Related news: State issues new violation notice to Chemours over PFAS water treatment system.

In the closingdays of the Trump administration, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rejected a petition by North Carolina environmental groups to force the Chemours Co. to fund studies on the long-term health and environmental impacts of the forever chemicals that it had released into the Cape Fear River for decades.

Now that President Joe Biden has selectedNorth Carolinas Michael Regan, the states secretaryof the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality, to be the new EPA administrator, the groups plan to resubmit theirrequest.

They also hope Regans move to be the countrys top environmental steward assuming hes confirmedby the U.S. Senate will bring more national attention to the dangers posed byper- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, to people and the environment."We look forward to working with him, appreciate the work hes done here, and the knowledge he has on PFAS is a huge step forward," said Dana Sargent, executive director of Cape Fear River Watch, one of the groups that submitted the petition.

For decades Chemours and its predecessor, DuPont, dumped manmade chemicals into the Cape Fearfrom the sprawling Fayetteville Works plant, which sits roughly 70miles upstream from Wilmington on the Bladen-Cumberland county line just south of Fayetteville. The Cape Fear River is the primary drinking water source for an estimated 350,000downstream residents, including in and around the fast-growing Wilmington area.

The discovery of the mystery compounds in public water supplies, most famously GenX, was first reported by the Wilmington StarNews in 2017. State regulators led by Regan forced Chemours to stop the discharges later that year. Contaminants also were found in the groundwater around the Fayetteville Works plant, prompting the company to provide bottled water and other remediesto nearby residents who relyon wells for their drinking water.

Little is known about the long-term health consequences of prolonged exposure to PFAS. The chemicalsare used in many consumer and commercial goods,such as cosmetics, firefighting foam, food packaging and nonstick cookware. But what researchers have determinedis that the forever chemicals dont break down easily in the environment,and they accumulate in the body.

Learn more: EPA administrator saysChemours should make newer, safer PFAS chemicals

Study: GenX chemical in 70 of 84 wells tested near Chemours Fayetteville Works plant

In their October petition to the Trump administrations EPA, the environmental groupsnoted their request would mirror the health testing that was done in the Parkersburg, West Virginia, area, where high levels of forever chemicals were contaminating water supplies around another DuPont plant that made Teflon. Thattesting, which wrapped up in 2013, linked exposure to the manmade chemicals to six diseases: ulcerative colitis, pregnancy-induced hypertension, thyroid disease, testicular cancer, and kidney cancer.

But the EPA, while stating that its denial is not based on lack of concern with PFAS, said the testing for the 54 manmade chemicals that the environmental groups said were manufactured at Fayetteville Works wasnt necessary because many of the chemicals were already being studied.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other government agencies also are already undertaking a large-scale, multi-site epidemiologic study of communities where PFAS contamination has been found, the EPA noted.

In a statement released after the EPA's decision, Chemours said the company agreed that environmental groups had failed to provide justification that the Toxic Substances Control Act compels the requested tests. It also noted the efforts it had already made to reduce PFAS dischargesfrom the plant.

River Watchs Sargent said the EPAs decision to not force Chemours to pay for the studies wasnt in line withits missionto protect public health and the environment.

Were not asking them to conduct this work, and this is not a big ask," she said. Much of the PFAS research currently underway is being done by academic institutions and other government agencies, Sargentsaid, and they are paying for it, not the polluting companies.

The ask of EPA in this case is to ask the EPA to do itsjob, she said.

Regans selection by Biden to head the EPA received strong support from the environmental community when it was announced in late December.

Gov. Roy Cooper, who hired Regan in 2017, called him a consensus builder and a fierce protector of the environment.

Regans widely acclaimed achievements while head of DEQ include the coal ash cleanup agreement with Duke Energy and the creation of the states Environmental Justice and Equity Advisory Board.

Getting Chemours to stop discharging PFAS into the states air, groundwater and surface waters also is seen by many as a feather in his cap.

Geoff Gisler, a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center who worked with state regulators and environmentalists to end Chemours' PFAS discharges, said he believed Regan is a strongchoice to lead the EPA.

"When all existing consent order requirements are met, PFAS from Chemours site will nearly be eliminated," he said on Tuesday."If that can be replicated nationwide, we can make significant advances in cleaning up our streams and rivers."

But the nomination of Regan for the nations top environmental job hasn't pleased everyone.

Mike Watters lives less than a mile from theFayetteville Works plant, and hes been experiencing health problems since he moved into his house in 2012.

He said Regan hasnt used all the legal and other tools available to him to force Chemours to change its ways and clean up the PFAS contamination in a timely manner.

On Tuesday, DEQ issued a new violation notice to Chemours for design and operational issueslast fall associated with the treatment system at an outfall on the Cape Fear River at Fayetteville Works. The problems allowed wastewatercontaminated with PFAS to flow into the river in violation of Chemours discharge permit and the consent order between the company and the state.

DEQ is committed to holding Chemours accountable, and ensuring they meet the requirements of the Consent Order and their permit conditions at all times, Regan stated in the release. DEQ will continue to take all appropriate actions, from increased oversight to enforcement, to ensure the company meets its obligations to prevent PFAS from entering the Cape Fear River.

But Watters said the lack of a fine or penalty associated with the new violations isanother missed opportunity. According to the release, state regulators said they would "evaluate the responses and additional information provided by Chemours in determining the civil penalties for all of the violations cited above, as well as the assessment of the stipulated penalties under the Consent Order."

"Theres no repercussions," Watters said on Tuesday. "Why will that change if he goes to Washington?"

Reporter Gareth McGrath can be reached at GMcGrath@Gannett.com or @GarethMcGrathSN on Twitter.

Read more from the original source:
Denied by Trump EPA, NC activists hope Biden EPA will force forever chemical study - The Fayetteville Observer