Chemours Co. has agreed to a sweeping federal settlement over years of illegal releases of PFAS, the synthetic “forever chemicals” used to make products resist water, grease and stains. The deal, announced Wednesday, is the first federal enforcement settlement involving a major PFAS manufacturer and is among the largest such environmental agreements the Trump administration has reached so far.
The agreement, filed in federal court in West Virginia, requires Chemours to pay a $22.5 million civil penalty and commit $90 million over 15 years to reduce PFAS discharges in West Virginia, North Carolina and New Jersey. The Justice Department said the total cost of the penalty and related corrective measures is expected to be at least $450 million.
Chemours, which was spun off from DuPont, also agreed to install pollution controls for surface-water discharges and air emissions at its West Virginia facility, a project estimated at $60 million. In addition, the company will provide clean drinking water to communities near its sites in West Virginia and New Jersey at an estimated cost of $280 million. It must also put in place controls to cut releases of PFAS and other toxic chemicals from its North Carolina plant, based on a pending independent assessment.
Federal officials said the settlement is designed to let the company keep making PFAS for commercial and military uses while curbing future pollution and addressing contamination that has already occurred. “The Trump administration recognizes the important role of Chemours for it commercial and military obligations,’’ Gustafson said in an interview. “The settlement protects public health while preserving that important balance.”
Jeffrey Hall, the EPA’s assistant administrator for enforcement and compliance assurance, said the agreement fulfills a promise to pursue polluters and halt PFAS pollution where it begins. The settlement with a major PFAS producer “delivers on the Trump administration’s promise to make polluters pay and stop PFAS contamination at the source,” he said. Hall added that the deal will significantly cut contamination in water, land and air while also helping address past damage. “This settlement brings Chemours into compliance with the law and holds it fully accountable,” he said.
Chemours said Wednesday that it has already started planning and carrying out operational changes at its facilities and will continue work to reduce future emissions and strengthen existing programs. “This settlement provides Chemours with greater clarity on future compliance requirements and actions to support long-term responsible manufacturing,’’ spokeswoman Jess Loizeaux said.
The settlement comes less than six weeks after the Trump administration proposed rolling back parts of the Biden-era PFAS drinking-water rule. On May 18, EPA proposed rescinding limits for four PFAS compounds and delaying compliance deadlines for two others, while leaving intact the national standards for PFOA and PFOS. The agency said the changes were meant to make the rule more legally durable and practically achievable for water systems.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the agency remains committed to addressing Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl substances in drinking water while complying with the law and making sure water systems can realistically meet regulatory requirements.
According to the settlement, Chemours facilities in the three states discharged PFAS into the Ohio River, the Cape Fear River and the Delaware River in violation of Clean Water Act permits and state laws. Officials also said the company failed to meet requirements under the federal Toxic Substances Control Act at each of those sites.
Authorities said those alleged violations exposed nearby residents to unlawful PFAS contamination. PFAS are used widely across the globe, and scientific research has found that exposure to some of these chemicals may be associated with harmful effects in people and animals.
The Justice Department said the violations persisted for more than a decade. The facilities had been owned for many years by DuPont, and federal officials said Wednesday’s settlement does not resolve any DuPont liability tied to earlier PFAS violations.
Last year, a federal judge ordered Chemours to stop releasing illegal levels of cancer-causing chemicals from its Washington Works plant in West Virginia into the Ohio River. In his August 2025 order, U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin wrote that the pollutants threatened the environment, aquatic life and human health. The West Virginia Rivers Coalition had asked him to force the company into immediate compliance after more than five years of permit violations.
The new consent decree specifically requires 14 treatment systems to reduce PFAS in wastewater, stormwater and groundwater from the West Virginia facility. Chemours also must test drinking water near its West Virginia and New Jersey operations and provide treated water or other clean alternatives.
The federal agreement is separate from a major New Jersey settlement reached last year, in which DuPont, Chemours and Corteva agreed to pay the state up to $2 billion over environmental claims related to PFAS. Officials said Wednesday’s federal action does not change that state case.
Not everyone welcomed the federal deal. North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson called it “an insult to the people of eastern North Carolina.” He said his state is “ground zero for GenX contamination, but this deal does practically nothing to clean up our water.” GenX is a trade name for a synthetic chemical developed by Chemours as an alternative to PFAS, but it has drawn serious health and environmental concerns of its own. “Chemours made this mess, and Chemours should clean it up,” Jackson said in a statement.