On June 2, 2023, the New York Times reported that Chemours, DuPont and Corteva had tentatively reached an agreement to pay $1.9 billion to  settle claims agains the companies for contaminating drinking water.  The monies would be put into clean up fund Separately, Bloomberg News also reported on Friday that 3M had a tentative settlement of over $10 billion with states and cities that have sued the company for its role in contaminating water.  

Both of these settlements must be approved by a judge before being finalized. 

The $10 billion 3M settlement, If approved, would apply to multiple jurisdictions that have filed suit against these companies for their role in causing drinking water contamination linked to Aqueous Film Forming foam (AFFF).

AFFF is a PFAS-containing foam used to fight large, fuel-driven fires.  While these kind of fires are not very common, firefighters and military personnel conducted regular training exercises with the foam.  The foams were sprayed across large areas, soaked into the groundwater and have resulted in drinking water contamination, especially near fire training sites and military installations.

Commenting on the proposed agreements, some were cautious, indicating that the settlements would not be enough to clean up the thousands of drinking water systems contaminated by PFAS.  For full story, see:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/02/business/pfas-pollution-settlement.html