By The Epoch Times | Created at 2026-08-10 16:16:51 | Updated at 2026-08-10 16:40:49
1 hour ago
A federal judge approved more than $2.5 billion in settlements between New Jersey and DuPont, Chemours, Corteva, and 3M over PFAS “forever chemical” contamination at four industrial sites across the state.
In a court ruling released on Aug.7, Chief Judge Renée Marie Bumb of the New Jersey federal court said the settlements, filed in 2019 and reached last year, were an “impressive windfall.”
DuPont, Chemours, and Corteva will pay $875 million over 25 years for natural resources and other damages, clean up four former industrial sites, and create a $1.2 billion remediation fund.
3M will pay $400 million to $450 million over the same period to settle claims over drinking water contamination.
DuPont and Corteva will also create a $475 million reserve to ensure the four sites are cleaned up. Chemours and Corteva were part of DuPont prior to spinoffs.
Corteva became an independent public company on June 1, 2019, and was previously the Agriculture Division of DowDuPont.
In manufacturing, PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are favored for their durability and useful properties such as nonstick, water repellence, and anti-grease.
Products that can contain PFAS include cookware with nonstick coatings and textiles and fabrics that are water- and stain-resistant, such as outdoor clothing, carpets, upholstery, and furniture with water-repellent finishes.
A 2016 study published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found evidence that chemicals in the PFAS family could disrupt the human immune system.
“The evidence that these chemicals affect multiple aspects of the immune system supports the overall conclusion that both PFOA and PFOS alter immune functions in humans,” the National Institutes of Health website states.
A 2024 study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, involving 400 Finnish mother-child pairs, found that higher prenatal exposure to certain “forever chemicals” was associated with increased odds of childhood leukemia.
PFAS can be destroyed, but only through a tightly controlled process.
According to a 2025 UK Environment Agency review, high-temperature incineration under strict conditions is the only option that can destroy PFAS at scale.
PFAS contamination at the two sites stems from decades of DuPont’s use of the chemical in manufacturing.
At Chambers Works in Salem County, the company started using Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a type of PFAS, as a manufacturing ingredient in the 1950s, continuing until 2001 for one product line and until 2013 for another. 3M supplied DuPont with PFOA for use at the site from 1975 to 2001.
At the Parlin site in Middlesex County, DuPont began making Teflon around 1975, using PFOA as a key ingredient. It bought the chemical from 3M until 2002, when it began producing its own PFOA, both for its own use and for sale to others. DuPont developed a replacement chemical for use at Parlin in 2009.
The settlement’s other two sites, Repauno in Gloucester County and Pompton Lakes in Passaic County, aren’t tied to PFAS in the court’s findings.
Their pollution includes older industrial contaminants such as heavy metals, explosive residue, and solvents from DuPont’s decades of operating explosives and chemical plants there.
They’re folded into the same settlement because the lawsuits, filed by the state in 2019, covered all four of DuPont’s legacy New Jersey sites together.
New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport told The Epoch Times by email that “for years, corporate polluters have profited from ‘forever chemicals’ while causing untold damage to our communities—endangering the health of our kids, contaminating the water we drink, and exposing our first responders to dangerous carcinogens.”
She said that the settlement cements “New Jersey’s national leadership in the fight against forever chemicals and is a critical first step in undoing the damage DuPont and 3M have caused to our state.”
She added that she was eager to “see the work begin to repair the decades of damage DuPont and 3M have caused in the Garden State.”
The Epoch Times contacted DuPont, Chemours, Corteva, and 3M for comment.
3M said that it was pleased and that it exited all PFAS manufacturing last year.
DuPont, Chemours, Corteva, and 3M face other litigation over PFAS contamination, including a lawsuit last month by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Michael Clements and Reuters contributed to this report.
