CFPUA Responds to Questions Regarding Calgon Carbon Corporation
Cape Fear Public Utility Authority’s top priority is to ensure that we are providing our customers with safe and reliable drinking water—a mission that requires the use of advanced treatment processes at our plants. Calgon Carbon filter media is a product we have used for over a decade, and it has shown to be effective in treatment processes at our Sweeney Water Treatment Plant.
CFPUA is aware of recent media reports questioning the use of Calgon Carbon products at the Sweeney Water Treatment Plant after the company was acquired by Kuraray America—a tenant of the Fayetteville Works site in Bladen County.
Kuraray America, a subsidiary of the Japanese company Kuraray Co Ltd., is one of three tenants of the Fayetteville Works site. All tenants at the Fayetteville Works site share an NPDES permit, regulated by North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, for their discharge to the Cape Fear River. CFPUA is in possession of a signed affidavit from a representative of Kuraray America, stating that the company does not use, produce or manufacture GenX or other per-fluorinated chemicals on site.
Based on the aforementioned affidavit, CFPUA believes Kuraray is not involved in the production of per-fluorinated compounds, and we stand by our decision to purchase tested and highly effective filter media for the advanced treatment processes at the Plant.
For more information on the CFPUA sequence of events related to the purchase of Calgon Carbon Corporation filter material, please see the timeline below.
CFPUA Timeline: Kuraray Acquisition of Calgon Carbon
October 19, 2017: Hope A. Walters, an Environmental Specialist for Kuraray America, Inc., signs an affidavit as part of ongoing litigation against The Chemours Company stating, in part: “There is no use, production or manufacture of GenX or any other Perfluorinated Chemicals (‘PFCs’) at the Kuraray Fayetteville Works”.
March 9, 2018: Kuraray completes its acquisition of Calgon Carbon Corporation. CFPUA had become aware of the acquisition efforts before the process was completed.
May 2, 2018: At the May Finance Committee meeting, CFPUA staff recommended approval for the replacement of existing Calgon Carbon filter media in the Sweeney Water Treatment Plant, used in treatment processes currently in place, with in-kind Calgon Carbon filter media.
As stated in the meeting, and as can be seen in the meeting minutes, Calgon Carbon of Pittsburg was known to be a subsidiary of Japanese Kuraray Company Ltd, which owns the Kuraray America facility located on the Fayetteville Works site in Bladen County.
May 9, 2018: The CFPUA Board authorizes staff to negotiate a price proposal with Calgon Carbon Corporation for replacing existing media at the Sweeney Water Treatment Plant. As can be seen in the minutes of that meeting, CFPUA staff and CFPUA legal counsel answered clarification questions regarding Calgon’s purchase by Japanese Kuraray Company, Ltd.
As of July 12, 2018, CFPUA is in negotiations with Calgon Carbon over the price proposal for the media replacement.
June 20, 2018- June 21, 2018: CFPUA and other litigants conduct sampling at the Fayetteville Works site as part of ongoing legal action against Chemours and Dupont. Kuraray was not sampled as part of that process due to the fact that the plaintiffs in the lawsuits against Chemours and Dupont have determined that Kuraray does not manufacture per-fluorinated compounds on site.
CFPUA Comments on Proposed Court Action Against Chemours
As a downstream user of the Cape Fear River and the public water supplier for over 200,000 residents and businesses in New Hanover County, Cape Fear Public Utility Authority (CFPUA) supports action that will clean our source waters and protect public health. As North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) is aware, the Sweeney Water Treatment Plant is unable to remove per-fluorinated compounds such as GenX from drinking water. Thus, source control is currently the only method of ensuring that citizens of our community have limited exposure to per-fluorinated compounds.
After a review of the proposed court order, CFPUA is pleased to see NCDEQ taking action on all fronts: air emissions, surface water, and groundwater. As a water utility with a drinking water intake on the Cape Fear River, the proposed compliance measures for surface water will have a direct impact on our customers and our community.
On Tuesday, July 10, CFPUA submitted a comment to NCDEQ detailing the ways in which action would affect us and proposing several revisions to the proposed court order.
Read CFPUA’s Full Comment