On September 9, 2026, the State of North Carolina and 11 local entities (10 municipalities and a local water and sewer authority) entered into a proposed settlement with Chemours Company, The Chemours Company FC, LLC, DuPont de Nemours, Inc., Corteva, Inc., and EIDP, Inc. (collectively “Chemours/DuPont”), broadly resolving PFAS contamination-related and natural resource damage claims in North Carolina in exchange for payment of $455 million over 15 years, completion of obligations under a 2019 Consent Order related to the Fayetteville Works facility, and establishment of a $135 million reserve fund to assure remediation. Released claims include, among others, claims related to contamination from past discharges from the Fayetteville Works facility and contamination arising from the past manufacture and sale of PFAS containing products used in the State, including fire-fighting foams.
As reported previously, just a few months earlier Chemours entered into a proposed Consent Decree with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“USEPA”) and West Virginia (“WV”), related to PFAS emissions and discharges from three operating facilities, including Fayetteville Works. North Carolina submitted strong opposition to that USEPA/WV Consent Decree on July 29, 2026, contending, among other things, that it offered too few concrete benefits to the citizens of North Carolina. The North Carolina settlement does not say whether the State now agrees to withdraw its opposition to the USEPA/WV settlement. In announcing its settlement, NCDEQ stated:
“This deal is a vast improvement over the Environmental Protection Agency’s deal with Chemours earlier this year, which promised only $90 million in environmental projects across three different states, with no guarantee of any of that money coming to North Carolina. The EPA and Chemours reached that deal without consulting the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office or the Department of Environmental Quality.”
USEPA has not yet moved for entry of the Consent Decree. Though both agreements are PFAS-related, they can be viewed as distinct in that one primarily addresses ongoing PFAS discharges and emissions from operating fluorochemical facilities (USEPA/WV Consent Decree) the other primarily provides funding to address PFAS impacts from historic contamination (while reinforcing pre-existing requirements on Fayetteville operations)(Chemours/DuPont Settlement).
We will monitor and report.