GenX
Chemours blew deadline to build an underground wall to keep GenX out of Cape Fear River, but gets two-month extension
Chemours missed a key deadline in building a subsurface wall at its Fayetteville Works plant that would prevent GenX and other types of toxic PFAS from entering the Cape Fear River, state documents show. The barrier wall, more than a mile long and 60 to 80 feet deep, was supposed to be complete by March […]
Pentagon to halt use of firefighting foam that contains PFAS as cleanup costs mount
WASHINGTON — Battered by years of criticism from U.S. lawmakers and environmental advocates, the Department of Defense will stop purchasing PFAS-containing firefighting foam later this year and phase it out entirely in 2024. The replacement for Aqueous Film Forming Foam has yet to be determined, and advocates are frustrated it’s taken so long to halt […]
3M to stop making ‘forever chemicals’
3M announced Tuesday that it will stop manufacturing a group of chemicals called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) and work to stop using the chemicals in its products by the end of 2025. The company nets about $1.3 billion annually from the chemical sales — a fraction of its overall revenue, at 3.7%. 3M has […]
BREAKING: NC Supreme Court issues much anticipated rulings on education funding, environmental protection
[These are developing stories. Policy Watch will be posting regular updates.] After nearly three decades of litigation, Leandro case finally comes to a head as justices order lawmakers to fund court-approved education improvement plan By Greg Childress In a dramatic ruling issued just days before midterm elections, the North Carolina Supreme Court upheld a lower […]
Chemours to appeal PFAS discharge permit, contends it can’t meet the requirements to reduce toxic compounds from entering Cape Fear River
Chemours, the company responsible for contaminated the drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people in North Carolina, says it can’t meet the standards in its recent discharge permit issued by the NC Department of Environmental Quality. The permit, known as an NPDES, is related to the water treatment system for a mile-long barrier wall […]
Chemours plans to expand its Fayetteville Works site, but hasn’t cleaned up existing contamination
Chemours – the billion-dollar company responsible for contaminating the drinking water of hundreds of thousands of people in the Lower Cape Fear River Basin, the company that is challenging the EPA’s scientific findings that GenX is toxic, the company that after 28 months has yet to submit a revised corrective action plan to clean up polluted groundwater...
NC Attorney General’s Office argues that DuPont’s holding companies should also be on the hook for PFAS liabilities in NC
The historical DuPont corporation -- known in court records as "Old DuPont" -- has parked roughly $20 billion in two “paper companies” (which have no employees, offices or equipment) to shield those assets from legal liability, a lawyer for the North Carolina Attorney General argued before the state Supreme Court today.
Chemours says it will offer alternative water to more GenX-affected households, but is vague about future
Chemours told the NC Department of Environmental Quality this week that it would offer replacement water supplies to more North Carolinians whose wells are contaminated with GenX, but was vague as to whether it would continue to do so if the company wins a federal court case. In a July 13 letter from Chemours plant […]
Chemours estimates 1,545 more NC households with GenX-contaminated wells could be eligible for alternative water
Chemours estimates it would be required to provide alternative water supplies to an additional 1,545 households in North Carolina whose private wells are contaminated with GenX – the result of more stringent EPA recommendations, an NC Department of Environmental Quality official said today. Currently, Chemours provides alternative water supplies to 245 well owners in North […]
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.
At emotional committee hearing over PFAS bill, lawmakers and concerned citizens confront Chemours, business interests
State Rep. Ted Davis Jr. sputtered into his microphone at such volume that it distorted the sound of his words. “I’m going to fight for my constituency,” Davis told his fellow lawmakers on the judiciary committee. “If the gentleman from Chemours really wants to show they care, why don’t they pay to make the water […]