Amid federal PFAS rollbacks, New Jersey scores record $2B DuPont settlement todayheadline

While the federal government is scaling back regulations on “forever chemicals,” New Jersey is holding polluters accountable, announcing a record-breaking $2 billion settlement with DuPont and several related companies with an $875 million payout and up to $1.2 billion in cleanup costs.

The deal, which follows a two-month-long trial, is touted by New Jersey officials as “the largest environmental settlement ever reached by a single American state.”

The settlement was reached with the parties after five hearings over the summer. Prior to the settlement, U.S. District Judge Renee Marie Bumb, chief judge of the District of New Jersey, had set the case for a jury trial in the fall.

The deal holds DuPont and its related companies responsible for contamination at four sites: the Pompton Lakes Works in Pompton Lakes and Wanaque, Passaic County; the Parlin site in Sayreville, Middlesex County; the Repauno site in Greenwich Township, Gloucester County; and the Chambers Works in Pennsville and Carney’s Point, Salem County.

Beginning in the late 1800s, these four sites started as explosives factories before expanding into chemical manufacturing, ultimately discharging a wide range of pollutants, including PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.

“This pollution resulted in decades of damage to the state’s natural resources, including but not limited to our drinking water supply,” said New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin.

DuPont confirmed the agreement, saying, “The Settlement will resolve all legacy contamination claims related to the companies’ current and former operating sites and claims of statewide PFAS contamination unrelated to those sites, including from the use of aqueous film forming foam.”

PFAS are a group of man-made chemicals found in everyday items from nonstick pans to waterproof jackets and firefighting foam. These “forever chemicals” are prized for their resistance to water, grease and heat, but these same properties make them hazardous. They don’t break down naturally and accumulate in human bodies and the environment. Even small amounts have been linked to serious health problems like cancer, hormonal imbalances and a weakened immune system.

The settlement stems from a 2019 complaint filed by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection in the U.S. District Court in New Jersey, alleging that DuPont and its related entities were responsible for widespread contamination from PFAS at the four industrial sites.

A key part of the agreement is that outside the $875 million payment — which the company will pay over 25 years — DuPont will have to cover all of the cleanup costs related to the four sites.

“The cleanup is not capped in terms of x amount to perform the remediation, but the settlement provides for several layers of protection so that ultimately it is Dupont that pays for the cleanup and not the taxpayers payers of New Jersey,” said William Jackson, a partner at the law firm Kelley Drye & Warren and lead trial counsel for the state.

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To ensure taxpayers aren’t stuck with the bill for the cleanup, DuPont and its related companies also agreed to create a special fund of up to $1.2 billion for cleanup work. They will also establish a separate reserve fund of $475 million to act as a safety net in case any of the companies go out of business or fail to meet their obligations.

New Jersey has been a national leader in addressing PFAS contamination. The state was the first to establish drinking water standards for PFAS, setting limits for several compounds long before federal regulations were in place. 

This proactive stance has led to a couple of previous major settlements. The DuPont deal follows the 3M settlement of up to $450 million announced in May and a $393 million resolution with Solvay in 2023. The funds from these deals are earmarked for cleaning up contaminated drinking water and other natural resources across New Jersey.

“Other states can take a lesson from New Jersey as it lodged this enormous legal challenge to DuPont. It tells us that you can win. You just have to do it,” said Tracy Carluccio, deputy director of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network.

The DuPont-New Jersey settlement comes amid major federal rollbacks on PFAS regulation under the second term of President Donald Trump. 

In a reversal of Biden-era policy, the Environmental Protection Agency has announced it will rescind and reconsider the standards for four commonly found types of PFAS chemicals in drinking water. The agency is also delaying the compliance deadline for the remaining two regulated compounds, PFOA and PFOS, until 2031, pushing back the timeline by two years. 

These actions have been widely criticized by environmental and public health advocates who argue the move weakens crucial protections and gives polluters a free pass.

“At a time when the federal government is dismantling the EPA and gutting scientific research by devastating cuts, it’s never been more important for states to protect their residents from threats to their health and to their environments,” Platkin said. 

The settlement isn’t final yet. The public will get a chance to weigh in during a 60-day comment period, which the state will open in September. Once that’s done, a judge — most likely Bumb — will review the agreement before deciding whether to officially approve the deal with a consent order, which will make the settlement legally binding.