Dive Brief:
- The U.S. subsidiary of Brussels-based chemical company Solvay S.A. reached a $392.7 million settlement proposal with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection last month to address per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) contamination claims in the state.
- The settlement is the first of its kind to address PFAS contamination in New Jersey, focusing on “forever chemical” cleanup efforts near Solvay Specialty Polymers USA’s manufacturing site in West Deptford, New Jersey, which manufactured fluorosurfactants, a type of PFAS used to make industrial plastics, coatings and other chemicals.
- It’s the largest financial package for the cleanup of a single contaminated site in the state’s history, according to New Jersey State Attorney General Matthew Platkin. Beyond the site cleanup, the deal would help pay for upgrades to the state’s water systems to address the impact of PFAS and compensate the public for damage done to natural resources in a 37-mile area around the site.
Dive Insight:
New Jersey’s dealings with Solvay Specialty Polymers USA dates back to 2019, when it issued a directive to the company — along with E.I. DuPont de Nemours, then conglomerate DowDuPont, the Chemours Co. and 3M — to fund the state’s PFAS assessment and cleanup efforts in the state.
In November 2020, the state filed a lawsuit against Solvay and the West Deptford plant’s previous owner, Arkema, after the former failed to comply with the state’s directive order, according to court filings. The proposed settlement will resolve Solvay’s obligations under the 2019 state directive but not Arkema’s, according to an email from the New Jersey Office of Attorney General.
Under the new proposed agreement, Solvay Specialty Polymers USA will pay $100 million to remediate “forever chemicals” contamination of the state’s natural resources near the West Deptford plant.
The settlement would also investigate and address PFAS impacts on the city’s public water systems and private drinking water wells, as well as fund water system upgrades and pay $75 million to the public for natural resources harmed by toxic substances.
The company will be required to post $214 million to guarantee that the state will have sufficient financial resources to complete the cleanup if Solvay fails to meet its obligations.
Lastly, Solvay will pay $3.7 million to the state’s environmental agency for past costs to address the company’s contamination.
“For years, corporations, including Solvay, have put financial gain over our clean drinking water and the health of millions of people,” Platkin said a statement announcing the agreement. “We send a clear message to any corporation that exposes our New Jersey communities to PFAS toxins or injures our natural resources with any hazardous substance: you will face consequences for your actions. You have our promise.”
Solvay has made some recent changes to limit its use of harmful chemicals. The company announced in May 2021 that it would discontinue using fluorosurfactants in the U.S. in favor of new non-fluorosurfactant technologies, which went into full production at the West Deptford facility by the end of June 2021.
“Our PFAS challenges in New Jersey are deep, they are significant, and they won’tbe resolved by this one action alone,” NJDEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette said in his remarks during a June 28 press conference. “What this action proposes to do is to help us to better characterize, to investigate and to cleanup one of our most severe areas of significant PFAS impacts.”
