Cape Fear River
UN panel alleges Chemours is violating human rights of North Carolinians with toxic PFAS
DuPont and two of its spinoff companies, Chemours and Corteva, allegedly violated the human rights of hundreds of thousands of people living in the Lower Cape Fear River Basin, routinely discharging toxic PFAS into the region’s drinking water supplies, a United Nations panel announced this past weekend. “DuPont and Chemours facilities have significantly contributed to […]
Because of PFAS contamination, eat very little, if any fish from the Middle and Lower Cape Fear River, state health officials advise
Children, women under age 44, and people who are pregnant or breast-feeding should not eat many species of fish caught in the Middle and Lower Cape Fear River, state health officials announced today. And no one, regardless of age or gender, should eat more than one to seven meals of these fish per year. The […]
DEQ plans to set state limits on toxic PFAS in groundwater, rivers, lakes
The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality will pursue legally enforceable limits for several types of PFAS in groundwater and surface water, the agency announced yesterday. Although many public water systems tap into rivers and reservoirs for drinking water, about a third of North Carolinians (3.3 million) rely on groundwater. DEQ Assistant Secretary Sushma Masemore told […]
Chemours appealing EPA’s stricter health advisory goal for GenX
Chemours announced today it has filed a legal challenge to the EPA’s new health advisory goal for GenX, a type of toxic perfluorinated compound, alleging the agency’s decision is not grounded in the best available science. Chemours petitioned the Third Circuit Court for a review. The court covers New Jersey and Pennsylvania, as well as […]
Citing toxic effects on humans, EPA issues strict new health advisory goals for GenX, other PFAS
WILMINGTON -- Even infinitesimal levels of several types of PFAS, including GenX, can harm human health, the EPA said today, underscoring the toxicity of these compounds in drinking water. Radihka Fox, assistant administrator of the EPA’s Office of Water, announced the more stringent lifetime health advisory goals at the national PFAS conference in Wilmington.
EPA: Two types of PFAS far more toxic than previously understood
The EPA released data yesterday that suggests two types of PFAS are more toxic than previously understood, which could trigger a drastic reduction in what the agency considers acceptable amounts in drinking water. The data showed that PFOA and PFOS were found to cause health problems at much lower reference doses by thousands of times. […]
BREAKING: New analysis indicates that toxics were present in Wilmington drinking water at extreme levels
Tests of samples collected between 2014 and 2016 reveal sky-high PFAS readings Astronomical concentrations of toxic compounds commonly known as PFAS were present in the Cape Fear River near Wilmington, years before researchers had the technology to detect them. According to a new analysis of preserved samples from 2014 to 2016, PFAS that contain an […]
Editorial: Hurricanes show need for tougher regulation of hogs, sewage, development
There was a fine editorial in the Fayetteville Observer earlier this week (and republished today in the Greenville Daily Reflector) that tells it like it is with respect to the massive water pollution issues that confront eastern North Carolina — particularly in what the editorial describes as the “open sewer” that is the Cape Fear […]
Duke Energy reporting another coal ash breach at Sutton; shuts down nat gas plant
The Cape Fear River has overtopped a dam at Sutton Lake in Wilmington, sending coal ash into the water body from the 1971 ash basin. The lake provides cooling water for Duke Energy’s Sutton plant. According to the utility, cenospheres, which are coal combustion byproducts, are moving from that basin into the lake and onto […]
Two breaches in Sutton coal ash landfill, plus flooding at three inactive ash basins at Lee plant
Rising rivers and historic flooding are hampering the state and Duke Energy from fully assessing the extent of the damage to coal ash landfills and basins in eastern North Carolina, but there are reports of breaches at the Sutton plant in Wilmington and flooding at HF Lee in Goldsboro. Cape Fear Riverkeeper Kemp Burdette told […]
N.C. General Assembly has failed to act, but the time to stop Chemours’ pollution is now
“How long before we say enough is enough?” state lawmaker Ted Davis Jr. asked his colleagues in the N.C. House in February. “How much more is Chemours going to get away with before something is done?”
EPA grossly underestimated “safe” levels of fluorinated compounds in drinking water
The Environmental Protection Agency was far too lenient when it set a provisional health goal of 70 parts per trillion for fluorinated compounds such as PFOS and PFOA in drinking water. That’s the conclusion of an 842-page report — which the EPA had tried to suppress — published June 21 by the Agency for Toxic […]