On August 7, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey approved the Judicial Consent Orders (“JCOs”) with 3M and the DuPont Entities (EIDP, Inc., Corteva, Inc., DuPont de Nemours Inc., DuPont Specialty Products USA, LLC, The Chemours Company, and The Chemours Company FC, LLC) which resolve NJDEP’s state-wide PFAS claims against the defendants. Under the JCOs, 3M and the DuPont Entities will pay New Jersey up to $1.325 billion in Natural Resource Damages and Abatement Damages over the next 25 years. Natural Resource Damages are costs for assessing and compensating the damage inflicted on the State’s natural resources. Abatement Damages are a form of compensation that will be used to improve and protect public health, safety, and the environment, such as addressing impacts from contamination and discharges from the DuPont Entities’ industrial sites, and supporting water quality infrastructure projects, including projects to install, operate, and maintain water treatment in public and private wells. The DuPont Entities will also be responsible for additional remediation commitments valued at approximately $1.2 billion, for an aggregate value of $2.5 billion.

The settlements were announced in the summer of 2025 and New Jersey moved to enter the JCOs in November 2025. However, approval of the settlements was delayed due to objections filed by several objectors including counties and municipalities concerned about the proposed release of their legal claims and the monetary values contemplated by the proposed JCOs. In response, the Court held two fairness hearings, and New Jersey filed a supplemental report and stipulations it reached to resolve the objections of two key groups of objectors, counties and owners of publicly owned wastewater treatment plants (“POTWs”).

The stipulation with 18 counties allocates $90M of the settlement funds for the counties to use to investigate and remediate PFAS at county-owned property, in particular airports and fire training academies.

The stipulation with the Association of Environmental Authorities (“AEA”) and seven of its members allocates a minimum of $150M of the settlement funds for the benefit of POTWs to undertake projects to reduce PFAS concentrations in their effluents.

The AEA stipulation further provides a mechanism for POTWs to receive a release, covenant not to sue, and contribution protection as “passive receivers” of PFAS. These protections would extend to all CERCLA and Spill Act claims or causes of action for any discharges of PFAS directly at or from the POTWs and to any leaching of PFAS from sewage sludge (a.k.a. biosolids) wherever it comes to be disposed of or located. In exchange for these protections, AEA and the utilities dropped their objections to the settlements and released any PFAS-related claims they may have against 3M and the DuPont Entities. The stipulation contemplates that NJDEP and AEA will negotiate an Administrative Consent Order (“ACO”) embodying these protections within 90 days of the JCOs becoming final, and the ACO protections would be available to any POTW in New Jersey who signs onto the ACO.

Notwithstanding the continued objections of two municipalities, the Court approved the JCOs and found the settlements to be fair, reasonable and in the best interests of the people of New Jersey.

Our previous articles on these settlements can be found here, here, and here.