After Spills & Silence From Company, NC Yanks Fluorochemical Dumping Permit For Chemours Plant

Manufacture of fluorinated chemicals, including Nafion sulfonated tetrafluoroethylene-based ionic polymers, at Chemours’s plant near Fayetteville, N.C., could be hampered because North Carolina is suspending part of the facility’s permit to discharge process wastewater.

Earlier this year, Chemours pledged to capture and safely dispose of wastewater containing the fluoropolymer processing aid GenX and related fluorinated compounds. GenX has tainted public drinking water drawn from the Cape Fear River downstream of the plant as well as nearby wells.

In September, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality warned Chemours that as of Nov. 30, it would suspend the part of the water pollution permit covering the Nafion and fluoromonomers production area of the plant, a move that would require the company to capture and dispose of all wastewater from those manufacturing processes. Then in late October, the agency said this action wasn’t necessary because Chemours had taken steps to control the release of per- and polyfluorinated compounds in wastewater.

But now, the agency says it will make good on its threat because Chemours allegedly failed to report a spill of GenX at the plant in early October. Chemours in early November acknowledged the spill, which led to a nearly 100-fold increase in GenX concentrations at its outfall into the Cape Fear River, the agency adds.

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https://cen.acs.org/articles/95/i47/North-Carolina-yank-Chemours-water-pollution-permit-for-fluorochemical-production.html

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In a rare response, Chemours said it's committed to operating the plant, which employs about 900, "in accordance with all applicable laws and in a manner that respects the environment and public health and safety."

New tests have detected the chemical GenX, used to make Teflon and other industrial products, at levels beyond the state's estimated but legally unenforceable safety guidepost in 50 private water wells near Chemours' Fayetteville plant and at a water treatment plant in Wilmington, about 100 miles (62 kilometers) downstream. There are no federal health standards addressing GenX and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency classifies it as an "emerging contaminant" to be studied.

Lack of information about the chemical, its prevalence and health effects has disturbed people across eastern North Carolina. John Fisher, 77, said when he moved into his home 20 years ago the company's predecessor, DuPont, would invite neighbors through the gates for picnics and plant tours. But the only contact he's had with Chemours was a notice a couple of weeks ago that his water well needed testing, and its outside vendor arranging to drop off bottled water.

"They haven't officially gotten a hold of us saying, hey, we feel sorry for you, this is what we're going to do for you," Fisher said. Fisher said he wonders whether GenX or other chemicals in his well water caused the cancer deaths of his dog and his daughter's dogs next door. "They would get big balls hanging off their bellies and they were all cancerous," Fisher said. "We couldn't figure out why all our dogs were dying of cancer."

DuPont began using GenX to replace another fluorinated compound after neighbors of the company's Parkersburg, West Virginia, plant claimed in more than 3,500 lawsuits that the compound made them sick. DuPont spun off Chemours into a separate company two years ago. A jury in July 2016 found the two companies liable for a man's testicular cancer that he said was linked to a chemical emitted by the West Virginia plant.

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http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/chemical-companys-response-water-worries-silence-51377365