This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback.
Chemical titan Chemours reached a $450 million settlement on Wednesday to resolve PFAS claims brought by the U.S. Department of Justice, Environmental Protection Agency and West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection.
The EPA accused Chemours of releasing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances into the Cape Fear, Delaware and Ohio Rivers from its four facilities located in North Carolina, New Jersey and West Virginia, according to the agency’s summary.
PFAS are also called forever chemicals because they make products highly resistant to water and stains, which also makes them resistant to breakdown and destruction. The substances may also impact human health when exposed or consumed, such as increasing cholesterol levels, and the risk of kidney and testicular cancer and pregnancy-induced hypertension and preeclampsia, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
Chemours’ alleged toxic chemicals release violates the company’s permits required under the Clean Water Act and the West Virginia Water Pollution Control Act, and in some instances, without the required permits. Chemours was also accused of violating the Toxic Substances Control Act by failing to include significant information in its premanufacture notice, failing to comply with recordkeeping provisions, and manufacturing and processing PFAS without intentionally releasing the substances.
