— By Dede Williams — 

US chemical producer Chemours (Wilmington, Delaware; www.chemours.com) is once again on the receiving end of negative headlines surrounding per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).

A new lawsuit filed by US pressure group West Virginia Rivers Coalition (Charleston, West Virginia; www.wvrivers.org) accuses the former chemicals arm of compatriot group DuPont (Wilmington, Delaware; www.dupont.com) of exceeding “multiple times” the maximum discharge levels for the so-called forever chemicals established by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA, Washington, DC; www.epa.gov) in 2023.

The newest litigation pinpointing the troubled Washington Works in Parkersburg, West Virginia, which Chemours inherited in its 2015 spinoff from DuPont, was filed under a US Clean Water Act provision allowing private citizens to ask a judge to enforce federal laws if a polluter is in violation and regulatory authorities are not taking action.

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The Coalition said it is suing because the authorities have been lax in enforcing the EPA consent order governing PFAS discharges, Chemours has taken no action to comply with it, and “litigation is the only way forward.” The plaintiffs have asked the courts to require the chemical producer to pay USD 66,000 for each day it has been in violation of the order, as stipulated in the permit. This could cost the company up to USD 50 mn.

The chemical plant sits on the banks of the Ohio River that runs along the state border between Ohio and West Virginia and is a source of drinking water for an estimated 5 mn people. But rather than highlighting the threat to drinking water as most relevant, the latest lawsuit focuses on the negative effects that discharges of PFOA and surfactant GenX (hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid HFPO-DA) are having on recreational activities in the river’s downstream, such as fishing.

In response, Chemours said it has been addressing the concerns of the EPA’s consent order and is currently working with regulators to navigate the terms of permit renewals. Additionally, the company said it has invited members of the NGO, as a member of the community, to “engage directly” with the Washington Works team.

The case against Chemours stems from a May 2023 order from the EPA ordering the company to stop discharging “extremely high” levels of PFAS into the river. The agency’s Clean Water Act violation notice cited 71 instances between September 2018 and March 2023, in which it said the Washington Works exceeded its discharge permit.

Over the past two decades, Chemours and DuPont have paid millions of dollars in fines for exceeding discharge limits at the Washington Works and other company facilities and at times have been ordered to monitor their own wastewater discharges.

In the first of the many filings, a class action suit against DuPont settled in 2004, the chemical giant was ordered to pay USD 70 mn in damages to area residents who claimed that pollution from the West Virginia plant was causing their ill health. The award funded an epidemiological study with 70,000 participants that was conducted by scientists appointed by both sides.

In monitoring the subjects up to 2012, the panel concluded that there was a “probable link” between exposure to PFOA and some forms of cancer, thyroid disease, persistently high cholesterol, pregnancy-induced hypertension, and autoimmune problems. 

Subsequent studies are said to have shown links between the fluourochemical and a number of other serious health problems, including birth defects, neurotoxicity, kidney disease, and liver ailments.

In 2017, DuPont and Chemours jointly shouldered USD 671 mn to settle some 3,500 injury suits and install water-filtration systems throughout the Ohio River region, while launching barbs at each other over the way the payment was divided up. In 2023, the last joint case to date, Chemours, DuPont, and DuPont’s agrochemicals arm Corteva settled a dispute with the state of Ohio, paying altogether USD 110 mn in fines for pollution emanating from the Washington Works.

As to the NGO lawsuit’s charges that US authorities have been lax in pursuing permit violations, reports suggest that enforcement has not always been consistent. 

The authors of the new lawsuit, some of whom are veterans of the dispute settled in 2004, assert that the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has been slow to go after polluters. 

Rob Bilott, the attorney who led the original class action suit against DuPont, told UK news daily The Guardian that the EPA as well state agencies have at times been staffed with former DuPont managers or attorneys who have worked in or with the chemical industry and have little interest in regulation. 

On the watch of former President Joe Biden, EPA administrator Michael Regan made extensive efforts to identify and regulate PFAS pollution, among other things establishing an EPA council on PFAS and developing the agency’s PFAS Strategic Roadmap. These actions were followed in April 2024 by the first US national drinking water standards.

Under new Republican leadership since the third week of January 2025, the environmental watchdog has not commented on its past actions or any plans for the future. During his first term as president, Donald Trump was seen to be dismissive of efforts to curb PFAS pollution. It is unclear, however, how easy it would be for the new leadership to roll back the Biden EPA’s actions.

Before being confirmed by Congress last week, Lee Zeldine, Trump’s pick to be the EPA’s new administrator, received support jointly from the chemical producers’ association American Chemistry Council (ACC, Washington, DC; www.americanchemistry.com) and the Alliance for Chemical Distribution (ACD).

In an unusual move, under the headline “Lee Zeldin to Unleash American Greatness”, the agency’s press office released a statement of praise for the new EPA chief, signed by eight elected officials and 34 “stakeholders”, including representatives of industries that the agency regulates.