The Trump administration is moving to settle a landmark case with the chemical giant Chemours over its yearslong illegal dumping of PFAS “forever chemicals” across three states. The $480 million settlement would be the first by the federal government to resolve pollution claims against a maker of the chemicals, which have been linked to cancer and other health risks.
The proposed deal, released Wednesday, immediately came under attack from North Carolina, which said it did nothing to clean up water contaminated by the chemicals. Several environmental groups also called the deal inadequate.
For decades, Chemours’ facilities in West Virginia, New Jersey and North Carolina illegally released the chemicals into major waterways including the Ohio, Cape Fear and Delaware Rivers. The widespread contamination from Chemours, which was spun off from Dupont in 2015, came to light after the Environmental Protection Agency and independent scientists started to detect high levels of PFAS, particularly in the Cape Fear River.
PFAS, a class of synthetic chemicals remarkably resistant to water and grease, are used in everyday items like nonstick pans, water-repellent clothing and stain-resistant carpets, as well as in firefighting foam and cosmetics.
But exposure to the chemicals, which do not easily break down in the body, has been linked to serious and adverse health risks. Those include low birth weight, birth defects and developmental delays as well as increased risk of some kidney and testicular cancers.
Under the proposed settlement, Chemours will pay a $22.5 million civil penalty for illegally discharging PFAS from plants in North Carolina, New Jersey and West Virginia.
Chemours will also spend $337 million to bring its facilities into compliance with the law, and to test and provide clean drinking water to communities near its plants in West Virginia and New Jersey. And it will pay $90 million over a 15-year period to further reduce PFAS emissions and treat drinking water.
“This first comprehensive federal settlement against a major PFAS manufacturer delivers on the Trump Administration’s promise to make polluters pay and stop PFAS contamination at the source,” said Jeffrey A. Hall, assistant administrator at the E.P.A.’s Office of Enforcement.
Governor Patrick Morrisey of West Virginia, which is a party to the settlement, called the settlement an encouraging first step. New Jersey did not comment on the federal settlement. The state has pursued its own settlement against Chemours.
Chemours disputed the E.P.A.’s claims that PFAS harms human health, and made no admission of liability, while agreeing to the overall settlement.
North Carolina denounced the settlement, calling it a “backroom deal” that allocated virtually nothing to the state. Fayetteville Works, a chemical plant on the banks of the Cape Fear River, was Chemours’ center for manufacturing GenX, a synthetic chemical that was intended as a PFAS replacement but has itself raised health concerns.
“This deal is an insult to the people of eastern North Carolina,” the state’s attorney general, Jeff Jackson, said in a statement. “This deal does practically nothing to clean up our water. Chemours made this mess and Chemours should clean it up. The E.P.A. will be hearing from my office.”
Corinne Bell, a senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council, called the settlement inadequate, particularly coming from a corporation that reported $1.4 billion in net sales in its first quarter. “The harm done to our water supply and health by these ‘forever chemicals’ is massive, and the penalty should have reflected that,” she said. “This settlement is not a serious effort by a corporate polluter to clean up its damage.”
Local groups also expressed concerns about future pollution from the plant.
The settlement lays out how Chemours must handle hazardous chemicals still made at its Fayetteville Works plant in North Carolina. But it does not include enough identifying details about the chemicals for the public to properly assess the plan, said Emily Donovan, co-founder of Clean Cape Fear, a grass roots coalition that works to secure clean drinking water for communities in the river basin.
“The community downstream cannot weigh a hidden risk,” she said.
The proposed settlement must go through a public comment period, and a federal judge must officially approve it, before it becomes legally binding.
The Department of Justice and E.P.A. said in a joint response to North Carolina officials that all states would benefit from the settlement. It had been North Carolina’s own imperative not to participate in settlement discussions, the agencies said.
Jessica Loizeaux, a spokeswoman for Chemours, said that the settlement included hiring an E.P.A.-approved third-party auditor to review manufacturing processes at its plants to determine whether additional measures to control pollution were needed. Fayetteville Works had invested more than $400 million in recent years to reduce its PFAS emissions, and ran a private well testing program to help ensure residents with private wells had access to clean drinking water, she said.
The Trump administration has come under fire for repealing some Biden-era limits on PFAS in drinking water, including limits on GenX, that were set to take effect in coming years. Lee Zeldin, the E.P.A. administrator, has sought to counter anger over the move, announcing nearly $1 billion to help states address the contamination.
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