URGENT ACTION REQUESTED: Submit a Public Comment on the NJDEP/DuPont PFAS Settlement by Saturday, November 1st
Dear Willingboro MUA Ratepayer,
This is an urgent message from the Willingboro Municipal Utilities Authority (WMUA) regarding a state-level settlement that could directly impact your utility bills.
What is the issue?
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) has reached a proposed Judicial Consent Order (JCO), or settlement, with DuPont, Chemours, and Corteva to settle claims related to widespread PFAS (“forever chemicals”) contamination.
Why is this urgent?
The proposed settlement includes a provision that broadly releases the Settling Defendants (like DuPont, Chemours, and others) from almost all present and future claims from entities like the WMUA.
The WMUA could soon be required to spend millions of dollars on new infrastructure to meet the State’s strict PFAS drinking water standards, including the Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs). If this JCO is approved as written, the WMUA will be barred from suing the polluters for full recovery of these costs. This means the expenses could then be transferred directly to you, the ratepayer, through higher utilities rates.
You have a voice, but the deadline is THIS SATURDAY, November 1st, 2025.
The NJDEP is currently accepting public comments on the proposed JCO. This could be our only opportunity to demand that the settlement is revised to uphold the principle that the polluter, not the ratepayer, pays for the cleanup of the hazardous substances they dumped into our water.
Submit Your Comment Now
Please follow these three simple steps to submit your objection by the Saturday, November 1st deadline:
- Copy the Letter: Download the attached form letter (or copy the text below).
- Personalize & Complete: At the bottom of the letter, please
- insert your full name
- (optional but recommended) insert your Willingboro address or account number to confirm your status as a ratepayer.
- Send the Email: Send the completed letter in the body of an email (or as an attachment) to the official DEP comment address: [email protected]
Please ensure the email subject line is clear, for example: URGENT PUBLIC COMMENT & OBJECTION: Proposed NJDEP/DuPont-Chemours PFAS Settlement (JCO)
Your submission, even if identical to the attached form letter, sends a powerful message to the NJDEP, the Attorney General, and the Governor that the Willingboro community rejects a deal that makes us pay for the polluters’ mess.
Thank you for taking this critical action to protect our municipal authority and our ratepayers.
Sincerely,
The Willingboro Municipal Utilities Authority
[Click here to download letter]
Dear Governor Murphy, Attorney General Platkin, and Commissioner LaTourette,
I am writing to express my profound concern with and strong objection to the proposed Judicial Consent Order (JCO) approving the settlement between the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) and DuPont/Chemours (Settling Defendants) regarding PFAS contamination. I am submitting this comment as a dedicated ratepayer for the Willingboro Municipal Utilities Authority (WMUA) and as a deeply concerned resident of the State of New Jersey.
The proposed settlement, while large in headline number, is fundamentally flawed because it is structured in a way that shifts the financial burden of contamination cleanup from the polluter to the local ratepayer. Here are what I believe to be the biggest issues with the proposed settlement and what I am asking you to do about it.
- The Financial Burden is Shifted to Us:
The central principle of environmental law is “the polluter pays.” Under the proposed JCO, this principle is violated. The WMUA is required to comply with the State’s stringent Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) for PFAS. Compliance requires massive, potentially multi-million dollar capital projects—including new treatment infrastructure, filtration systems, and well modifications—which must be implemented.
By broadly releasing the Settling Defendants from all present and future claims stemming from their PFAS pollution, the JCO effectively waives the MUA’s right to pursue litigation for full cost recovery of these necessary and mandatory capital projects. The inevitable result is that these potentially enormous costs would be transferred directly to me and my fellow residents through increased utility rates and assessments for the next several decades. This is an unacceptable use of a settlement intended to protect citizens.
- A Forced Settlement Without Representation or Opt-Out:
The JCO’s broad release of claims explicitly includes the State’s political subdivisions, which encompasses the WMUA. We, the ratepayers, had no voice or vote in structuring this JCO, yet it is used to unilaterally extinguish our local authority’s right to full legal recourse against the parties responsible for polluting our water supply.
We are left in a position where:
- We have no power to opt out of the settlement, even if we believe the funding allocated is wildly inadequate to cover our community’s actual costs.
- We have no guaranteed mechanism to ensure that the polluters will cover the full cost of mandated infrastructure required by the NJDEP’s own standards.
This provision represents a fundamental denial of due process and economic fairness. The State should not have the authority to forfeit the local property and contractual rights of an autonomous utility authority and its ratepayers without providing a clear and binding assurance of full cost recovery.
Specific Changes Requested
To ensure the JCO protects the citizens of New Jersey and upholds the polluter pays principle, I respectfully but firmly compel you to make the following specific changes prior to court approval:
- Exclusion of MUA Claims: The JCO must be amended to explicitly exclude all municipal water systems, utility authorities (including the WMUA), and local governments from the scope of the claims release, allowing them to pursue full cost recovery for PFAS MCL compliance costs.
- Guaranteed Funding for Abatement: Alternatively, the Settling Defendants must be required to establish a separate, fully funded mechanism that directly guarantees the capital and operational costs needed for the WMUA to achieve and maintain compliance with the NJDEP’s mandated PFAS MCLs, ensuring the ratepayer pays nothing.
- Opt Out: As a final alternative, the JCO should give municipalities and their respective Municipal Utilities Authorities (MUAs) the option to opt out of the settlement and preserve their right to sue DuPont in the future.
The proposed settlement, as currently written, is an act of appeasement to the polluters that forces the residents of Willingboro to subsidize environmental cleanup. Please do what is right by all New Jerseyans and act today to modify this JCO to protect my rights as a taxpayer and ratepayer in the Township of Willingboro.
Respectfully,
[Insert Name Here]
Willingboro MUA Ratepayer
[Insert Willingboro Address or Account Number (Optional)]