New Jersey reaches billion-dollar PFAS settlement with DuPont, Chemours, Corteva

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New Jersey has reached a $2 billion agreement with DuPont and other companies to settle claims they contaminated the state with toxic PFAS and other chemicals from four industrial sites.

State officials are calling the deal the “largest environmental settlement” ever awarded to a single state. The payments will be made over 25 years and will support communities impacted by contamination statewide, natural resources and remediation of the sites.

The settlement follows a month of trial proceedings over a 2019 lawsuit alleging chemical company DuPont and its spinoff companies discharged hundreds of pollutants from its Chambers Works facility in Pennsville and Carney’s Point for decades, failed to inform the public about the risks and circumvented environmental laws.

The agreement marks the third PFAS-related settlement reached in New Jersey in less than three years. In May, the state reached a $450 million settlement with co-defendant 3M to address contamination at the Chambers Works site, a week before the trial was scheduled to begin. DuPont de Nemours, the Chemours Company and Corteva, Inc. have agreed to split the costs of the most recent settlement.

Since June 2023, New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection has reached a total of $3 billion in PFAS-related settlements with chemical companies.

“This will position us, together with the other settlements that we have recently been able to secure, to best support the New Jersey public and communities that have been struggling with impacts from PFAS and other chemical contamination emanating from these sites,” said DEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette during the announcement.

The settlement also resolves three separate lawsuits regarding PFAS and other toxic chemical contamination at DuPont’s Parlin site in Syreville, Pompton Lakes Works in Passaic County and its Repauno site in Gloucester County.

DuPont declined to comment on the settlement but issued a press release stating the agreement will “resolve all pending environmental and other claims” regarding the four current and former sites.

PFAS — widely used in consumer products such as nonstick cookware and waterproof clothing, as well as in firefighting foam — have been linked to serious health problems, including some cancers, thyroid disease, developmental delays in children and other health conditions.

The health risks associated with PFAS, which can stay in the environment and the human bloodstream for years, have sparked numerous lawsuits against DuPont — historically a major producer of PFAS, best known for its use in Teflon manufacturing.

Under the agreement, DuPont and its spinoff companies will pay $1.2 billion to remediate the four sites. Another $875 million will be allocated to a state fund over 25 years, and will enable the DEP to support communities impacted by environmental contamination. About 25% of the funding will be allocated towards natural resource restoration in the areas of the industrial sites.

“We’ve got a long way to go in fully remediating these sites, but it will be done,” LaTourette said. “We have a long way to go in fully responding to the risks that PFAS pose to the people of New Jersey, their health and their environment, but with the resources provided from this settlement and others, we are putting ourselves on incredibly good footing to tackle this problem.”

Environmentalist Tracy Carluccio of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network said the settlement is a significant win and hopes it will set an example for the rest of the U.S.

“The harm that has been caused is irreparable. It can never be fully remediated since lives have been lost and damaged,” she said. “However, this settlement will facilitate the cleanup and that’s really needed. We need to provide safe drinking water and we need to get PFAS out of our environment.”

The settlement, which is subject to approval by the U.S. District Court, will be published in the New Jersey Register in early September, and there will be a 60-day public comment period.

“PFAS are particularly insidious,” said state Attorney General Matthew Platkin in a statement. “These dangerous chemicals build up and accumulate everywhere, and New Jersey has some of the highest levels of PFAS in the country. It is why I have worked so diligently alongside Commissioner LaTourette on this issue, and I am pleased that the companies agreed to a settlement rather than continue with the trial.”