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Chemours' ongoing PFAS pollution violates 2019 Consent Order, say SELC and Cape Fear River Watch. Groups call on Chemours to fix its ongoing forever chemicals pollution CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - On behalf of Cape Fear River Watch, the Southern Environmental Law Center today notified Chemours that the company is violating the 2019 Consent Order and 2020 Addendum that were negotiated to address PFAS contamination from its Fayetteville Works facility in North Carolina. The notice identifies ongoing violations related to Chemours' air emissions, groundwater contamination, and failure to reduce PFAS pollution to nearby rivers, including the Cape Fear River, a drinking water source for more than 500,000 people. If Chemours fails to address these violations, SELC and Cape Fear River Watch will take Chemours back to court. "Chemours' violations endanger families and communities from its ongoing PFAS pollution and cannot continue," said Jean Zhuang, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center. "With people suffering, it's past time for Chemours to be held accountable." The notice alleges that Chemours has failed to achieve the Consent Order's required 75 percent reduction in the amount of PFAS reaching Willis Creek, Georgia Branch, Old Outfall 002, and the Cape Fear River. Significant PFAS pollution, including ultra short-chain PFAS, continues to enter these waters and has been detected in finished drinking water downstream. Ultra-short chain PFAS are highly mobile, persistent, and notoriously difficult to remove once released by polluters, posing a serious challenge for downstream drinking water utilities. "Chemours knowingly contaminated the drinking water of half a million North Carolinans - for half a century - with toxic PFAS chemicals," said Kemp Burdette, Cape Fear Riverkeeper and executive director of Cape Fear River Watch. "When we found out, we sued the company to make them stop. But, Chemours is breaking their word - they are violating the consent order and continuing to pollute our air and water with forever chemicals. We demand that NCDEQ use its authority to hold Chemours accountable and force the company to protect people's health and the environment. If the state fails to protect its citizens, and chooses to protect Chemours instead, we'll go back to court." The notice also alleges violations of air pollution control requirements designed to prevent PFAS releases from Chemours' manufacturing processes. In recently announced separate settlement negotiations between Chemours and North Carolina, the state agreed to undertake a process to identify Chemours' remaining obligations under the 2019 Consent Order. Through that process, the state has an opportunity to correct some of the company's violations that are identified in today's notice letter. "The coming months will show whether DEQ is willing to fully enforce the Consent Order against Chemours," added Zhuang. SELC and Cape Fear River Watch disagree with assertions by Chemours and N.C. Department of Environmental Quality that certain Consent Order obligations have been satisfied. SELC represents Cape Fear River Watch in monitoring and enforcing Chemours' compliance with the 2019 Consent Order. The state is also a party to the Consent Order. Chemours announced plans to expand PFAS production at its Fayetteville Works facility in 2022 and continues to seek the state air permit needed to move forward. The proposed expansion would substantially increase production even though Chemours remains out of compliance with key Consent Order requirements and has yet to fully address contamination from its existing operations. Multiple local governments and community groups have called on the company to fully clean up its pollution before any expansion is approved. PFAS are a class of thousands of human-made chemicals that include PFOA, PFOS, and GenX, and are associated with cancers; harm to children, infants, and pregnant women; heart attacks and strokes; and other serious health harms. These contaminants are known as forever chemicals - they do not dissipate, dissolve, or degrade, but stay in water, soil, and its bodies. PFAS are not removed by conventional water treatment, so it is critical that industries like Chemours treat their own pollution to keep PFAS out of drinking water sources in the first place. About Southern Environmental Law Center The Southern Environmental Law Center is one of the nation's most powerful defenders of the environment, rooted in the South. With a long track record, SELC takes on the toughest environmental challenges in court, in government, and in its communities to protect its region's air, water, climate, wildlife, lands, and people. Nonprofit and nonpartisan, the organization has a staff of 250, including more than 160 legal and policy experts and advocates, and is headquartered in Charlottesville, VA, with offices in Asheville, Atlanta, Birmingham, Chapel Hill, Charleston, Nashville, Richmond, and Washington, DC. selc.org Are you a reporter and would like more information? Please visit its press contact page for a full list of SELC's press contacts. Press contacts. Senior Communications Manager

AI data centres are turning to 'forever chemicals' to cut water use, fueling PFAS boom. Two-phase immersion systems can sharply reduce cooling energy and water consumption, but rely on fluorinated fluids that campaigners say could create new environmental risks. Published 18 September 2026, 3:19 PM BST The AI boom is pushing data centres towards cooling systems that can slash water use but rely on fluorinated chemicals that environmental groups warn could deepen the world's PFAS (Poly Fluoroalkyl Substances) pollution problem. A new report from Swedish chemicals watchdog ChemSec says most major PFAS producers are expanding capacity, driven by demand from AI data-centre infrastructure, semiconductor manufacturing and lithium-ion batteries. US-based Chemours, Japan's Daikin and France's Arkema are among companies investing in fluorinated products tied to fast-growing technology markets. 