DuPont, Chemours & Corteva Agree To Pay Delaware $50 Mill For Damage Caused By Their ‘Forever’ Chemicals

This is a BFD.

According to this News-Journal article:

(AG Kathy) Jennings’ justice department had intended to file a massive lawsuit against DuPont, Chemours and Corteva earlier this year.

The department spent more than two years on its investigation, which consisted of environmental sampling, forensic analysis and a review of corporate records. The department sought monetary damages and costs necessary to restore impacted natural resources and funding for state-run public health programs.

Here’s how the settlement plays out:

DuPont and Corteva will each contribute $12.5 million and Chemours will contribute $25 million, the result of a cost-sharing agreement reached earlier this year between the companies.

An additional $25 mill could also come Delaware’s way depending on the outcomes of the Serial Polluters’ many other lawsuits.  Here’s what DuPont did to West Virginia.  Oh, and they knew how harmful the PFA’s were, but kept on using them:

Corporate records from 3M and DuPont showed that both companies developed a sophisticated understanding of health and environmental hazards that PFAS posed no later than the 1960s. Both companies concealed the information and submitted thousands of industrial applications for the chemicals, generating billions of dollars in revenue.

After 3M was pressured by the EPA to withdraw from the manufacturing of PFOA, DuPont— despite fully understanding the compound’s hazards, having bought it from 3M and used it since the 1950s — decided to begin manufacturing on its own.

DuPont started purchasing PFOA from Minnesota-based 3M in 1951 to use in the manufacturing of Teflon. It calls the PFOA C8.

Here’s what the funds will be used for:

The settlement funds announced Tuesday will be administered by the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) and the Department of Public Health. They will be used for the following purposes:

• Purifying drinking water and restoring natural resources, including wildlife, habitats, and aquatic resources.
• Environmental sampling and testing to ascertain the presence of PFAS and other contaminants in the ground, water, and air.
• Research and development, with a focus on PFAS detection and abatement technologies.
• Community environmental justice and equity grants, including funding for community health clinics and initiatives in communities located near industrial and manufacturing areas known to be impacted by PFAS contamination.

OK, I have two concerns: First, DNREC has been anything but a reliable ally for poorer communities who experience a disproportionate amount of contamination from PFA’s. Second, while I support community environmental justice and equity grants, I want to see these areas detoxified to the extent that they can be.

Which reminds me, yes, DuPont has been Delaware’s All-Time Serial Polluter.  But there are scores of companies making all sorts of contaminants right in, or adjacent to, some of Delaware’s poorest communities.  Just last year Governor Carnage (why didn’t I think of that before?) hailed the addition of one such company to the already exploited community of Southbridge. Economic Development Uber Alles.  We need leaders who will fight for the residents in these areas. Marie Pinkney is one such leader:  Her final oversized piece (‘some’ would say too oversized) in 2020 addressed the issue of ‘forever chemicals’ head on.  Leaders in the impacted communities need to join her, or retire.

This is a major accomplishment by the Attorney General and Delaware’s Department Of Justice.  How the remediations are carried out, and where the remediations are carried out will determine just how much justice has been done.  But we’re all in a better place today because of this settlement.