Lawsuit Shows DuPont Downplays Environmental Liability

According to a lawsuit unsealed on Friday, The DuPont Co. massively downplayed the cost of environmental liabilities with which Chemours would be responsible for. For example, Potential environmental liabilities in New Jersey similarly far exceed the $337 million cited by DuPont at the time of the spinoff, Chemours contends. Chemours is a former DuPont unit that was spun off as an independent company in 2015.  Under the spinoff agreement, DuPont can seek indemnification from Chemours for environmental remediation costs.

“DuPont severely underestimated the cost of the toxic mess they have made.  This was part of spinning off their liabilities to a new company and to get around paying for a full environment cleanups. This was one of our major concerns when we opposed the spinoff of Chemours. We believe they did this deliberately to get around liabilities and cleanups. These were the things we were concerned about at the time of the spin off with Chemours. When they do these spinoffs, it’s often partly to try to get around their liabilities, so that the parent company can be healthy financially. There will be less money to deal with cleanups and the pollution that affects surrounding areas like in Pompton Lakes,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “It is critical that New Jersey holds DuPont accountable. They need to clean up their mess and compensate for the damages to the environment.”

At the time of the spinoff, DuPont was facing multidistrict litigation involving 3,500 personal injury claims related to PFOA, a chemical used in the production of Teflon, Chemours noted. DuPont estimated the maximum liability for those cases at $128 million. It settled 19 months later for $671 million, with DuPont agreeing to pay half the settlement amount, and up to $125 million more toward costs of other PFOA-related litigation. The last DuPont site on the list is the Chemours Repauno in Gibbstown, New Jersey.  The site’s groundwater and soil is now contaminated with toxic chemicals. In 2016, a town filed a lawsuit against chemical giant DuPont alleging the company avoided paying the more than $1 billion cost to clean up its hazardous waste.

“At the time, when we said this was a bad deal for the people of Pompton Lakes and everyone else, we asked the Attorney General to intervene. We knew DuPont would dump its liabilities and leave New Jersey will inadequate resources to do proper cleanups. DuPont is now trying to pay for a cheaper cleanup of natural attenuation in Pompton Lakes but the DEP is not stopping them. DuPont is also responsible for avoiding to pay over $1 billion in damages from the contamination near their Repauno site in Gibbstown,” said Tittel.

New Jersey officials, meanwhile, filed several lawsuits against DuPont and Chemours earlier this year over DuPont’s legacy environmental liabilities. The Attroney General filed 4 complaints on DuPont at their following sites: Pompton Lakes, Parin Facility in Sayerville, Repauno site in Gloucester County, and their Chamber Works site in Pennsville. Back in 2015, Newark agreed to settle lawsuits over DuPont’s toxic former factory that the spread of pollutants including Hexavlent Chromium. DuPont is also responsible for contamination at their Hercules site in Gibbstown.

The lawsuits filed by Attorney General Grewal on DuPont will require them to clean up contaminated sites like Pompton Lakes. For example the community of Pompton Lakes have been suffering for decades from the mess created at the Chemours/ DuPont Pompton Lakes Works Site.

“The Attorney General should intervene in this Chemours suit against DuPont to make sure New Jersey receives adequate money for the cleanup and damages brought to the state. The damages to our environment, drinking water, and fisheries from DuPont’s toxic products are serious. This is why it so important for the Murphy Administration to make sure DuPont does not downplay the cost of these environmental liabilities. It is critical for the sake of our public health that DuPont cleans up their mess and fully compensates New Jersey for the damages they have done,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.