CARNEYS POINT-- A lawsuit filed earlier this month alleges that chemical giant DuPont spun off a local factory complex in an attempt to avoid more than $1 billion needed to clean up nearly a century's worth of pollution.

Chambers Works, where a chemical used in the non-stick coating Teflon was made, released over 100 million pounds of toxic chemicals into the water and ground from the late 19th century until the early 1970s, affecting residential areas as far as two miles away, according to the suit filed on behalf of Carneys Point in Salem County. The lawsuit was filed in Superior Court on Dec. 12.

Other products made at the 1,445-acre site, part of which is located in Pennsville, include synthetic plastic and rubber as well as lead for no-knock gasoline. Sales from the products totaled in the billions of dollars, according to the suit.

Chambers Works was among a group of properties transferred to another company, Chemours, in 2014 and 2015 ahead of a proposed merger with Dow Chemical. According to the suit, the transfer was carried out to make DuPont a "more attractive merger partner."

The suit further alleges that DuPont failed to remediate the property before the transfer in violation of a state law known as the Industrial Site Recovery Act. Saddled with the massive liability related to the cleanup, Chemours, which is far smaller than DuPont, would likely go bankrupt, leaving Chambers Works "a rusting industrial nightmare that the residents of New Jersey will be left to clean up without the funds to do so."

Also named in the suit is Sheryl Telford, the director of DuPont's Corporate Remediation Group.

Carneys Point is represented by Meyner and Landis of Newark.

Paul Milo may be reached at pmilo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@PaulMilo2. Find NJ.com on Facebook.