Trenton, NJ — A Belgium-based chemical company will spend about $393 million in New Jersey’s drinking water and soil to clean up pollution from its so-called forever chemicals and compensate for the environmental damage they cause, under a settlement announced Wednesday.
Solvay Specialty Polymers USA, LLC entered into a legal settlement with the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office and the Department of Environmental Protection over pollution in and around its West Deptford plant in southwestern New Jersey, near Philadelphia.
The state was suing Solvay and several other companies to force them to clean up contamination with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known collectively as PFAS chemicals. The substances are commonly called “forever chemicals” because they never break down and are difficult to remove from water and soil, said Shawn Latourette, New Jersey’s Environmental Protection Commissioner.
These substances can harm fetuses and unborn babies, and have been linked to kidney and testicular cancer and other diseases.
They have been used for more than 60 years and have become a staple of modern life for consumers who want to protect their clothes from stains or water, and prevent food from sticking to cookware. According to the Department of the Environment, they have been used in brands such as Stainmaster, Scotchgard, Teflon, Gore-Tex and Tyvek.
Attorney General Matthew Platkin said, “For years, corporations including Solvay have put financial gain at the expense of our clean drinking water and the health of millions of people.” in our bodies.”
New Jersey has been pursuing several other companies since 2019 for similar contamination. Those matters remain in litigation, and Latourette acknowledged that the problem goes far beyond the actions of one company.
“Our PFAS challenges in New Jersey are deep, they are significant, and they will not be resolved by this one action alone,” Latourette said.
Mike Finelli, Solvay’s chief North America officer, said the agreement “allows all parties to continue to focus on cleaning the environment.”
He said the company has been investigating and remediating PFAS at its West Deptford site since 2013, including working with the city to install a drinking water treatment system at a municipal well; putting a cap on the Solvay facility to prevent the spread of contamination; Construction and operation of an offsite groundwater pump and treatment system, and augmentation of on-site groundwater treatment systems.
Finelli said the company’s products are used in a range of applications, including lithium-ion batteries, components for compact engines in hybrid vehicles, medical device components and smart devices.
For more than 30 years, Solvay’s West Deptford site across the Delaware River from Philadelphia International Airport has been manufacturing industrial plastics, coatings and other chemicals.
The agreement obliges Solvay to clean up pollution on and around its site, work with the state to limit ongoing discharges, and test for contaminants in public and private water sources in the area.
The company will pay $214 million to guarantee that the Department of the Environment will have money to complete the cleanup if Solvay fails to meet its obligations. It will also commit $100 million to address PFAS impacts on drinking water or private wells in more than a dozen communities.
Solvay must spend $75 million to compensate the public for damages to natural resources and $3.7 million to reimburse the Department of the Environment for its enforcement efforts in the case.
Environmental groups reacted cautiously to the agreement, saying many of its details needed to be studied.
“The communities in the Delaware River region that have been irreparably harmed by Solvay and the highly toxic contamination they spread have suffered tremendous losses, and any settlement between the Department of the Environment and Solvay will help,” said Tracy Carluccio, deputy director of the Department of the Environment and Solvay. They need to benefit directly from what has happened.” Delaware Riverkeeper Network.
“Forcing Solvay to pay and clean up is long overdue,” said Amy Goldsmith, state director of Clean Water Action. “Polluters like Solvay should be punished and hit harder for what they have done.”
Bill Wolfe, a former Department of the Environment official and longtime critic of the agency, said most of the payments Solvay makes are required under existing Department of the Environment regulations and should not be considered the result of litigation.
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