New Jersey Reaches Historic Settlement with Manufacturer of PFAS or ‘Forever Chemicals’
On June 28, 2023, New Jersey announced a proposed $393 million settlement with Solvay Specialty Polymers, LLC (Solvay), which would require Solvay to remediate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination, and to compensate the public for natural resource damages resulting from the operations at the West Deptford Solvay facility in Gloucester County.
The proposed settlement was announced by New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin, and the Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), Shawn M. LaTourette, deemed the settlement the “first of its kind.” If approved, the proposed settlement of nearly $393 million, would require Solvay to pay for and implement comprehensive remedial activities at and in the vicinity of its West Deptford facility, to provide financial support for certain public water system upgrades necessary to remove PFAS from drinking water, to further investigate and address other potential PFAS impacts to public water systems and private potable drinking water wells in nearby areas, and to compensate the public for natural resources injured by Solvay’s operations at the site.
Some have called the State’s litigation with Solvay the largest single-site natural resource damages and remediation case in New Jersey history. To that end, in March 2019, NJDEP issued a Statewide Directive to Solvay and four other companies alleged to be responsible for PFAS contamination in New Jersey: DuPont, Dow DuPont, Chemours and 3M. The Directive accused the companies of discharging PFAs into the environment for decades despite having knowledge of the toxic and hazardous nature of these chemicals. Pursuant to the March 2019 Directive, the five named companies were required to provide a detailed accounting for their “use and discharge” of PFAS, and the companies were notified of their financial responsibility for the cost of remediation and treatment of the resulting PFAS contamination and natural resource damages.
Subsequently, in November 2020, the NJDEP filed suit against Solvay alleging that “despite evidence of widespread contamination” at the West Deptford site, the company “has repeatedly refused to comply with plaintiffs’ numerous directions to investigate all contamination from the Site and to pay for the treatment of all contaminated drinking water.” Solvay is the first company named in the Directive to reach a proposed settlement with the State.
The state has been actively working to combat these forever chemicals for many years. In our next blog, we’ll explore the history of PFAS regulation in New Jersey — and what these new developments could mean for the state.