A Bladen County Superior Court judge on Monday approved a consent order stipulating measures Chemours must take reduce PFAS releases and address their impacts.
The consent order outlines terms Chemours must meet to settle a lawsuit filed by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality. Originally announced in November 2018, the consent order was released in revised form last week.
The revisions include a number of additional steps Chemours must take to address the effects of past and ongoing releases of PFAS compounds from its chemical plant on the Bladen-Cumberland county line, about 100 miles up the Cape Fear River from Wilmington.
Among these are measures requiring Chemours to:
- Address groundwater contamination at the chemical plant and offsite.
- Assess the nature and extent of PFAS compounds in Cape Fear River sediment and downstream water intakes. The company must provide reports on these efforts to the NCDEQ and public utilities such as CFPUA.
- Take steps to significantly reduce the flow of PFAS compounds in the river from an old outfall from the site. These include preparing and implementing plans to control stormwater runoff and other routes of contamination.
The revised consent order also is more specific than the original in stipulating that it does not release Chemours or DuPont from civil liability for their decades of PFAS compound releases into the Cape Fear River and the air. DuPont created Chemours in 2015. CFPUA is suing the companies in federal court to recover damages it and the community it serves sustained as a result of Chemours’ and DuPont’s actions.
In addition, it includes provisions to ensure CFPUA and other downstream water users remain informed about Chemours’ plans, monitoring results and other aspects involved in abiding by the terms of the consent order.