Chemours agrees to $450 million settlement with US Justice Department over chemical release

By Daphne Psaledakis and Dietrich Knauth

WASHINGTON, June 24 (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Justice said on Wednesday that The Chemours Company agreed to a $450 million settlement over the release of “forever chemicals” in West Virginia, North Carolina and New Jersey.

The settlement includes a $22.5 million civil penalty and $90 million in funding to control per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, and remove them from drinking water, according to the DOJ. 

PFAS, known as forever chemicals because they break down slowly in the environment, have been linked to a range of health concerns including kidney and testicular cancer, liver damage, and birth defects.

Chemours has also agreed to additional measures that will cost it an estimated $340 million, including $60 million for new PFAS pollution controls at its facility in West Virginia and $280 million to supply clean drinking water to communities near its facilities in West Virginia and New Jersey.

FIRST FEDERAL PFAS SETTLEMENT

“This is the first comprehensive settlement by the federal government to resolve enforcement claims over pollution by a manufacturer of forever chemicals,” DOJ said in a statement.

The complaint filed by the U.S. government and the state of West Virginia alleges that three Chemours facilities in West Virginia, North Carolina and New Jersey discharged PFAS into three different rivers.

North Carolina Governor Josh Stein and Attorney General Jeff Jackson, who are both Democrats, criticized the settlement as a “backroom deal” that does “virtually nothing” to help North Carolina residents. The settlement gives most of its benefits to West Virginia, which will receive an $11 million payment from Chemours’ civil penalty, and it allows Chemours to “pick and choose” what water cleanup projects it will fund, without input from North Carolina, according to Stein and Jackson.

“This deal does nothing meaningful for North Carolinians,” Stein said.

Chemours previously reached a settlement with North Carolina in 2019, agreeing to pay $12 million in fines and to reduce PFAS contamination in the state’s waterways. Chemours said Wednesday that the new federal settlement does not impact its earlier agreement with North Carolina.

The DOJ and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said in a joint statement that North Carolina would benefit from the comprehensive settlement that will require Chemours to reduce PFAS pollution and provide clean drinking water in all three states.

“The State of North Carolina was invited to participate in the settlement discussions but decided to act under their own authorities,” DOJ and EPA said.

New Jersey’s attorney general declined to comment on the federal settlement. The state has pursued its own enforcement action against the New Jersey Chemours facility covered by the DOJ settlement, and it announced a $2 billion settlement of that litigation in August 2025.

Chemours said Wednesday’s settlement resolves federal claims related to PFAS discharges and other alleged non-compliance actions, primarily at its Washington Works, Fayetteville Works and Chambers Works facilities.

The settlement recognizes that Chemours has begun planning and implementing operational improvements and remedial measures at its facilities, and contains further actions the company will take to mitigate future emissions and enhance existing programs, the company said in a statement.

Chemours shares rose 5.4% in morning trade.

In connection with the settlement, Chemours said it has also settled with the West Virginia Rivers Coalition for less than $1 million to resolve the coalition’s litigation alleging breaches of certain discharge limits at Chemours’ Washington Works facility.

(Reporting by Dietrich Knauth in New York, Katharine Jackson and Daphne Psaledakis in Washington and Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Doina Chiacu, Rod Nickel, Alexia Garamfalvi and Sanjeev Miglani)