Top Environmental Settlements: BP, Volkswagen, 3M, and More

The biggest environmental settlements in United States history are dominated by a single case: BP’s $20.8 billion Deepwater Horizon consent decree in 2016. Behind it sit Volkswagen’s roughly $14.7 billion diesel emissions deal, 3M’s $12.5 billion settlement with public water systems over PFAS contamination, and Anadarko’s $5.15 billion resolution of the Kerr-McGee toxic legacy. A newer wave of forever-chemicals cases, state site-remediation deals, and emissions fraud prosecutions has filled out the rest of the top tier.

BP Deepwater Horizon: $20.8 Billion

The explosion of BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig on April 20, 2010, released roughly 134 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico over 87 days, killed 11 workers, and devastated marine and coastal ecosystems across five states. On April 4, 2016, a federal court in New Orleans approved a final consent decree valued at $20.8 billion, resolving civil and criminal claims against BP and its partners, including Anadarko, Transocean, and Halliburton.¹

The money broke into four main pieces:

Up to $8.8 billion for natural resource restoration, managed by five Gulf states and four federal agencies. Of that, $1 billion had already been committed to early restoration projects, $7.1 billion was designated for restoration over 15 or more years, and up to $700 million was reserved for unknown future damages.²
$5.5 billion in Clean Water Act civil penalties, with 80 percent directed to the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Trust Fund under the RESTORE Act and 20 percent to the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund.²
Criminal penalties already paid before 2016: BP pleaded guilty in 2012 to 14 felony counts and paid $4 billion, and Transocean paid an additional $300 million in a 2013 plea deal.¹
Nearly $6 billion resolving economic and other claims from Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and more than 400 local government entities.³

The $20.8 billion figure did not include private lawsuits. BP’s Gulf Coast Claims Facility paid $6.2 billion to more than 220,000 individual and business claimants. By mid-2016, the company estimated its total cost from the spill at $61.6 billion, and BP has since provisioned more than $69 billion for all spill-related expenses.⁴

Volkswagen Diesel Emissions: Up to $14.7 Billion in the US

Volkswagen’s “Dieselgate” scandal, revealed in 2015, involved software “defeat devices” installed in roughly 590,000 diesel vehicles sold in the United States. The devices made the cars appear compliant with emissions standards during testing while actually emitting pollutants far above legal limits.

The resolution came in three partial settlements approved between October 2016 and May 2017. The 2.0-liter vehicle settlement alone was valued at up to $14.7 billion, including up to $10 billion for consumer buybacks, lease terminations, and compensation; a $2.7 billion environmental remediation trust to fund projects reducing nitrogen oxide emissions; and $2 billion in zero-emission vehicle investments implemented through Electrify America.⁵ A separate 3.0-liter settlement added $225 million to the mitigation trust, and a third partial settlement imposed a $1.45 billion civil penalty for Clean Air Act violations.⁶

Volkswagen has reported that the scandal cost the company 31.3 billion euros, or approximately $34.7 billion, in fines and settlements worldwide.⁷

3M PFAS Drinking Water Settlement: $12.5 Billion

On June 22, 2023, 3M agreed to a settlement valued at up to $12.5 billion to resolve claims from public water systems that had detected per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS, often called “forever chemicals”) in their supply. The agreement, described as the largest drinking water contamination settlement in U.S. history, carries a pre-tax present value of $10.3 billion, with payments scheduled over 13 years beginning in the third quarter of 2024.⁸ The U.S. District Court in Charleston, South Carolina, granted final approval on March 29, 2024.

Hundreds of municipalities and public water providers began receiving their first payments in the summer of 2025. Phase 2, covering systems that did not detect PFAS until after the settlement was announced, has several remaining deadlines extending through 2026.⁹

Anadarko and the Kerr-McGee Legacy: $5.15 Billion

In April 2014, the Department of Justice announced a $5.15 billion settlement with Anadarko Petroleum to address decades of environmental contamination left behind by the Kerr-McGee Corporation. At the time, it was the largest environmental settlement in U.S. history.¹⁰ The case centered on Kerr-McGee’s 2005 decision to spin off its environmental liabilities to a subsidiary called Tronox Inc., which the government argued was a fraudulent attempt to dodge cleanup costs.

