Profiting From Data Center Boom by Creating Harmful Chemicals

Chemours, the Fayetteville-based chemical company that was found guilty of dumping PFAS (forever chemicals) into the Cape Fear River for years, is now trying to shield its latest PFAS compound from EPA scrutiny. The chemical, Opteon 2P50, is used for cooling in data centers.

This is turning into big business for Chemours. In the last quarter of 2025, Chemours’s Thermal & Specialized Solutions product group reported a “record” quarter, due in large part to its manufacturing of products that release forever chemicals for use in data centers. Chemours views data centers as a “key…market” for the products it manufactures. 

According to NRDC, data centers use many of its products, including: 

• Refrigerants like Opteon and Freon 
• Insulation and coatings to control humidity and temperature 
• Teflon coatings for cable insulation and other components 
• Krytox for pumps and robotics 
• Viton for sealing 
• Teflon for fluid handling 
• Teflon for filtration

Environmental Community Speaks Out

In response, a coalition of 17 environmental groups – including Earthjustice, NRDC, and Clean Cape Fear – is calling on the EPA to prohibit the manufacturing of all new PFAS and significant new PFAS uses, including Opteon 2P50. The groups say, “With millions of people threatened by uncontained PFAS contamination, and the federal government struggling to regulate and remediate those existing PFAS, the approval of new PFAS is contrary to EPA’s TSCA obligations and the agency’s commitments to impacted communities.” The new chemical is probably more toxic and more of a risk to the climate than Chemours claims in its application, public advocates warn.

A Terrible Choice Between Massive Water Usage And Forever Chemicals

In addition to their massive consumption of electricity, excessive water use is a key environmental concern about data centers. Recent drought conditions made that an even greater concern in North Carolina.

Supporters of data centers push back with low water usage by “closed loop” technology, where water is cooled and reused, avoiding evaporation. Unfortunately, we’re now learning that closed loop technology comes with huge problems as well – namely, increased electricity usage and the use of forever chemicals.

Chemours Has A History of Bad Behavior

Chemours, knowingly created and dumped these chemicals into the Cape Fear River, a vital drinking water source, for decades. In 2020, then-AG Josh Stein sued Dupont/Chemours for their manufacturing and disposal of PFAS into the Cape Fear River, willfully contaminating 320,000+ North Carolinians’ drinking water. Stein won the lawsuit, and the court ordered the company to pay a record $12 million fine and remove pollutants from our air and water.

More recently, Governor Stein, Attorney General Jeff Jackson, and other North Carolina officials are challenging a “backroom deal” settlement between the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Chemours corporation over years of damages from the company’s release of “forever chemicals” like PFAS. North Carolina was completely left out of the settlement discussions, even though the pollution impacted about 500,000 North Carolinians and about 10,000 private drinking wells over decades.