The Trump administration has finalized a landmark $450 million settlement with Chemours Co. over decade-long illegal discharges of toxic PFAS "forever chemicals" into major rivers across West Virginia, New Jersey, and North Carolina. While the deal mandates a $22.5 million civil penalty and $90 million in mitigation, North Carolina Governor Josh Stein and Attorney General Jeff Jackson blasted the agreement as an "insult" and a "backroom deal" that guarantees virtually no cleanup funds for their state, despite housing the nation's only GenX-producing facility.
DOJ Chemours PFAS settlement
- ▪The Trump administration reached a multi-state settlement with Chemours Co. valued at an estimated $450 million to resolve federal enforcement claims over illegal discharges of synthetic PFAS chemicals
- ▪The settlement allows Chemours Co. to continue manufacturing PFAS for commercial and military applications while implementing new pollution controls
- ▪Under the federal agreement, Chemours Co. will pay a $22.5 million civil penalty and spend $90 million over 15 years to mitigate PFAS discharges in West Virginia, North Carolina, and New Jersey
North Carolina funding exclusion
- ▪North Carolina officials criticized the deal because Chemours Co. can propose projects without state input and credit any state-mandated cleanups against its $90 million mitigation pool
- ▪North Carolina Governor Josh Stein and Attorney General Jeff Jackson denounced the settlement as a backroom deal that leaves virtually nothing for North Carolina
Cape Fear River contamination
- ▪The Cape Fear River was contaminated with GenX and other PFAS chemicals discharged from Chemours' Fayetteville Works plant located on the Bladen County border
- ▪From 2004 to 2022, surface water sampling downstream of Fayetteville Works detected PFOA concentrations of up to 49,000 parts per trillion and PFOS concentrations of up to 44,000 parts per trillion
State remediation expenditures
- ▪The North Carolina General Assembly has provided approximately $54 million to the North Carolina Collaboratory since 2018 to support PFAS research
- ▪The Cape Fear Public Utility Authority has spent more than $92 million since 2017 to remove PFAS from drinking water for ratepayers in the Wilmington area
Chemours regulatory violations
- ▪The federal government alleged that Chemours Co. illegally released PFAS into the Ohio River, Cape Fear River, and Delaware River, violating the Clean Water Act and state laws
- ▪The federal complaint alleges Chemours Co. discharged PFAS without correct permits and failed to document compliance with environmental release restrictions for GenX since 2008
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