More than $4.4 billion of the recovery was designated for environmental cleanups across 22 states and the Navajo Nation, with an additional $600 million allocated to tort victims.¹¹ The contamination spanned radioactive uranium waste from mining operations on and around the Navajo Nation, thorium in the Chicago area, creosote at sites in the Northeast and South, and perchlorate contaminating Lake Mead in Nevada.¹²

The Navajo Nation received approximately $1 billion of the total. $985 million went to the EPA to remediate radioactive waste at 50 abandoned uranium mine sites, and $43 million went directly to the Navajo Nation for cleanup of a uranium mill site in Shiprock, New Mexico. Navajo leaders noted at the time that roughly 460 additional abandoned mine sites still needed funding beyond the settlement’s scope.¹³

American Electric Power: $4.6 Billion in Pollution Controls

In October 2007, the Department of Justice reached a settlement with American Electric Power (AEP) over violations of the Clean Air Act’s New Source Review provisions at 16 coal-fired power plants across five states. The government alleged that AEP had performed major modifications to its plants without obtaining required permits or installing pollution control equipment.

AEP agreed to pay a $15 million civil fine and spend $60 million on environmental mitigation projects, including restoring ecologically sensitive land and reducing nitrogen loading in the Chesapeake Bay. More significantly, the company committed to installing pollution controls estimated to cost over $4.6 billion, with the goal of cutting sulfur dioxide emissions by 79 percent and nitrogen oxide emissions by 69 percent compared to 2006 levels, a reduction of more than 813,000 tons of pollutants annually.¹⁴ At the time, the EPA described it as the largest environmental enforcement settlement in U.S. history.¹⁵

DuPont, Chemours, and Corteva: PFAS Liability Stacked on Two Fronts

$1.185 Billion Federal Drinking Water Settlement

Around the same time as 3M’s deal, DuPont de Nemours, Chemours, and Corteva agreed to a separate $1.185 billion settlement to resolve PFAS drinking water claims from a defined class of public water systems. Chemours committed to covering 50 percent of the fund, with DuPont contributing roughly $400 million and Corteva about $193 million.¹⁶ Final approval hearings were held in December 2023, and claims deadlines extend through 2030.¹⁷

$2 Billion-Plus New Jersey Site Settlement

In August 2025, New Jersey announced a proposed settlement valued at over $2 billion with DuPont and its successor companies to resolve contamination from PFAS and other hazardous substances at four industrial sites in the state.¹⁸ The deal includes $875 million in direct payments over 25 years for natural resource damages, abatement projects, penalties, and legal costs, plus a $1.2 billion remediation fund and a $475 million reserve to guarantee that cleanup obligations are met even if the companies fail financially.¹⁹

The four affected sites are the Chambers Works facility in Salem County, the Parlin facility in Middlesex County, Pompton Lakes Works in Passaic County, and the Repauno Works site in Gloucester County. Beyond PFAS, the contamination includes volatile organic compounds, metals such as lead and mercury, pesticides, and PCBs. The settlement also requires the transfer of 73 acres near Ramapo State Forest to the state and permanent conservation easements on nearly 1,400 additional acres.²⁰ As of early 2026, the agreement remains subject to approval by the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

Hino Motors: $1.6 Billion Emissions Fraud

In January 2025, the EPA, DOJ, and California Air Resources Board announced a global resolution with Hino Motors, a Toyota subsidiary, valued at over $1.6 billion. Between 2010 and 2022, Hino imported and sold more than 105,000 non-conforming diesel engines, primarily installed in heavy-duty trucks sold across the United States, after engineers falsified emissions certification data and concealed software functions affecting emission controls.²¹

The company pleaded guilty to a multi-year criminal conspiracy and was sentenced in March 2025 to pay a $521.76 million criminal fine and a $1.087 billion forfeiture money judgment. It also received five years of probation, during which it is prohibited from importing any diesel engines it manufactures into the United States.²² On the civil side, Hino agreed to a $525 million penalty, $155 million in federal emissions mitigation projects, a $144.2 million recall program for 2017–2019 truck engines, and $123.6 million for California-specific mitigation.²³

Lower Duwamish Waterway: $668 Million

In March 2026, the EPA, DOJ, and Washington state announced a $668 million settlement with more than 100 responsible parties to clean up Seattle’s Lower Duwamish Waterway, a five-mile industrial corridor contaminated with 41 hazardous substances, including PCBs, arsenic, dioxins, and carcinogenic hydrocarbons. The lead group responsible for designing and performing the cleanup consists of Boeing, the City of Seattle, and King County. The project involves dredging, capping, and other measures expected to take at least a decade.²⁴

