DuPont, Chemours and Corteva settle with Ohio for $110 million for PFAS leaching that began in the 1960s

Wilmington, DE – DuPont de Nemours, Inc. announced that DuPont, The Chemours Company and Corteva, Inc. reached a settlement agreement with The State of Ohio designed to benefit Ohio’s natural resources and the people of the State of Ohio.

Gov. Mike DeWine, then the attorney general of Ohio, sued E.I. Du Pont De Nemours and Co. and Chemours in 2018. The lawsuit alleged the companies dumped at least 500,000 pounds of PFOAs (a subset of PFAs) into the Ohio River, along with air releases, which have caused significant damage to human health and the environment.

The complaint states DuPont used PFOAs to make Teflon products at its Washington Works plant in Parkersburg, West Virginia. By 1961, its officials understood the toxic nature of the chemicals. By 1966, they knew it was leaching into the groundwater. From there, the suit alleges a broadening understanding of the human health risks and increased seepages into the air and water supply, plus legal and reputational risks to the company.

As part of the settlement, the Companies agreed to pay the State of Ohio a combined total of $110 million, 80 percent of which the State has allocated to restoration of natural resources related to operation of the Washington Works facility. Consistent with the binding Memorandum of Understanding between the Companies reached in January 2021, DuPont’s share of the settlement will be approximately $39 million.

Among other things, and subject to certain limitations and preservations, the settlement resolves the State’s claims relating to releases of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (generically referred to as “PFAS”) in or into the State from the Companies’ facilities and claims relating to the manufacture and sale of PFAS-containing products. The settlement also resolves the State’s claims related to aqueous film-forming foam (“AFFF”).