Attorney General Jennifer Davenport and Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Acting Commissioner Ed Potosnak today announced judicial approval of two groundbreaking settlements to remedy long-standing statewide contamination from PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), also known as “forever chemicals,” as well as PFAS and other pollutants originating from four significant industrial sites. The settlements resolve the State’s claims in years-long litigation against E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Co. (now known as EIDP, Inc.) and other DuPont-related entities, and separate litigation against 3M.
The settlement with the DuPont entities, valued at over $2 billion, is on its own the largest environmental settlement ever achieved by a single state. Together, the settlements resolving the claims against the DuPont entities and 3M are valued at approximately $2.5 billion
“This is truly a historic moment for New Jersey, which has experienced disproportionate and extensive pollution impacts from decades of PFAS manufacturing and use by DuPont and 3M,” Acting Commissioner Potosnak said. “But this is only the beginning of what will be a long road to restore our environment from the unfortunate legacy of these chemicals. The DEP and the Sherrill Administration are committed to engaging the public and our stakeholders to maximize the public health and environmental protection benefits of these funds to heal New Jersey.”
“For years, corporate polluters have profited from ‘forever chemicals’ while causing untold damage to our communities—endangering the health of our kids, contaminating the water we drink, and exposing our first responders to dangerous carcinogens. Today’s landmark settlement cements New Jersey’s national leadership in the fight against forever chemicals and is a critical first step in undoing the damage DuPont and 3M have caused to our state,” said Attorney General Davenport. “Our office will continue to hold corporations accountable whenever they harm our communities, and I am eager to see the work begin to repair the decades of damage DuPont and 3M have caused in the Garden State.”
Including the settlements announced today and other settlements announced in recent years, New Jersey is slated to recover over $3 billion from lawsuits it has commenced since 2019 to compensate the State and address the damage caused by PFAS and other pollutants—confirming the State’s position as a national leader in protecting the public from the harms caused by PFAS.
The Dangers of PFAS
PFAS are synthetic chemicals that have been manufactured in the United States since the 1940s. They are used to make a variety of household, consumer, and industrial products and are known as “forever chemicals” because they do not degrade or break down over time, continuing to accumulate in the environment and in humans.
They are classified as likely carcinogens, with studies having shown that exposure to the chemicals may cause kidney, liver, and testicular cancer, as well as autoimmune and endocrine disorders in adults. PFAS have also been linked to developmental issues affecting fetuses during pregnancy and infants who breastfeed. In addition, babies and children are believed to be more susceptible to the harmful effects of PFAS.
Background on the Litigation
Together, both settlements resolve several years-long lawsuits against the DuPont defendants and 3M, including litigation regarding four DuPont industrial sites in New Jersey (including the Chambers Works site in Salem County); statewide litigation regarding the firefighting material known as aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF); and claims for PFAS contamination statewide, including claims associated with the defendants’ responsibilities under DEP’s Statewide PFAS Directive. The DuPont entities include EIDP, Inc.; the Chemours Company and The Chemours Company FC, LLC, both of which DuPont spun off in 2015; DuPont Specialty Products USA, LLC; Corteva Inc.; and DuPont de Nemours, Inc.
The proposed settlements with 3M and the DuPont entities, respectively, were announced in mid-2025. Consistent with New Jersey’s Spill Act, DEP published notices of both proposed settlements in the New Jersey Register and on DEP’s website. After sixty days of public comment, DEP carefully considered and responded to all comments before seeking judicial approval.
The State moved for judicial approval of the settlements in late 2025. Since then, the State has resolved objections raised by eighteen counties and a coalition of publicly owned wastewater treatment plants, further solidifying broad support for the settlements.
Settlement Funds
The total settlement payments by the DuPont entities and 3M will occur annually over 25 years.
PFAS Abatement Fund. Payments to be made for PFAS abatement collectively total up to $795 million. These funds will be held in dedicated trust accounts for the abatement of PFAS statewide. The PFAS Abatement Damages proceeds will be disbursed through two primary means.
First, PFAS Abatement Damages received by the State will be deposited into a separate, non-lapsing fund to be known as the “PFAS Abatement Fund.” That Fund will be allocated for use by the New Jersey Water Bank to provide loans that include no-interest, low-interest, and/or principal forgiveness. Those loans will finance water quality projects to ensure that drinking water systems and publicly-owned treatment works have a long-term, reliable funding source for the needed capital upgrades to address PFAS in our water supply. DEP will provide a minimum of $150 million from the PFAS Abatement Fund to the Water Bank to assist publicly-owned treatment works with the costs of abating PFAS.
Second, DEP will also use PFAS Abatement Damages to provide financial assistance to county, municipal, and local government units and the public, including private potable well owners, for projects to remediate and otherwise abate PFAS contamination. This will include a minimum of $90 million to a designated fund to be used by counties to investigate and remediate PFAS contamination at county-owned fire training academies and airports, both of which used aqueous film-forming foam containing PFAS.
Natural Resource Damages. Up to $365 million will compensate the State for damage to natural resources caused by releases of PFAS and other contaminants, and, consistent with the New Jersey Constitution, will be used to restore natural resources, including in the vicinity of four specific sites. Those sites are: Pompton Lakes Works, in Pompton Lakes and Wanaque, Passaic County; the Parlin site, in Sayreville, Middlesex County; the Repauno site, in Greenwich Township, Gloucester County; and Chambers Works, in Pennsville and Carneys Point Township, Salem County.
DEP will engage with the public on potential restoration projects. Municipalities and members of the public may submit potential restoration projects through DEP Office of Natural Resource Restoration’s Potential Restoration Project Submission Portal found at https://dep.nj.gov/nrr/potential-restoration-project-submission-portal/
Remediation Funding. In addition, to ensure that all the cleanup work at the four industrial sites is paid for without public funds, the DuPont entities also agreed to create remediation funding sources of up to $1.2 billion and to establish an additional reserve fund of $475 million to ensure that if any one of fails to fulfill their responsibilities to the state, taxpayers won’t be left to foot the bill. Under the settlement, the DuPont entities are required to fully remediate the industrial sites, regardless of ultimate cost.
Fees and costs. Finally, approximately $195 million in recovered funds will cover legal fees and costs.