Wisconsin's Attorney General claims that 18 companies in the state have knowingly polluted the environment with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) chemicals and filed a lawsuit Wednesday demanding they pay for the clean-up.

Josh Kaul filed the lawsuit in Dane County circuit court with demands to companies including 3M, Tyco Fire Products LP, and BASF Corporation seeking punitive damages, along with reimbursement for the costs of investigations, cleanup and remediation. Kaul claims these companies knew that their chemical waste was harmful to the environment, but still released it anyways.

“To this day, the State continues to take necessary actions to protect its natural resources and its residents from harm caused by PFAS contamination,” the lawsuit states.

“The State and its taxpayers will need to spend billions of dollars remediating the dangerous PFAS contamination caused by Defendants’ wrongful, deceptive and tortious conduct," it added.

PFAs are founds in products like waterproof jackets, non-stick pans, firefighting foam, stain-resistant, food packaging and have been detected in drinking water the last several years, according to Earth Justice.

PFAS being found in drinking water will be “one of the most seminal public health challenges for the next decades,” the Center for Disease Control and Prevention said in 2017.

This concern is due to PFAS not being able to break down easily, along with its ability to build up and stay in your body and the environment, the CDC added.