For more than five years, the Chemours Chemical Company in Wood County has discharged unlawful levels of cancer-causing chemicals into the Ohio River.
West Virginia environmentalists want a federal judge to stop these pollution violations. Over three days of testimony last week, they made their case in a courtroom showdown with the chemical company.
Here’s what West Virginians need to know.
What’s the case about?
In December, the West Virginia Rivers Coalition sued Chemours over the company’s Washington Works plant for discharging PFAS, or “forever chemicals,” into the Ohio River at levels exceeding the amount allowed.
Exposure to these chemicals has been linked to several serious health conditions, including cancer, liver and kidney damage, developmental problems and immune system disorders. Such chemicals — which resist heat, water, oil and grease — are used to produce everyday items, including nonstick pots and pans.
The former DuPont, now Chemours, Washington Works plant near Parkersburg has a long history of public health and environmental concerns related to its use of C8, which is a type of forever chemical the plant previously used but has since replaced.
Since 2019, the Washington Works site has violated its permit limits by discharging pollution, including forever chemicals, at levels higher than allowed into the Ohio River, which supplies drinking water for more than five million people.
Despite a 2023 order to require the company to address its violations, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has not taken any further enforcement actions. The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has also not taken additional steps to enforce the company’s permit limits.
In 2024, Chemours asked both agencies for an additional three years to upgrade its treatment system in order to comply.
Chemours acknowledges the plant has violated its permit limits. But they argue that they are working with the EPA to address the issues. But more than two years later, Chemours still hasn’t submitted a plan the EPA will approve.
DEP spokesperson Terry Fletcher said the state agency “remains actively engaged and continues to coordinate with EPA to advance implementation of corrective actions and pursue a high-level resolution of the violations.”
The EPA is currently reviewing the updated plan Chemours submitted in April, said an agency spokesperson in an email.
“Chemours is continuing to work with EPA to submit additional information and secure the final approval needed to implement the projects,” said a spokesperson for the company.
Why does it matter
West Virginia regulators established stricter permit limits for the company in 2022 after the EPA tightened drinking water standards for these chemicals at safe levels.
During last week’s hearing, Chemours attorney James Walls said that the plant mainly operated within its permit limits between 2018 and 2022, but has since struggled to comply.
In November 2024, the manufacturing site exceeded its average monthly limit for a specific forever chemical, which is sometimes known as GenX, at one of its discharge outlets by 4.5 times the level allowed by their permit.
The coalition said that the spike in pollution was so large that it was noticeable hundreds of miles downstream of the plant on the Ohio River.
In Cincinnati, a water system that supplies 1.1 million people drinking water, saw increased levels of GenX in all their samples since July 2024, with concentrations nearly double the maximum level established by the EPA. Officials from the Ohio water system said that its treatment system is much less effective at removing this type of forever chemical and expressed concern of an increased risk to public health, according to court filings.
A water system in Louisville, which serves about 1 million people, also experienced a similar increase in Gen-X levels, including in December when the concentration was five times higher than the EPA guidance.
What happened at the hearing?
In February, the coalition asked U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin to temporarily order Chemours to comply with its permit limits until he could hear the full case.
Last week, attorneys for both Chemours and the coalition filed into Robert C. Byrd U.S. Courthouse in Charleston, with binders, boxes and briefcases for their hearing in front of Goodwin on the matter.
Over the course of three days, the judge heard hours of testimony from six witnesses, including three Chemours employees.
Catherine Boston, a human health assessor hired by Chemours as an expert witness, evaluated the health risks through the next year if the company continued to violate its permit. She testified that she concluded that there was no known or anticipated risk to human health if Washington Works continued as is.
Boston also said that a one time excess of forever chemicals in drinking water doesn’t mean there’s a human health risk.
Jennifer Schlezinger, a Boston University toxicologist, hired by the coalition as an expert witness, testified that any exposure to a level of forever chemicals that exceeds the EPA’s guidance in drinking water would pose a risk to human health.
Schlezinger also said that the communities served by the Lubeck Public Water District near the plant face a higher risk of harm because they have a history of exposure to forever chemicals from past contamination.
The coalition argued that without the court’s temporary order, Chemours’ continued permit violations will cause irreparable harm to the public and the environment from forever chemicals, which don’t naturally break down.
The DEP set the permit limit for forever chemicals “at a level necessary to protect drinking water from the Ohio River and public health,” the coalition wrote in their brief. “Consequently, violation of that limit will cause irreparable harm to the designated use of the Ohio River” to those who drink water from it.
Chemours also said that a temporary order would work against the interest of the public because the Washington Works site employs hundreds of people. Plant manager James Hollingsworth testified that about 500 people would lose their jobs if the facility shut down production, adding that the local economy would also lose out on $70 million of annual payroll
The coalition said that under federal law, economic harm, including stopping production and job loss, isn’t a valid defense when a company violates their permit.
What’s next in the case?
Goodwin has ordered both parties to submit briefs on what qualifies as harm in this case to help him rule on the coalition’s request for an order requiring Chemours to immediately stop violating its permit limits.
At the end of the first day of testimony, Goodwin said that he was no longer agreeable to a trial slated for next year. Instead, he told the attorneys that he was moving it up to this September, given the severity of the issue.
For Chemours to take at least 26 months to comply with its permit limits, Goodwin said, is “totally unacceptable.”