On June 24, 2026, plaintiffs United States of America and State of West Virginia filed a Complaint and lodged a proposed Consent Decree (“US Consent Decree”) with the Chemours Company and Chemours Company FC, LLC regarding PFAS at three major operating fluorochemical facilities: Washington Works, West Virginia; Fayetteville Works, North Carolina; and Chambers Works, New Jersey. Entry of that US Consent Decree is adamantly opposed by at least one of the host states, North Carolina. It is not apparent at this point that New Jersey filed any comment on the US Consent Decree within the 30-day comment period.
The Complaint alleges violations of the federal Toxic Substances Control Act (“TSCA”); Clean Water Act (“CWA”); and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (“RCRA”) as well as the West Virginia Water Pollution Control Act (“WPCA”).
The accompanying proposed US Consent Decree would resolve the allegations through: a civil penalty of $22.5M (paid over 3 years); injunctive relief regarding PFAS mitigation at the three facilities under TSCA, CWA and WPCA; certification of compliance regarding the alleged RCRA violations; drinking water relief that lowers the triggers for existing drinking water treatment/replacement for private and public systems near the West Virginia and New Jersey facilities to 4 ppt for PFOA and 10 ppt for GenX and greatly expands those obligations; and funding or performance of additional projects to reduce emissions and discharges of PFAS from operations (and/or provide additional drinking water relief) of up to $90M over 15 years at $6M per year.
Unlike West Virginia, the host states of North Carolina and New Jersey are not parties to the Complaint or the US Consent Decree. In fact, according to comments submitted in opposition to the Consent Decree on July 29, 2026 by North Carolina, “EPA [the United States Environmental Protection Agency] elected to coordinate with West Virginia, giving North Carolina no opportunity for input in the deal before it was finalized.”
North Carolina contends the proposed US Consent Decree is procedurally unfair because it violates principles of cooperative federalism, bypassing the state’s input and involvement, and is substantively unfair, inadequate, unreasonable and against public policy because: 1) it would not ensure reduction of PFAS pollution in North Carolina beyond what is already required of the Fayetteville plant, 2) includes engineering evaluations, including for Fayetteville Works, that lack enforceable standards, 3) fails to justify the inclusion of a requirement for expanded sampling and remediation of drinking water in West Virginia and New Jersey, but not North Carolina, 4) imposes general mitigation requirements that provide no assurance of environmental benefits in North Carolina, and 5) resolves over two hundred alleged CWA violations at the Fayetteville Works “with no benefit,” including no specific CWA relief or penalty payment, to North Carolina.
The 30-day comment period is now closed. Unless EPA and the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) choose to negotiate with North Carolina, or any other commenter/objector, the next step for DOJ is to file a motion asking the Court to enter the US Consent Decree. It will be interesting to see how, in the Motion and expected fairness hearing, DOJ responds to North Carolina’s objections. We will stay tuned.
Post script: Though the US Consent Decree addresses PFAS discharges from Chemours’ operations at Chambers Works and to some degree its Parlin, New Jersey facilities, there is little apparent overlap between the US Consent Decree and New Jersey’s recently entered Judicial Consent Order with Chemours (and other DuPont related entities) regarding PFAS impacts in New Jersey (“New Jersey JCO”). The US Consent Decree generally resolves and defines environmental compliance for PFAS in ongoing operations; the New Jersey JCO primarily addresses historic PFAS impacts. Two areas of potential overlap — requirements that Chemours investigate and treat drinking water near Chambers Works under the US Consent Decree (US Consent Decree Exhibit E) and requirements that Chemours evaluate the continued presence and discharge of PFAS from the Chambers Works and Parlin operations under the New Jersey JCO (NJ JCO para. 40).