By rssfeeds-admin Chemours will pay a $22.5 million civil penalty, per the report. The chemical giant will spend $90 million across 15 years to cut PFAS discharges. Installation of pollution controls at a West Virginia site will cost around $60 million. Clean drinking water will be provided to communities near its West Virginia and New Jersey locations at an estimated cost of $280 million.
“The Trump administration recognizes the important role of Chemours for its commercial and military obligations,” said Adam Gustafson, principal deputy assistant attorney general for the Environment and Natural Resources Division, according to The Guardian. “The settlement protects public health while preserving that important balance.”
The DuPont spin-off can keep manufacturing PFAS for commercial and military applications while preventing future contamination. Jeffrey Hall, assistant EPA administrator for enforcement and compliance assurance, said the deal “delivers on the Trump administration’s promise to make polluters pay and stop PFAS contamination at the source,” per the New York Times.
The Justice Department found that Chemours sites discharged PFAS into the Ohio River, Cape Fear River, and Delaware River. These actions violated the Clean Water Act and state laws. Federal Toxic Substances Control Act requirements were breached at all three locations.
People living near these sites faced exposure to unlawful PFAS because of the alleged violations. Scientific studies show that exposure to some PFAS in the environment may link to harmful health effects in humans and animals.
Violations continued for more than a decade, according to the Justice Department. A federal judge ordered Chemours last year to stop discharging unlawful amounts of cancer-causing chemicals into the Ohio River from its Washington Works plant in West Virginia.
DuPont owned the sites for many decades before the 2015 spin-off. The settlement doesn’t resolve DuPont’s liability for past PFAS violations.
North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson called the settlement “an insult to the people of eastern North Carolina,” according to The Guardian. “Our state is ground zero for GenX contamination, but this deal does practically nothing to clean up our water,” said Jackson.
DuPont, Chemours, and Corteva agreed to pay New Jersey up to $2 billion last year to settle environmental claims stemming from PFAS. That state case remains separate from the federal settlement.
The federal consent decree requires 14 specific treatment systems. These will reduce PFAS in wastewater, stormwater, and groundwater from the West Virginia plant. Drinking water near the West Virginia and New Jersey sites will be tested. Treated or alternative clean water will be provided.
The post Chemours Agrees to Controversial $452.5M Settlement Over PFAS Discharges appeared first on WMTR AM.
Discover more from RSS Feeds Cloud
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.