454% over limit: Chemours accused of threatening drinking water via illegal PFAS dumps

A West Virginia environmental group has presented evidence indicating a chemical giant is persisting in unlawfully dumping a toxic chemical into the Ohio River amid a federal court case the group filed to stop the pollution.

A motion on behalf of the West Virginia Rivers Coalition in that case Tuesday asked the court to stop the Chemours Company FC LLC from what the group says is Chemours violating its water pollution limits for the industrial chemical that can have significant health impacts.

The Rivers Coalition says the chemical is discharging from two outlets at Chemours’ Washington Works plant in Wood County into the Ohio River.

The Ohio River is a drinking water source for more than 5 million people.

Tuesday’s court filing cites state Department of Environmental Protection discharge monitoring reports to allege Chemours exceeded its average monthly limit in November 2024 for hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid, known as HFPO-DA, at the two outlets by 454% and 166%, respectively. The pollution spike was so large it was noticeable 270 river miles downstream in Cincinnati’s drinking water intake, according to the court filing.

HFPO-DA is one of a class of chemicals called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, which have been dubbed “forever chemicals” because they persist in the bloodstream.

The motion seeking a preliminary injunction comes in a Rivers Coalition lawsuit against Chemours filed in December to stop alleged permit exceedances at the Washington Works plant.

“Without an injunction, Chemours will effectively have an unlimited license to pollute the Ohio River and downstream drinking water indefinitely,” Tuesday’s motion stated.

The litigation comes amid the long-lingering limbo of a PFAS cleanup plan proposed by Chemours in August 2023 and still under U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as that agency faces deep personnel and resource cuts under the Trump administration.

Multistate drinking water risk escalation feared

Rivers Coalition attorneys submitted testimony from Greater Cincinnati Water Works treatment superintendent Jeff Swertfeger stating a significant increase in discharge levels of HFPO-DA since July 2024 as reported by Chemours corresponds with Cincinnati drinking water utility detections of high HFPO-DA levels in the Ohio River at the Richard Miller Treatment Plant.

Almost 90% of water supplied by the Greater Cincinnati Water Works comes from the plant, according to Swertfeger’s testimony dated Feb. 20.

The Greater Cincinnati Water Works is concerned elevated HFPO-DA levels reportedly being discharged by Chemours from its Washington Works plant may pose an increased public health risk to Kentucky and Ohio communities that use the Ohio River as their drinking water source, Swertfeger said in his testimony.

In the complaint filed on its behalf Tuesday, the Rivers Coalition objects to what it said would be an “unconscionable delay in treatment” stemming from Chemours’ request of the DEP and EPA for a three-year compliance schedule to upgrade its treatment system.

The complaint contends Chemours can reduce discharges of HFPO-DA to the Ohio River by reducing the amount of fluoropolymers it makes since HFPO-DA is a key part of the fluoropolymer manufacturing process. Chemours has said fluoropolymers aid in making semiconductors, automobiles and airplanes.

Rivers Coalition attorneys asked the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia to bar Chemours from violating its HFPO-DA permit limits “by any means necessary,” including reducing the production that leads to process wastewater containing HFPO-DA or sending that wastewater offsite for disposal by deep-well injection or incineration.

The motion was filed by attorneys at Lewisburg-based environmental law firm Appalachian Mountain Advocates and Washington, D.C.-based human rights-focused law firm Public Justice.

AHFPO-DA has been linked to cancer, endocrine disruption and reproductive and immune system harms.

The Rivers Coalition lawsuit has asked the court to make Chemours pay up to $66,712 a day for each Clean Water Act violation determined, per a section of the law — and restore the environment “to its prior condition.”

Chemours says it’s committed to being a ‘good neighbor’

Chemours spokeswoman Cassie Olszewski said in an email Wednesday the company is disappointed by the preliminary injunction request, claiming the Rivers Coalition’s concerns already are being addressed through an April 2023 consent order between the EPA and Chemours.

That consent order required Chemours to develop and submit a plan to comply with permitted limits for PFAS discharges into the Ohio River.

But the lack of EPA approval has held up potential pollution control since the plan estimates that it would take 14 months for design, five months for bidding and contracting, nine months for permitting and 10 months for construction.

EPA spokeswoman Amanda Hancher said Wednesday the plan Chemours submitted in 2023 still is under review and declined further comment.

Olszewski noted that Chemours is awaiting approval of its plan.

“As always, Chemours is committed to being a good neighbor and invites the Coalition to engage directly with the Washington Works team as a community stakeholder,” Olszewski said.

The EPA terminated 388 employees after a “thorough review of agency functions in accordance with President Trump’s executive orders,” the EPA press office said in an email. Many more EPA employees have been placed on administrative leave, and further cuts are expected to programs and funding aimed at addressing pollution.

DEP cites wait for cleanup plan OK after permit exceedances

A DEP emergency response report in response to a spill reported on the Washington Works permit and investigated on Jan. 8, 2025 noted results at the two facility outlets into the Ohio River highlighted by the Rivers Coalition lawsuit 63% and 56% above the limits, respectively.

In the report, a DEP inspector observed Chemours consistently exceeds permitted effluent limits for HFPO-DA during wet weather periods. No enforcement action was taken, the report stated, noting Chemours was awaiting EPA approval of its 2023 cleanup plan to “begin large-scale corrective measures.”

If approved and implemented, that plan would address four outlets at Chemours’ Washington Works facility, three of which discharge directly into the Ohio River. The plan pledges that it would result in consistently meeting water pollution control permit limits for two PFAS: HFPO-DA and perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA.

Under the plan, the outlet with the highest average flow at 47 million gallons per day would be addressed by diverting and treating dry weather flows.

Chemours reported Nov. 21, 2024, sample results 183% and 8% above permit limits in a Dec. 9 letter to the DEP, saying the exceedances likely were caused by a 2-inch rain event combined with air deposition from the facility.

The toxic legacy at Washington Works

DuPont began using PFOA to make Teflon-products at the Washington Works site in 1951.

PFOA was replaced at the facility by DuPont with HFPO-DA, which has been used there as a polymer processing aid since 2013, per the EPA. Chemours, which was spun off from DuPont in 2015, took over the site that year.

After PFOA used to make Teflon-related products at the Washington Works facility discharged into water supplies, people living in the area experienced increased rates of:

* Testicular and kidney cancer

* Thyroid disease

* Ulcerative colitis

* Pregnancy-induced hypertension

Ohio officials announced a proposed $110 million settlement with manufacturers that included Chemours and DuPont in November 2023. West Virginia has refrained from similar legal action against the manufacturers over PFAS.

The EPA has said DuPont failed for more than two decades to report data indicating PFAS health risks from manufacturing at the Washington Works plant. The company agreed to pay $10.25 million for reporting violations in 2005 in what the EPA then said was the largest civil administrative penalty it ever obtained under a federal environmental statute.

In 2021, DuPont, Corteva Inc. and the Chemours Co. settled for $83 million in multidistrict litigation over PFOA contamination of drinking water supplies. The companies also agreed to establish a cost-sharing arrangement and escrow account of up to $1 billion to support future legacy PFAS liabilities coming from before Chemours was formed as a spinoff of DuPont’s performance chemicals division in 2015.

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