WILMINGTON, Del. — The Chemours Co. has agreed to a PFAS settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, the Environmental Protection Agency and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection that the federal government says could total more than $450 million in penalties, mitigation spending and clean-water programs tied to discharges at three of the company's manufacturing sites.

The proposed consent decree, announced jointly by the three agencies on June 24, covers four Chemours facilities in West Virginia, North Carolina and New Jersey that manufacture or use PFAS, the class of synthetic compounds known as "forever chemicals" that includes some refrigerants and fluoropolymer feedstocks. The agreement was filed with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia and is subject to a 30-day public comment period that has not yet been scheduled, after which the court must approve it.

The Department of Justice described the deal as the first comprehensive federal settlement resolving claims against a PFAS manufacturer, distinguishing it from earlier state-level agreements Chemours and its former parent, DuPont, have reached over the same chemical compounds.

What the PFAS Settlement Covers

Under the terms of the proposed decree, Chemours would pay a $22.5 million civil penalty for alleged violations of the Clean Water Act, the West Virginia Water Pollution Control Act and the Toxic Substances Control Act. The company would also fund a multi-year, $90 million program to mitigate PFAS discharges across its sites.

The largest components of the settlement are infrastructure commitments rather than fines. Chemours would install pollution controls for surface-water discharges and air emissions at its Washington Works facility in West Virginia, at an estimated cost of $60 million, and would supply clean drinking water for more than a decade to communities surrounding its plants in West Virginia and New Jersey, at an estimated cost of $280 million. The company would also evaluate and implement controls to reduce PFAS and other toxic releases at its facility in North Carolina, based on recommendations from a third-party engineering firm.

The complaint alleges that three Chemours facilities discharged PFAS into the Ohio, Cape Fear and Delaware rivers in violation of federal and state permits, and that all four facilities failed to meet Toxic Substances Control Act requirements over a period exceeding a decade.

The facilities named in the settlement — in West Virginia, North Carolina and New Jersey — were previously owned for decades by DuPont before Chemours was spun off as an independent company in 2015. The proposed consent decree does not resolve DuPont's separate liability for the same compounds, the Justice Department said.

Adam Gustafson, principal deputy assistant attorney general of the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division, said the settlement would let Chemours "continue manufacturing operations while protecting communities" near its plants. EPA Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Assistant Administrator Jeffrey A. Hall said the agreement brings the company into compliance with existing law and holds it fully accountable for the alleged violations.

Chemours, in its own statement, characterized the agreement as part of its multi-year Pathway to Thrive strategy, which the company has used to describe its approach to resolving legacy PFAS liabilities while continuing production of fluoropolymers and other PFAS-based materials used in refrigeration, semiconductor manufacturing and other industrial applications.

Settlement Compliance Requirements

The consent decree specifies 14 individual projects to reduce PFAS levels in wastewater, stormwater and groundwater at the West Virginia plant. Chemours would be required to test drinking water near its West Virginia and New Jersey facilities and provide treated or alternative water where contamination is found. The company would also need to control releases of GenX — a compound used in fluoropolymer manufacturing — at a minimum 99% efficiency at each of the four facilities.

Additional terms call for enhanced leak-detection and repair programs to limit PFAS emissions, along with certification requirements tied to how the company stores hazardous waste. The North Carolina facility's pollution controls would be based on recommendations from a third-party engineering review rather than a fixed equipment list, leaving some implementation details to be finalized after the settlement takes effect.

What Happens Next

The settlement requires court approval following the public comment period, a process that had not yet been scheduled as of late June. Once scheduled, stakeholders — including environmental groups, residents near the affected facilities and industry observers — will have 30 days to submit comments before the Southern District of West Virginia rules on whether to accept the decree.

The case adds to a string of PFAS-related settlements Chemours has reached with state governments in recent years, including a prior agreement with Ohio. It is the first to involve a comprehensive federal resolution covering multiple facility-specific commitments rather than a single lump-sum payment, a structure that could serve as a reference point for future federal PFAS enforcement actions against other manufacturers.

The full text of the proposed consent decree is available through the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division.