RALEIGH, NC—Kelley Drye announced that North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson, Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Reid Wilson, and the entire State of North Carolina team on securing a $590 settlement with Chemours, DuPont and Corteva – the largest total environmental damages recovery in the state’s history. Together with the nearly $1.2 billion Chemours has already spent to comply with the state’s 2019 consent order, state and local governments have recovered nearly $2 billion in total value for North Carolina and its residents.
The settlement resolves litigation brought by the State and 11 local governments against Chemours, DuPont and their affiliates for decades of discharges of PFAS “forever chemicals” into neighboring communities and the Cape Fear River, impacting the drinking water of over 500,000 North Carolinians. The settlement recovers $455 million in PFAS-treatment costs and natural resource damages, and also secures $135 million in financial assurance from DuPont to stand behind the remediation obligations of Chemours under the 2019 consent order.
Under the terms of the agreement, $455 million in guaranteed payments will be made to the State and local governments over the next 10 to 15 years, with $75 million allocated to the State, including roughly $55 million directed to an Emerging Contaminant Mitigation Fund recently created by the North Carolina General Assembly to support local efforts to detect and reduce contaminants in drinking water. The remaining $380 million will be divided among 11 affected local governments, including Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus, Cumberland, New Hanover, Robeson and Sampson Counties, the Town of Wrightsville Beach, the City of Lumberton, the Village of Bald Head Island, and the Lower Cape Fear Water and Sewer Authority.
The settlement also establishes a $135 million reserve fund from DuPont and Corteva to support Chemours’ ongoing obligations under the 2019 consent order. The agreement reinforces NCDEQ’s enforcement of those obligations, which include measures to reduce PFAS discharges and migration, control air emissions, address contaminated groundwater and stormwater, and provide clean drinking water to families with contaminated wells. The reserve fund will help ensure that families receiving clean drinking water continue to have access to it if Chemours is unable to meet its obligations.
The Kelley Drye team, led by Corley, included Partners Bill Jackson, Melissa Byroade, Laura Duncan, Levi Downing, Elizabeth Krasnow, and David Zalman; Special Counsel Ivan Morales, Frances Morris, Lauren Shah, Nancy Yanochik, and Curt Marshall; Senior Associate Fanny Turcios; Associate Maria Pimienta; and paralegal Charity Smith, and a large team of other firm attorneys and professional staff. The North Carolina Attorney General’s team was led by Asher Spiller, Laura Howard and Marc Bernstein.
