Clean Cape Fear's Official Response to Chemours' Corrective Action Plan
Dear Ms. Holman:
Please consider this the comment by our group, Clean Cape Fear, on the proposed Chemours Corrective Action Plan.
Chemours and DuPont were allowed, for decades, to commit a crime of epic proportions in North Carolina. They knowingly subjected over a quarter of a million residents to large quantities of unnatural, human-made synthetic PFAS chemicals which ended up in our drinking water. A study published in October 2019 by Dr. Detlef Knappe’s lab estimates that approximately 130,000 ppt of total PFAS were detected in the Cape Fear River near the intake pipes for our public water systems. This water system provides drinking water for nearly 300,000 residents living in Brunswick, Pender, and New Hanover counties.
Chemours knowingly admits that PFAS chemical discharges into our primary source of drinking water occurred since their Fayetteville Works facility began fluorochemical operations in North Carolina in 1980. We gave this water to our children--to our babies. We drank this water ourselves. Pregnant women drank this water, cancer patients, immunocompromised residents, the elderly--all drank this water, consumed it with food and otherwise used it. Doctors and dentists unknowingly encouraged us to drink more of this water--assured us it was safe and healthy for our bodies and our families.
We trusted our local government. We trusted our state regulators. We trusted our federal laws. We trusted each of these entities were doing their jobs to uphold existing laws and protect us from irresponsible corporations. That public trust was broken in June 2017 when we learned DuPont and Chemours failed to follow existing laws and put our lives, our environment, and the peace of mind of our communities in harm’s way.
Not only did DuPont, and later Chemours, fail to follow existing state and federal laws, but they also failed to proactively stop PFAS discharges at their Fayetteville, NC facility while under intense legal scrutiny in Parkersburg, WV at their Washington Works location. DuPont knew as early as 20 years ago about technologies like the thermal oxidizer, which existed and worked. They knew because they installed similar air abatement technology at their Washington Works facility between 2000 - 2001--yet failed to do the same for their Fayetteville Works facility until Chemours was legally forced to by the state of North Carolina in 2018.
This current corrective action plan falls way too short considering the proportion of harm committed by DuPont and Chemours. It fails to address interim solutions and interventions for the existing and on-going exposure of PFAS chemicals for downstream surface water users. Since the initial February 2019 consent order was signed, it has been revealed the groundwater contamination beneath Chemours’ Fayetteville Works facility is so severely contaminated this seepage into the Cape Fear River is causing chronically high levels of PFAS detected in finished tap water for downstream users. A January 2020 Environmental Working Group report revealed Brunswick County residents were drinking some of the highest levels of PFAS chemicals in their finished tap water than any other location tested in this nationwide study.
Under the current consent order, Chemours is legally required to provide interim water immediately, and a permanent solution within 6 months, for any groundwater well contaminated with 70 ppt of total PFAS or 10 ppt of any individual PFAS listed in Attachment C. These protections are not being afforded to surface water users and it is creating an inequity between surface water and groundwater users. Residents, regardless of where their water is sourced, should be able to turn on their faucets and trust the water they use--water they pay for—not to have any PFAS chemicals in it. Chemours must begin providing immediate interim water for all downstream communities who rely on the chronically contaminated Cape Fear River as their primary source of drinking water. This is our river. It belongs to the public.
The state of North Carolina let DuPont and Chemours borrow this public river for their manufacturing processes. Chemours and DuPont failed to follow the rules and return the river water they borrowed to the same or better quality it was given to them. That’s their problem. Not ours. We should not be forced to pay for water we don’t feel safe using. We should not be forced to send our children to school with bottled water because they are afraid to drink from the water fountains at the school. Both Chemours and DuPont are multi-billion dollar companies with annual revenues well capable of funding the necessary and on-going clean-ups we need and deserve to feel whole and maintain peace of mind.
Chemours should be held accountable to PFAS chemical groundwater clean-up standards at PQL (Practical Quantitative Levels) which is the law and established for a reason. These safeguards are in place to protect us from exposures to human-made chemicals which have not been fully researched for their toxicological effects. It should not be the burden of North Carolina residents to determine if any PFAS chemicals are safe for consumption after we’ve been chronically exposed to them.
We also feel the corrective action plan should include toxicological studies for PFAS chemicals already detected in human blood of Wilmington residents who participated in the NC State GenX Exposure Study as well as a few other PFAS compounds. These toxicological studies should determine the effects of mixtures and cumulative effects because residents were not exposed to one isolated PFAS chemical. We were chronically exposed to a “cocktail” of Chemours and DuPont’s chemical waste. Hydro-Eve, NVHOS, PFO3OA, PFO4DA, and PFO5DoDA should be added to the list of PFAS chemicals required for toxicological study by the February 2019 consent order.
Since the Consent Order was filed, numerous scientific studies have continued to come out throughout the world exposing the health and environmental dangers of these chemicals. Yet, in its proposed corrective action plan, Chemours would blithely assure the State that the chemicals are safe. What needs to happen is for Chemours to be forced to pay for the needed science to be done, by scientists like Dr. DeWitt, Dr. Stapleton, and other leading, independent, PFAS toxicologists and epidemiologists, at Chemours’ expense - not the public’s expense - so we can all learn the full extent of the problem. The data generated from these studies should be publicly available and easily accessible.
Under the current consent order, Chemours is performing ecotoxicology studies for a limited number of PFAS that were emitted into the Cape Fear River. However, under the current action plan, it is unclear how Chemours will face consequences for the harming of our wildlife. Should their ecotoxicology studies reveal harmful effects, what is the plan for remedying these effects on our wildlife? A recent study from NC State University has shown that Striped Bass in the Cape Fear River had elevated levels of total PFAS in their serum when compared to a reference population, including PFOS, GenX, Nafion byproduct 2, among others. This study also showed that these fish had elevated markers of kidney and liver damage and displayed altered immune function. Chemours has not only poisoned our coworkers, neighbors, and loved ones; they have also poisoned the animals that depend on the Cape Fear River. This also begs the question of how consumption of fish from the Cape Fear River impacts exposure. It is widely established that PFAS bioaccumulate, so how does the impact on our wildlife in turn impact the health of those who consume the fish? This is just one of many questions raised by the Corrective Action Plan that should be addressed by NC DEQ immediately. In an abundance of caution, fish advisories should be put in place if they do not already exist. Chemours should also be forced to pay for the repopulation of certain fish and other wildlife populations in the Cape Fear River basin until it is determined their PFAS chemical waste did not cause reproductive harm.
The recent COVID-19 outbreak shows what happens when risks to human health are not understood and controlled but instead are allowed to permeate the environment. Here, neither DuPont nor Chemours did the necessary science or took the necessary steps to prevent the dangers of PFAS in our communities. The lessons we are even now learning from the pandemic tell us that the last thing we should do is let Chemours off the hook.
Lastly, due to the global pandemic of COVID-19, our ability to participate in three public hearings regarding this corrective action plan was lost when they were all canceled. Unless DEQ is fully committed to following the advice and comments submitted by Clean Cape Fear, SELC and CFPUA, we cannot support any actions being taken until the public has been given their right to access public hearings, fully learn from experts what’s at stake with this next phase of the consent order, and be given a chance to self-advocate for their own families.
We appreciate the ability to be allowed to submit this public comment. We request an opportunity to be heard in person at public hearings and for the scientists involved in the ongoing research process to be heard as well. We support the recommendations made by SELC and CFPUA and believe that the proposed corrective action plan should not be approved in its current form.
With gratitude,
Emily Donovan
Co-Founder of Clean Cape Fear