Heraldo de Madrid - North Carolina Rejects Chemours Cleanup Plan, Vows Accountability for PFAS Contamination

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has formally rejected Chemours’ proposal to remediate widespread toxic pollution across at least ten counties, asserting that the chemical manufacturer’s plan violates the terms of a longstanding consent order and relies on insufficient scientific data.

In a detailed critique issued this week, state regulators outlined multiple inadequacies in Chemours’ approach to addressing decades-old groundwater and soil contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in southeastern North Carolina. The agency’s letter cited missing data, substandard sampling methods, and flawed analyses that led the company to reach conclusions lacking a factual or legal basis.

“Today’s direction to the company makes clear that DEQ expects Chemours to clean up all the areas they have polluted,” DEQ Secretary Reid Wilson said in a prepared statement. “DEQ will hold Chemours accountable no matter how long it takes.”

The rejection marks a significant escalation in the state’s efforts to manage the environmental legacy of the Fayetteville Works plant, which was originally opened by DuPont in the early 1980s. While DuPont is responsible for some of the contamination emanating from the site, it shielded itself from liability when it spun off Chemours in 2015. Chemours, an international manufacturer of chemicals used to produce Teflon cookware, data center coolants, and stain-resistant consumer products, has been the primary entity subject to state oversight since the separation.

The DEQ’s 36-page rebuttal addressed Chemours’ conclusions regarding the extent of contamination and the associated public health and ecological risks. The agency determined that the company failed to justify its assessment of PFAS exposure risks, noting instances where errors led to unsubstantiated findings.

Chemours had argued that current concentrations of GenX, a specific PFAS chemical near the Fayetteville Works plant, were unlikely to harm human health even without treating the groundwater. The state rejected this assertion, stating that Chemours failed to evaluate all PFAS originating from the plant as legally required. Furthermore, DEQ noted that the company used outdated toxicological data for GenX, one of more than 15,000 types of PFAS compounds found in consumer products ranging from microwave popcorn bags to lithium-ion batteries.

The critique also highlighted significant gaps in Chemours’ health risk assessment, which excluded individuals who regularly fish in the Cape Fear River for food. The state pointed out that the company did not account for other exposure pathways, such as eating contaminated vegetables, touching PFAS-laden water or soil, or inhaling the compounds.

DEQ also requested a comprehensive investigation into biosolids—sewage sludge—that may have originated from the plant and been applied to farm fields. The agency sought detailed information on where and when these biosolids were shipped offsite and their quantities. When contaminated sludge is used as fertilizer, PFAS can seep into soil, groundwater, and drinking water wells.

Jean Zhuang, senior attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, which represents the nonprofit Cape Fear River Watch, emphasized the severity of the state’s findings. “The agency is asking the company to look into how their contamination is truly going to harm communities,” Zhuang said. “It demands much more of Chemours than the company has ever done so far.”

The rejection follows a period of stalled progress on the corrective action plan, a key component of a 2019 consent order between Chemours, DEQ, and Cape Fear River Watch. The agency had previously rejected the company’s draft plan in 2020, calling it inadequate and lacking a thorough technical basis. Progress remained stagnant for six years until September, when the state announced a $500 million settlement with Chemours that included provisions to accelerate cleanup progress.

The settlement required DEQ to provide written feedback on the company’s plans. A Chemours spokesperson told Inside Climate News that with this formal feedback now in hand, the company could move forward. “We are reviewing the comments in detail and will respond through the established process,” the spokesperson said.

Despite previous efforts, the full extent of PFAS contamination in the Lower Cape Fear River Basin remains unknown nearly a decade after the public first learned of it through media reports. Chemours has previously told DEQ that complying closely with state groundwater rules is “technologically and economically infeasible” due to the magnitude of the pollution. However, DEQ Deputy Secretary Sushma Masemore wrote in the letter that the company has not provided sufficient evidence to support this conclusion.

“While DEQ recognizes that the geographic scope of the contamination caused by Chemours is enormous and unprecedented in this state,” Masemore wrote, “the vast scope does not release Chemours of its obligation to thoroughly evaluate all remedial alternatives.”

The state’s critique also targeted Chemours’ sampling methodologies. Contractors sampled soil along roadways, which often contains trucked-in earth from other areas, rather than representative site soil. Additionally, instead of collecting earthworms to assess soil exposure risks, contractors evaluated grasshoppers, crickets, and dragonflies—species that do not live in the dirt. The state noted that contractors also wiped loose dirt off leaves before collection, likely removing PFAS bound to dust deposited through the air.

Chemours failed to sample aquatic plants and organisms and excluded animals from studies due to time constraints, which DEQ called an “inadequate justification.”

Air emissions remain a critical point of contention. Michael Abraczinskas, director of the state’s Division of Air Quality, wrote in a separate letter that Chemours has failed to identify all PFAS compounds it is emitting into the air from the Fayetteville Works plant. He noted that the company’s sampling and reporting methods do not meet quality control standards and require immediate corrective action.

There is a direct link between air emissions containing PFAS and contaminated groundwater. After entering the air, these compounds can travel on the wind, fall to earth, and seep into soil and groundwater. PFAS traced to the Fayetteville plant, such as PFMOAA and GenX, have been detected in private drinking water wells up to 25 miles away.

DEQ records show that Chemours has underestimated its air emissions at least twice before. In 2018, state regulators found the company was emitting 2,700 pounds of GenX into the air—amounts 40 times higher than originally reported in early 2017 and four times higher than revised estimates. In 2021, Chemours underreported GenX emissions by 40 percent. The following year, DEQ fined the company $305,000 for failing to maintain air pollution control equipment.

Chemours has filed applications to expand its Fayetteville Works plant, but environmental advocates have objected to the permit application, citing redacted key information such as emission rates and production figures. DEQ notified Chemours nearly a year ago that the application was on hold pending revised emission calculations. The company has yet to submit this information.

Chemours has until February to file a plan addressing the state’s air concerns. For the groundwater and soil cleanup plan, DEQ has given the company 60 days to respond to the critique. There is currently no timeline for the completion of the work, which could take decades given the scope of the contamination.

Over the past six years, Chemours has spent approximately $1.2 billion complying with some provisions of the consent order. The company installed a thermal oxidizer to remove 99.9 percent of PFAS emissions from the air, provided free water filtration systems to more than 10,000 homes with contaminated wells, and built a mile-long underground barrier wall to prevent contaminated groundwater from seeping into the Cape Fear River. These measures have reduced, but not eliminated, the amount of PFAS entering the environment.

PFAS chemicals are linked to serious health conditions, including several types of cancer. They also disrupt the ocean’s ability to sequester carbon, contributing to climate change. Manufacturers of PFAS emit thousands of tons of greenhouse gases annually; in 2022, the Chemours Fayetteville plant emitted 52,000 tons of greenhouse gases according to EPA data.

D.Ferrer--HdM