Chemical titan Chemours reached a $450 million settlement on Wednesday to resolve PFAS claims brought by the U.S. Department of Justice, Environmental Protection Agency and West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection.
The EPA accused Chemours of releasing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances into the Cape Fear, Delaware and Ohio Rivers from its four facilities located in North Carolina, New Jersey and West Virginia, according to the agency’s summary.
PFAS are also called forever chemicals because they make products highly resistant to water and stains, which also makes them resistant to breakdown and destruction. The substances may also impact human health when exposed or consumed, such as increasing cholesterol levels, and the risk of kidney and testicular cancer and pregnancy-induced hypertension and preeclampsia, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
Chemours’ alleged toxic chemicals release violates the company’s permits required under the Clean Water Act and the West Virginia Water Pollution Control Act, and in some instances, without the required permits. Chemours was also accused of violating the Toxic Substances Control Act by failing to include significant information in its premanufacture notice, failing to comply with recordkeeping provisions, and manufacturing and processing PFAS without intentionally releasing the substances.
Furthermore, the EPA accused Chemours of violating the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act by accepting hazardous waste shipments and storing them without authorization.
Chemours declined to comment on the settlement.
Under the agreement, the chemicals maker will pay a $22.5 million civil penalty over three years and conduct a multiyear, $90 million program to mitigate toxic substance discharges. The company will also install a $60 million PFAS pollution control system for surface water discharges and air emissions at its Washington Works facility in West Virginia.
Furthermore, Chemours has agreed to pay $60 million to supply clean drinking water for over a decade to communities surrounding the Washington Works and Chamber Works facilities, the latter located in Deepwater, New Jersey.
“Through this commitment, Chemours will better control PFAS at its plants, allowing the company to continue its manufacturing operations while protecting communities in North Carolina, West Virginia, and New Jersey from PFAS exposure,” Adam Gustafson, principal deputy assistant attorney general of the DOJ’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, said in a statement. “This agreement ensures that the company will manufacture these critical materials in a responsible manner.”
The proposed settlement was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia. The DOJ will also open a comment period for the public.
Chemours’ latest settlement comes almost a year after a federal judge ordered the Teflon manufacturer to stop releasing PFAS chemical waste into the Ohio River from its Washington Works manufacturing facility in Wood County, West Virginia.
The ruling is a response to a request filed by the West Virginia Rivers Coalition in February. The environmental nonprofit has asked the federal court to intervene and order Chemours to stop discharging the toxic waste, notably hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid (HFPO-DA) and its ammonium salt (GenX), saying it could jeopardize public drinking water sources.
