North Carolina Regulators Fight GenX Contamination

North Carolina regulators lowered the standard for GenX in drinking water this month as the state grapples with contamination in the Cape Fear River.

“Chemours, a chemical manufacturing plant near Fayetteville, has been discharging the compound into the Cape Fear watershed for years. Water near the plant was tested several weeks ago. At the time, officials said it was well below the state’s preliminary health risk threshold of 71,000 parts per trillion,” WRAL reported.

“However, after consulting with the U.S. EPA, state officials lowered the health safety threshold for GenX to 140 parts per trillion. Samples taken as recently as June 22nd tested at several times that level,” the report said.

After high levels of GenX were found in the Cape Fear River, state regulators began to pressure industry polluters to safeguard waterways from this contaminant. A major chemical company operating in North Carolina, Chemours, is taking steps to contain wastewater laced with the contaminant.

State environmental regulators verified during an inspection that Chemours' Fayetteville facility is "redirecting the wastewater from the Gen X process into temporary storage tanks so it can be moved offsite for disposal," the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality announced in a statement. The company has plans to ship the waste to disposal sites for incineration.

GenX, a persistent and toxic industrial chemical used to replace perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), has been detected in North Carolina drinking water. “DuPont introduced GenX in 2009 to replace PFOA, a compound it used to manufacture Teflon and coatings for stain-resistant carpeting, waterproof clothing, and many other consumer products,” The Intercept reported. Chemours is a spin-off of Dupont.

Michael Regan, secretary of the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality, discussed the actions taken by Chemours.

“We are holding Chemours accountable for containing the chemical compound as we continue to investigate the presence of GenX in the Cape Fear River. While we have verified that Chemours is no longer discharging GenX into the Cape Fear River, we are continuing to work to better understand this unregulated compound, how much of it is in the river, and its potential impacts,” he said.

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