CFPUA Board Passes Resolution Asking NCDEQ for a Cease in Fluorochemical Compounds Production
This morning, the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority Board unanimously passes a resolution calling on the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) to require all tenants of the Fayetteville Works site to cease operations resulting in the production of fluorochemical compounds.
In September 2017, NCDEQ issued a partial consent order to Chemours requiring the company to stop all discharge of process wastewater containing GenX to the Cape Fear River. Despite this order, we continue to detect levels of GenX in finished water at Sweeney Water Treatment Plant.
Yesterday, NCDEQ issued a second Notice of Violation (NOV) to the Chemours company directing the company “to terminate or control sources of contamination and mitigate onside hazards.” While CFPUA recognizes NCDEQ’s decisive actions, the NOV directives take time to design and implement. As a result, CFPUA believes all production of these compounds must be stopped until NCDEQ can confirm that discharges of the compound through stormwater run-off, air releases, byproducts or other sources have been terminated or properly controlled.
According to CFPUA’s Jim Flechtner, executive director, “It is unfortunate this definitive action is needed to help ensure unregulated compounds don’t reach the source water for hundreds of thousands of people in this region.”
CFPUA continues to sample water weekly for levels of GenX, and we will release those results, in addition to results from our ongoing pilot test, as we receive them.