Decision Affects Washington Works Plant on the Ohio River Based on a Clean Water Act Citizen Suit

From WV Rivers

CHARLESTON, W. Va. — Today, a Consent Decree was lodged in the Southern District of West Virginia that, if approved by the court after a public comment period, would resolve many longstanding violations of federal law by The Chemours Company FC, LLC’s at its Washington Works plant, including unlawful discharges of GenX to the Ohio River—a PFAS forever chemical linked to liver disease and other harmful health effects. 

The proposed court-supervised agreement includes $22.5 million in civil penalties and establishes a clear path forward to end excessive PFAS discharges into the Ohio River from the Washington Works plant. Under the terms of the decree, Chemours must halt its excessive discharges at its source, which includes implementing various projects to treat its process wastewater, groundwater, and stormwater for PFAS, as well as spending up to an additional $90 million over the next 15 years to further upgrade its facility’s infrastructure and systems. The decree also requires Chemours to upgrade its treatment of drinking water at facilities downstream of its Washington Works plant that are covered by an already existing Safe Drinking Water Act Consent Decree to ensure that GenX levels do not exceed 10 parts per trillion, the current Maximum Contaminant Level for GenX. The Lubeck Public Service District is one utility that will benefit from this upgraded treatment, which has seen GenX levels in the treated water as high as 40 ppt in 2024.      

Jennie Smith, Executive Director for West Virginia Rivers Coalition, stated that she “is very happy that this resolution has been reached. This agreement delivers what we have consistently advocated for: a permanent, dedicated funding source to protect our drinking water.” 

“For many years, local residents have dealt with the impacts of these ‘forever chemicals,’ and this legally binding agreement shifts the responsibility entirely to the company,” said Smith. “This settlement secures the infrastructure upgrades needed to safeguard our water resources for now and future generations. By pairing a $22.5 million financial settlement and implementation of treatment upgrades with an additional 15-year infrastructure overhaul, our water will be protected through strict, court-enforceable compliance measures.” 

WV Rivers Coalition was represented in the citizen suit by Appalachian Mountain Advocates and Public Justice. “We owe an immense amount of gratitude to our legal team. Their tireless dedication and excellent legal strategy gave us the power to hold a massive corporation accountable, securing enforceable protections for our environment,” said Jennie Smith.  

“The complaint and accompanying Consent Decree filed by the United States today piggy-back on the citizen suit filed by WV Rivers Coalition last year,” said Jim Hecker, senior environmental enforcement attorney at Public Justice. “Since the district court granted the Coalition’s motion for a preliminary injunction last August, Chemours has complied with the injunction and stopped its violations at two of its discharge points. The United States decree builds on that progress and demonstrates the power of citizens coming together to demand accountability through our legal system.” 

“This is exactly the role that citizen suits are supposed to play in protecting our nation’s waters—allowing affected citizens to seek judicial intervention to supplement government action. PFAS substances are forever chemicals that do not break down in the environment and exposure to them at extremely low levels increases public health risks, so successfully reducing Chemours’s discharges of such chemicals into the Ohio River through our citizen suit will have long-lasting effects for years to come.” – Amanda Demmerle, staff attorney at Appalachian Mountain Advocates

The settlement and its impact on those who rely on the Ohio River as a drinking water resource is a testament to the power of citizen suit litigation. For years, Chemours violated its Clean Water Act permit, discharging excessive amounts of GenX into the Ohio River. Downstream, water utilities in Cincinnati and Louisville correlated increased amounts of GenX in their water intakes with the violations at the Washington Works plant, showing just how persistent and far-reaching these forever chemicals can be in the environment. It was only after WV Rivers Coalition filed suit and obtained a preliminary injunction that Chemours finally complied with its Clean Water Act permit limits.

“Although EPA recognized as early as 2023 that Chemours was in consistent violation of its Clean Water Act permit at Washington Works, concrete steps to reduce GenX and other pollutants reaching the Ohio lagged. WV Rivers Coalition’s citizen suit filled the gap and forced Chemours to find short-term solutions to their excessive PFAS discharges until EPA and Chemours reached today’s agreement,” said Amanda Demmerle, staff attorney at Appalachian Mountain Advocates. “This is exactly the role that citizen suits are supposed to play in protecting our nation’s waters—allowing affected citizens to seek judicial intervention to supplement government action. PFAS substances are forever chemicals that do not break down in the environment and exposure to them at extremely low levels increases public health risks, so successfully reducing Chemours’s discharges of such chemicals into the Ohio River through our citizen suit will have long-lasting effects for years to come.”