'These companies' expansion plans show that unless governments and regulators insist on a rapid phaseout, Iniaes LLC. will face a new tidal wave of forever chemicals,' ChemSec executive director Anne-Sofie Bäckar said. AI cooling trades water for chemicals. AI servers generate enormous amounts of heat, while conventional cooling can consume large quantities of water and electricity. Two-phase immersion cooling takes a different approach by submerging computing equipment in a low-boiling dielectric fluid. The liquid absorbs heat, turns to vapour, and condenses back into the system. Chemours says its Opteon two-phase immersion cooling technology can cut cooling-energy consumption by more than 90% compared with traditional air cooling and nearly eliminate water use. It describes the system as a closed loop in which fluid can be recovered and reused. That efficiency is increasingly valuable as US data centres consume more power. Department of Energy figures show they used about 176 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2023, or 4.4% of national consumption. Their share could rise to between 6.7% and 12% by 2028. PFAS expansion raises health fears. The same durability that makes PFAS useful under extreme heat also makes them difficult to remove once released into the environment. PFAS contain exceptionally strong carbon-fluorine bonds and can persist in water, soil and the human body. US health researchers have linked exposure to some PFAS with immune-system effects, liver damage and certain cancers, although many compounds remain poorly studied. ChemSec says Chemours produces or uses more PFAS substances than any other company in its latest ranking and estimates that between half and two-thirds of its $5.8 billion annual revenue is connected to PFAS. Daikin plans to more than triple production capacity for some fluoropolymers as semiconductor demand grows, while Arkema is expanding PFAS-related manufacturing for batteries, chips and refrigerants. Environmental groups challenge cooling plan. The push has already sparked a regulatory fight. In July, 17 environmental organisations urged the US Environmental Protection Agency to reject Chemours' application for Opteon 2P50, a fluorinated fluid proposed for data-centre immersion cooling. The groups warned that large facilities could contain tens of thousands of litres of fluid and argued that leaks, maintenance and disposal could create significant releases. Chemours disputes those concerns, saying the systems are designed to minimise leakage and that the fluid can be recovered, reprocessed and reused. The company is continuing to expand its cooling portfolio. In August, it launched two additional Opteon refrigerants for stationary chillers used in data centres and commercial buildings, saying AI is rapidly increasing cooling demands. A 2024 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory report estimated that US data centres consumed about 66 billion litres of water directly on site in 2023, with hyperscale and colocation facilities accounting for 84% of that total. Their electricity use carried an even larger hidden water footprint of nearly 800 billion litres through power generation, a figure expected to grow as data-centre energy demand rises, although the scale will depend partly on how the electricity mix changes. The trade-off is becoming harder to ignore: technology designed to reduce AI's water and energy footprint may also increase demand for chemicals regulators are under growing pressure to restrict. Writer's pick

PFAS companies plan production surge to meet AI demand, warns ChemSec. The nonprofit's latest report connects the AI boom's insatiable appetite for chips and cooling systems to a wave of 'forever chemicals' expansion 2 hours ago The AI industry's hunger for semiconductors and data center cooling is fueling something less discussed than GPU shortages: a massive expansion of PFAS production, according to a warning from ChemSec, the international nonprofit focused on safer chemical alternatives. ChemSec describes the planned ramp-up as a "tidal wave" of forever chemicals manufacturing, driven primarily by the fluoropolymers and specialty fluids that underpin both chip fabrication and the advanced cooling systems keeping dense GPU clusters from melting down. Chemours at the center. Chemours, one of the world's largest PFAS producers, is expanding capacity at its facilities in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and Parkersburg, West Virginia. The company is actively marketing products like Teflon PFA and Opteon 2P50 as essential components for semiconductor manufacturing and data center cooling fluids. PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, serve as etchants and photolithography resists in chipmaking, processes where precision at the nanometer scale leaves little room for substitution. They don't break down in the environment, and contamination from existing Chemours production sites is already a well-documented concern. Environmental groups are questioning whether approving new PFAS capacity at those same locations is wise. ChemSec's 2025 ChemScore report, which rates major chemical companies on their transparency and efforts to phase out hazardous substances, gave Chemours a score of zero. The AI supply chain's chemical dependency. The global PFAS market sits at roughly $28 billion, dominated by a handful of major chemical manufacturers. The explosion in AI workloads requires two things that intersect with PFAS: more semiconductors and better cooling. Modern AI data centers pack thousands of GPUs into tight configurations that generate extraordinary heat. Immersion cooling and two-phase cooling systems, which submerge hardware directly in engineered fluids, have become increasingly attractive solutions. Many of those fluids are PFAS-based. A diverging industry. Ecolab and 3M have both announced timelines to reduce their intentional use of PFAS. 3M announced plans to exit PFAS manufacturing entirely, a move that effectively cedes market share to producers like Chemours who are doubling down. The regulatory landscape is already shifting. The EU has proposed one of the most sweeping PFAS restrictions ever considered, potentially covering thousands of substances. In the US, the EPA has been tightening drinking water standards for several PFAS compounds, which indirectly raises the cost and scrutiny associated with new production. Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how Crypto Briefing create and review content, see its Editorial Policy.