OFFICIAL SITE OF THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY
Solvay West Deptford Plant PFAS Settlement
For over thirty years, Solvay Specialty Polymers USA, LLC (Solvay) manufactured chemicals at its West Deptford, Gloucester County facility, discharging per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and other hazardous substances into the environment. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued a Statewide Directive in 2019, ordering Solvay and other companies responsible for PFAS contamination to clean up their pollution. And, in 2020, DEP took Solvay to court to compel more swift and immediate action to clean up the contamination.
On June 28, 2023, the DEP reached a proposed settlement with Solvay that would ensure the timely cleanup of PFAS and hazardous substances in the vicinity of the West Deptford site and compensate the public for injuries to their natural resources.
DEP published a formal notice of the proposed settlement, together with the proposed settlement agreement in the New Jersey Register on August 7, 2023.
“Our Department of Environmental Protection is determined to hold industrial users and manufacturers of PFAS responsible for the havoc wrought by their forever chemicals,” DEP Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette said. “This proposed settlement marks a significant milestone in New Jersey’s nation-leading efforts to better protect public health and our environment from the dangers of PFAS. It requires Solvay to fund critical environmental investigations, remediation activities, and natural resource restoration projects that will improve drinking water and environmental quality in the Gloucester and Camden County communities that have borne the brunt of PFAS impacts that DEP associates with Solvay. As DEP oversees the implementation of this settlement in South Jersey, we will continue to pursue other PFAS users and manufacturers for the widespread harm their chemicals have caused across our state.”
Public comments on the proposed settlement were accepted through October 6, 2023.
The court approved the settlement, as modified in response to public comments, on March 6, 2024.
The Solvay Settlement
The settlement reached by DEP is the first of its kind to address PFAS contamination in New Jersey. As modified in response to comments received during the public comment period, it would include environmental cleanup actions plus financial commitments of $393.8 million, including commitments by Solvay to:
- Pay for and implement comprehensive remedial activities at and in the vicinity of its West Deptford manufacturing site
- Provide financial support for certain public water system upgrades necessary to remove PFAS from drinking water, which will be administered by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)
- Further investigate and address certain PFAS impacts to public water systems and private potable drinking water wells in the vicinity
- Compensate the public for natural resources injured by the discharge of hazardous substances
Further details can be found in the Notice of Proposed Settlement, which appeared in the August 7, 2023 edition of the New Jersey Register. DEP has also offered these responses to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about the proposed settlement.
DEP Responds to Comments on the Proposed Solvay Settlement and Court Enters Modified Settlement
The Department published a formal notice of the proposed settlement in the New Jersey Register at 55 N.J.R. 1747(a) (Aug. 7, 2023) and on its website. The public was invited to submit comments on the proposed settlement. The public comment period closed on October 6, 2023.
A number of municipalities, organizations, and individuals submitted comments, which the Department reviewed. The Department’s responses to the public’s comments on the proposed settlement are available below, along with the final settlement (as modified in response to public comments), which the Department submitted to the court on January 31, 2024 for which the court approved and entered as an enforceable Judicial Consent Order on March 6, 2024.
Additional Information
Separate Settlement with Arkema
For information about a separate settlement with Arkema, Inc., the other defendant in the litigation, go to the separate webpage on the Arkema settlement.