives is a matter of building trust with a constituency.
“How do we build trust?” Grant said in an interview. “When it comes to where people are invested, there’s generally disclosure forms. If you make over a certain amount, you have to. But then from an ethics perspective, you always want to be aware of your financial investments. Where are even friends’ and families’? Where do they work? Even if it is not a conflict for me to make an informed decision or to take action equitably and fairly, is there a potential that the public may see it in a certain light, and should I disclose that so people are aware?”
Spokane County is establishing a clean water task force that will work to get filters for wells contaminated with PFAS, which is the first action the county has taken to address the crisis since the contamination was discovered. Fairchild, Ecology and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have been testing wells and will install filters on contaminated ones. Many on the West Plains have gardens, farms and ranches that these filters will not accommodate.
Luke Baumgarten contributed reporting to this story.
