NEW HANOVER COUNTY — More than a dozen residents gathered at a public hearing to argue in favor of stronger PFAS regulation and share personal tragedies related to the health impact of decades of environmental contamination in New Hanover County.
READ MORE: DEQ establishes interim groundwater limits to guide clean-up for 8 PFAS compounds
Around 50 residents gathered at CFCC’s Union Station Auditorium Monday to address proposed regulations for PFAS remediation at a public hearing, hosted by the Environmental Management Commission and the Department of Environmental Quality. The hearing was part of a public comment stage in the state’s environmental rule-making process that will remain open through the end of December; comments are also being accepted via email here.
The DEQ has sought to implement regulatory standards for eight PFAS compounds since November. They include surface water standards used to limit PFAS discharges released into water bodies and groundwater standards used to guide remediation of existing contamination.
The Environmental Management Commission — a 15-member appointed body charged with reviewing and approving DEQ proposals — has not taken action to implement surface water standards for the eight compounds. However, the EMC advanced groundwater standards for three compounds — PFOS, PFOA, and GenX — to the public comment stage of the rule-making process at its September meeting.
In October, the Department of Environmental Quality implemented Interim Maximum Allowable Concentrations to guide groundwater cleanup for all eight compounds. The EMC’s more lenient proposal would replace IMAC standards after they expire in October 2025.
“This is important for North Carolina as groundwater supports approximately 50% of drinking water use in the state,” DEQ groundwater quality standards coordinator Bridget Shelton said in an overview of the proposed rule changes. “These standards are implemented in various programs, including site clean ups and remediation, risk assessments, and health evaluations.”
Residents — including Cape Fear River Watch leaders Dana Sargent and Kemp Burdette and Clean Cape Fear co-founder Emily Donovan — spoke during public comment to argue the state should regulate PFAS as a chemical class rather than focus solely on three compounds.
“We know the burden of PFAS in North Carolina is especially high,” Cape Fear River Watch Riverkeeper Kemp Burdette said during public comment. “We know the treatment of PFAS is challenging, but that challenge is exponentially greater once those compounds leave the industrial facilities where they are created.”
Burdette noted his father passed away from kidney cancer. A 2023 National Cancer Institute study associated exposure to PFOA and PFNA with higher risk of kidney cancer. PFNA is one of the five PFAS compounds the Environmental Management Commission removed from proposed groundwater standards.
Retired emergency room physician Bob Parr was also present and argued economic analysis of regulation fails to consider the full cost of medical expenses incurred by negative health impacts of PFAS contamination.
“I may never know whether the health of anyone in my family has suffered due to PFAS consumption,” Bayshore resident Linsay Castner said at the hearing. “What we do know is that these chemicals can decrease immune response. My middle daughter has brain tumors caused by a genetic disorder; she’s 8 years old. For much of her childhood her immune system has been ravaged by chemotherapy.”
Resident Wayne Lewis said he believes PFAS contamination contributed to the sudden health deterioration and death of his wife in 2019.
“I’ve got total PFAS concentrations of 380.5,” he said. “The limits are supposed to be 70.”
DEQ officials submitted economic analyses and health data in its PFAS regulation proposal to the Environmental Management Commission. DEQ found the economic benefit of regulating eight compounds — including property values negatively impacted by contamination — would outweigh costs.
In October, New Hanover County appraisal manager Bob Kovar emailed planning director Rebecca Roth requesting a list of parcels with wells contaminated by PFAS to determine valuation adjustments in the county. Roth recommended reaching out to NHC public health director Jonathan Campbell. She noted state and county data may fail to represent the full impact of PFAS because not all wells in the county are being tested.
“PFAS producers should be held responsible for pretreatment of their waste streams to remove PFAS before putting it into our rivers and air,” New Hanover County commissioner Rob Zapple said during public comment. “Capturing contamination at the source is the most economical and fair way to deal with this problem. Not put it on ratepayers and ordinary citizens.”
The National Association of Counties cited Zapple’s interest in PFAS issues in its October nomination for the commissioner to serve on the EPA’s Local Government Advisory Committee. The county has sued more than a dozen PFAS manufacturers and vendors — including Chemours and 3M — for decades of environmental contamination.
Donovan noted at the hearing the United Nations has admonished North Carolina regulators for enabling business-related human-rights abuses related to PFAS.
“For decades industry has been allowed to use our watershed as their sewer system,” Donovan said. “Dumping toxic levels of PFAS, contaminating our air, soil, water, and food supply. They are profiting at our expense.”
Powerful business groups, including the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce and the North Carolina Manufacturers Alliance — which include Chemours and DuPont as members — have lobbied the Environmental Management Commission to delay implementation of PFAS standards.
“The EMC is responsible for adopting rules for the protection, preservation, and enhancement of the state’s air and water resources,” Sargent said. “Instead of dedicating themselves to this mission, some members have instead spent taxpayer time and money forcing DEQ to provide details on how proposed rules might affect the bottom lines of the regulated community.”
Sargent provided documents including PFAS well testing and photos of her brother, a firefighter who passed away of brain cancer, to DEQ staff. A 2024 National Institute of Health study found exposure to PFOS, PFOA, PFHxS, and PFNA was linked to brain cancer. PFHxS and PFNA are two of the five compounds the Environmental Management Commission removed from the Department of Environmental Quality’s proposed regulations.
The NC Chamber hosted a meeting on PFAS liability in September with presentations by Smith Anderson attorneys Cliff Brinson and Addie Ries; the lawyers are representing firefoam supplier Dynax Corp against New Hanover County in the ongoing PFAS litigation.
The public comment period on the proposed groundwater regulations will continue until December 31. The Department of Environmental Quality will prepare a final report to the Environmental Management Commission in May 2025. The rule would then need to be approved by the Rules Review Commission, an agency within the Office of Administrative Hearings.
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