Smaller but Notable State and Local Deals

New Jersey vs. ExxonMobil: $225 Million

In 2015, New Jersey settled natural resource damage claims against ExxonMobil for $225 million, a figure that drew intense criticism because the state had originally sought $8.9 billion. The claims involved contamination at former refineries in Linden, Bayonne, and Paulsboro, along with 16 additional facilities. Former state environmental commissioner Bradley Campbell alleged that Governor Chris Christie’s general counsel pressured the attorney general’s office into the deal, and environmental groups called it “woefully inadequate.”²⁵ A judge approved the settlement in August 2015, calling it a “reasonable compromise” given the risks of continued litigation.²⁶

Pepco and the Anacostia River: $57 Million

In October 2023, the District of Columbia reached a $57 million settlement with Potomac Electric Power Company (Pepco), the largest environmental settlement in DC history. The agreement addressed over a century of pollution from Pepco’s operations, including PCBs and petroleum leaked into soil, groundwater, and the Anacostia River from facilities in Benning Road and Buzzard Point. The deal allocated $47 million for river cleanup and $10 million in civil penalties, and it marked the first time a responsible party formally accepted accountability for historic pollution in the Anacostia.²⁷

Where Federal Enforcement Is Heading

The pace of major federal environmental settlements may slow. A January 2026 report by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility found that the DOJ concluded only 15 environmental consent decrees in the first year of the current administration, compared to 71 in the first year of the Biden administration. Clean Air Act consent decrees dropped to one, and Clean Water Act decrees hit a record low of four.²⁸ The Environmental Integrity Project separately reported that civil lawsuit filings based on EPA referrals fell to a historic low of 16.²⁹

In February 2025, the DOJ rescinded Biden-era guidance allowing supplemental environmental projects, calling them improper payments to non-party organizations.³⁰ The EPA has also been directed not to enforce rules currently under administrative reconsideration without senior approval, and staffing reductions have cut half of the DOJ’s Environmental Enforcement Section.²⁸ States, as the recent New Jersey and Washington cases suggest, are increasingly filling the gap.

1
NOAA. Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Settlements: Where the Money Went
2
U.S. Department of the Interior. Historic NRDAR Settlement Reached for Deepwater Horizon Spill
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PBS NewsHour. Long Legal Fight: BP Agrees to Largest Environmental Settlement in U.S. History
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BP. Gulf Commitment
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U.S. Department of Justice. Volkswagen to Spend Up to $14.7 Billion to Settle Allegations
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U.S. EPA. Volkswagen Clean Air Act Civil Settlement
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Reuters. Volkswagen Says Diesel Scandal Has Cost It 31.3 Billion Euros
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3M. 3M Settlement With Public Water Suppliers to Address PFAS
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National League of Cities. How PFAS Settlements and Litigation Are Helping Communities Close Infrastructure Funding Gaps
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PBS NewsHour. Taking a Closer Look at the Largest Environmental Settlement in U.S. History
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U.S. Department of Justice. Historic $5.15 Billion Environmental and Tort Settlement With Anadarko Petroleum Corp. Goes Into Effect
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U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York. United States Announces $5.15 Billion Settlement With Anadarko
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ICT News. Navajo Nation to Get $1 Billion in Historic Kerr-McGee $5.15 Billion Cleanup Settlement
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U.S. Department of Justice. Settlement With American Electric Power
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GEM Wiki. EPA Coal Plant Settlements
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DuPont. Chemours, DuPont, and Corteva Reach Comprehensive PFAS Settlement With U.S. Water Systems
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PFAS Water Settlement. PFAS Water Settlement – DuPont
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New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Landmark Settlement With DuPont Valued at Over $2 Billion
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CBS News Philadelphia. DuPont PFAS Settlement With New Jersey
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New Jersey DEP. DuPont Settlement
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U.S. EPA. Hino Motors Clean Air Act Settlement Summary
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U.S. Department of Justice. Court Sentences Hino Motors, Ltd.
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U.S. Department of Justice. Hino Motors, Toyota Subsidiary, Agrees to Plead Guilty and Pay Over $1.6B
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U.S. EPA. EPA Reaches $668M Settlement Agreement for Continued Cleanup of Lower Duwamish Waterway
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NJ Spotlight News. $225 Million Proposed Settlement in Exxon Mobil Case Continues to Draw Fire
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Cole Schotz. New Jersey Judge Approves NJDEP’s Controversial $225 Million Settlement With ExxonMobil
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DC Office of the Attorney General. Attorney General Schwalb Secures $57 Million Pepco Settlement
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PEER. PEER Enforcement Report
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Environmental Integrity Project. Enforcement
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Harvard Environmental and Energy Law Program. DOJ Issued Interim Final Rule to Allow Supplemental Environmental Projects