Dupont Pompton Lakes
Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette announced a groundbreaking environmental settlement, valued at over $2 billion, to remedy long-standing contamination stemming from PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), also known as “forever chemicals,” as well as other pollutants originating from four industrial sites. It is the largest environmental settlement ever achieved by a single state.
Protecting New Jersey from the harms of these chemicals has been a priority for Attorney General Platkin and Commissioner LaTourette, with numerous lawsuits filed since 2018. This is the third major victory in PFAS-related litigation matters announced by the Attorney General in just over two years.
PFAS are synthetic chemicals that have been manufactured in the United States since the 1940s. They are used to make a variety of household, consumer, and industrial products. Known as “forever chemicals,” they do not degrade or break down over time and continue to accumulate in the environment and our bodies. They are classified as likely carcinogens, with studies having shown that exposure to the chemicals may cause kidney, liver, and testicular cancer, as well as autoimmune and endocrine disorders in adults. PFAS have also been linked to developmental issues affecting fetuses during pregnancy and infants who breastfeed.
“When I became Attorney General in 2022, I pledged to fight corporate polluters who, for decades, have knowingly contaminated our land and water with PFAS and other dangerous chemicals,” said Attorney General Platkin. “PFAS are particularly insidious. These dangerous chemicals build up and accumulate everywhere, and New Jersey has some of the highest levels of PFAS in the country. It is why I have worked so diligently alongside Commissioner LaTourette on this issue, and I am pleased that the companies agreed to a settlement rather than continue with the trial.”
“Polluters who place profit above public well-being by releasing poisonous PFAS and other contamination in our State can expect to be held responsible to clean up their mess and fully compensate the State and its citizens for the precious natural resources they’ve damaged or destroyed,” said Commissioner LaTourette. “This landmark settlement will advance New Jersey’s nation-leading PFAS abatement efforts, improve drinking water quality, and restore injured natural resources. This resolution embodies the steadfast commitment of the Department of Environmental Protection and our Attorney General to hold all PFAS polluters to account, and to protect public health, safety, and the environment from these harmful chemicals.”
The proposed settlement will resolve the Chambers Works case, a 2019 lawsuit against Delaware-based E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Co. (now known as EIDP, Inc.) and other DuPont-related entities and comes after a month of trial proceedings in U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. The agreement will also resolve three other lawsuits regarding specific sites in New Jersey, the statewide claims for the firefighting material known as aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF), and DuPont and its related entities’ responsibilities under a PFAS Statewide Directive.
Besides EIDP, the other corporate defendants are The Chemours Company and The Chemours Company FC, LLC, both of which DuPont spun off in 2015; DuPont Specialty Products USA, LLC; Corteva Inc.; and DuPont de Nemours, Inc. In addition, DEP and the Attorney General reached a settlement with co-defendant 3M in May, just a week before the Chambers Works trial was scheduled to start.
The companies have agreed to fully clean up contamination at four New Jersey sites and to pay $875 million in natural resource and other damages to the State for the harm that was caused to land, water, and other sensitive natural resources, and to fund abatement projects, which will include drinking water treatment.
The affected sites are:
- Pompton Lakes Works, in Pompton Lakes and Wanaque, Passaic County;
- the Parlin site, in Sayreville, Middlesex County;
- the Repauno site, in Greenwich Township, Gloucester County; and
- Chambers Works, in Pennsville and Carney’s Point, Salem County.
With the addition of this latest victory, New Jersey will recover over approximately $3 billion from lawsuits it has commenced since 2019 to compensate the State and remediate the damage caused by PFAS and other pollutants.
In May 2025, 3M agreed to pay up to $450 million for PFAS contamination at the Chambers Works and Parlin sites and throughout the State. In 2023, Solvay Specialty Polymers agreed to spend $393 million to ensure the remediation of contamination and compensate the public for PFAS contamination near Solvay’s facility in West Deptford, Gloucester County. More recently, co-defendant Arkema, Inc. agreed to settle its responsibility for contamination at the same site, including paying $33.95 million for remediation and damages combined and guaranteeing $75 million for a reserve fund.
New Jersey’s recoveries will provide significant assistance to public and private well owners, local governments, and public entities to address PFAS in their drinking water.
Settlement Terms
The payments by the DuPont settling entities will occur annually over 25 years. The settlement payments include the following:
- $875 million will be allocated primarily between damages for restoration of injured natural resources and abatement funds, to be held by DEP in a dedicated trust account to address PFAS and other contamination, including through the provision of drinking water treatment;
- Approximately $125 million of the $875 million will go towards costs, fees, penalties, and punitive damages.
To ensure that all the cleanup work is paid without public funds, the companies also agreed:
- To create a remediation funding source of up to $1.2 billion; and
- To establish an additional reserve fund of $475 million to ensure that if any one of the companies goes bankrupt or otherwise fails to fulfill their responsibilities to the state, taxpayers won’t be left with the bill.
This extra financial protection is critical to the settlement to ensure that there is enough funding to protect human health and the environment at these sites, as DEP’s lawsuit alleged that DuPont attempted to avoid this liability when it spun off Chemours.
History of the Sites
Manufacturing and industrial activities began on these four industrial sites in the late 1800s and early 1900s and continue to this day at the Chambers Works and Parlin sites.
The Pompton Lakes Works site manufactured explosives, producing lead azide, aluminum and bronze shelled blasting caps, metal wires, and aluminum and copper shells at the site. DuPont’s operations and waste management practices resulted in the discharge and release of scores of hazardous substances and pollutants, including volatile organic compounds, such as trichloroethylene and perchloroethylene, and metals, such as lead and mercury, into the streams, rivers, and lakes, as well as the groundwater, soils, sediments, wetlands, and other natural resources at and around the site.
The Chambers Works facility began making gunpowder and other explosives and later transitioned to dyes and chemicals, including the use of PFAS in the 1950’s. During DuPont’s operations, hundreds of pollutants and hazardous substances were discharged into the environment, making Chambers Works one of the most contaminated sites in New Jersey. It is saturated with a wide variety of pollutants and hazardous substances, including semi-volatile organic compounds, volatile organic compounds, metals, pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls, and PFAS.
DuPont began operating the Parlin site as a chemical manufacturing plant in 1904. PFAS contamination, as well as a variety of other contamination, has been found in the surface waters, groundwater, soils, sediments, air, wetlands, and other natural resources on and around the Sayreville site.
The Repauno site began as another DuPont explosives and chemicals facility, and the company’s first research laboratory was located here. A significant amount of hazardous waste was disposed of in unlined landfills, sand tar pits, pipes and ditch basins, contaminating surface water, groundwater, soils, sediments, wetlands, and biota.
Given the State’s industrial and manufacturing legacy, New Jersey is a national leader in assessing and responding to environmental and public health risks presented by PFAS. In 2019, DEP issued a Statewide PFAS Directive to DuPont, 3M, Solvay and other companies, ordering them to address their contribution to the injury of numerous environmentally sensitive natural resources, including regional potable groundwater resources. The lawsuits against those companies, and others, followed.
New Jersey was also the first state in the nation to set maximum contaminant levels (i.e., enforceable drinking water standards) for certain PFAS, and New Jersey led the way in conducting statewide occurrence studies of PFAS in drinking water.
Next Steps
The DuPont settlement announced today will be published in the New Jersey Register and available for public comment shortly. The 3M settlement was published in the New Jersey Register on July 21 and comments can be submitted through September 19. Both settlements are subject to approval by the U.S. District Court.
