Chemours agrees to $450 million PFAS settlement 

The Trump administration last week announced a $450 million, multi-state settlement with Chemours over a years-long series of PFAS-related violations. 

Catch up quick: For over a decade, three Chemours facilities in West Virginia, North Carolina, and New Jersey have illegally discharged PFAS into the Ohio River, Cape Fear River, and Delaware River, the EPA and the Justice Department alleged, according to the announcement. 

• The company was also “allegedly not complying with legal requirements” at all three facilities, it added. “As a result of the alleged violations, people living around these facilities were exposed to illegal PFAS.”

What’s happening: Under the agreement, Chemours will pay a $22.5 million civil penalty; conduct a multi-year, $90 million program to mitigate PFAS discharges; install several controls at its West Virginia facility at an estimated cost of $60 million; and supply clean drinking water for over a decade to communities surrounding its West Virginia and New Jersey facilities for an estimated $280 million. 

The big picture: The announcement marks the “first comprehensive federal settlement” with a major PFAS manufacturer, according to the Justice Department. 

• “This landmark settlement shows the Administration’s commitment to protecting the public from harmful water pollution,” said Adam Gustafson, a DOJ principal deputy assistant attorney general.