well this week the state reached a landmark settlement with chemical giant 3M which agreed to pay New Jersey up to $450 million to resolve lawsuits over widespread contamination from PAS otherwise known as forever chemicals They're used in everyday products like non-stick pans and waterproof clothes and research has linked PAS to cancer and other severe health issues The state's lawsuits contend the chemicals have polluted our water soil and other natural resources Following decades of use of 3M products at the Chamber Works facility in Salem County the current and former owners of that site DuPont and Kors will still stand trial starting next week For more on all of that I'm joined by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Sha Lret So Commissioner this is the largest PAS settlement in New Jersey history How exactly is the state planning to allocate this money and are there any asurances in place um to make sure that this money goes to the communities that have been most affected yes Brianna there are many asurances in place both constitutional and as a matter of process So just to be clear this settlement serves two aims It serves the aims of POS abatement getting the treatment in place in our water systems or upon private wells that need that treatment to help get PAS out of our drinking water where the impacts are largest But there are also natural resource restoration components to this settlement And our constitution requires that natural resources be restored in the area where they're harmed And so the these funds will indeed go right into the communities that have been harmed Is there a schedule Commissioner for how and where the money will be spent what is that can you share it not just yet Right now we've got to get this settlement approved through the court and then get to the point of implementation But I'll give you a few ideas uh we'll recall that many of our water uh providers across the state of New Jersey have engaged in national settlements with PAS manufacturers We believe that the funding that has been put forward uh across all of these settlements uh is not going to be enough for the long term to achieve all the ends uh that are needed So for example while the underlying settlements for water providers uh may give them funding we still need funding for source water protection for cleaning up PAS where it is so it doesn't get into the water supply in the first place Uh that is a primary goal uh with this settlement Well how much has the state acred so far uh through holding these corporate polluters accountable either through settlements or through litigation sure So just uh a year and a half ago we settled with one of the large manufacturers in southern New Jersey SV uh to both clean up the site that is the source of the contamination in West Deepford and to provide uh relief for communities around that site Uh that's just shy of $400 million Uh so together uh we're just under at this point $850 million but we have not yet reached the point uh of settlement uh or a trial or jury verdict against one of the largest players uh in this whole mess which is DuPont Kamores and their Progyny companies That trial the first of multiple trials actually against Dupant starts on Monday and we're going to expect them to clean up their mess What is the state seeking through that trial monetarily and also just in terms of them being held responsible sure So so Dupont uh and Kors are among the largest manufacturers and still presently manufacturing uh POS chemicals whereas 3M has uh taken steps to reduce the amount of POS and ultimately phase out POS completely from its product lines And in addition to that at the Dupont site at Chambers Works down at the foot of the memorial bridge the Delaware Memorial Bridge the treatment facilities there the wastewater plants were used as a PAS toilet for the entire country So the liability is extreme and we need both site cleanup at Chambers Works and at other DuPont sites and we need them to make sure that they are supplying the state of New Jersey with the resources to track down the pollution where it exists and to remedy it What's your message then quickly com commissioner to the public um about the state's ability to remediate this i mean I mean obviously people are concerned you know it's in our soil it's in our natural resources we've got a lot of research to do and we've got a lot of abatement work to do and we're going to expect these folks are held to account and for any New Jersey resident who is worried I tell them two things first if you've got a portable drinking water well and you are concerned about POS in your water call the New Jersey Durill Fund is there for you and if you are a water provider that is concerned you can't make ends meet to get this stuff out of your water supply call the New Jersey D Municipal Finance Program because we will be there for you too All right state D Commissioner Sean Lerette thank you so much for your time Thank you so much