NORTH CAROLINA — Environmentalist groups notified the City of Asheboro and two of its major industries of their intent to sue for violating the Clean Water Act with toxic pollution flowing downstream to the tri-county region. This comes as local officials urge state regulators to enforce 1,4-dioxane limits.
READ MORE: North Carolina Chamber asks Sen. Tillis to help prevent 1,4-dioxane regulation
ALSO: ‘Worse than nothing’: Proposal would require PFAS reduction plans without enforcing limits
The Southern Environmental Law Center sent letters to Asheboro, Waste Management Inc., and polyethylene plastic manufacturer StarPet Wednesday to inform them Cape Fear River Watch and Haw River Assembly plan to hold them accountable for releasing record-breaking levels of 1,4-dioxane into the drinking water supply of nearly one million North Carolinians.
“We’ve known of the dangers of 1,4 dioxane, a cancer-causing chemical, for years,” Cape Fear River Watch executive director Dana Sargent told Port City Daily. “Instead of working to stop its release as soon as possible, our state’s regulatory and legislative processes have continued to do the bidding of polluters — failing to protect the public they should be serving. We were left with no option but to take this to the courts.”
The City of Asheboro has released the highest documented amount of 1,4-dioxane pollution from a North Carolina wastewater facility — including a record concentration of 3,520 parts per billion on Jan. 24 — following Chief Administrative Law Judge Donald van der Vaart’s decision to stop regulation of Asheboro’s permit limits in September. Asheboro’s discharges pass into the Cape Fear River area, a region with some of the highest 1,4-dioxane concentrations in the nation.
The environmentalist groups argued two industrial customers of Asheboro’s wastewater utility were emboldened to forgo pretreatment and release massive amounts of 1,4-dioxane after van der Vaart’s decision. They argue Asheboro has violated federal, state, and local laws by failing to manage its industrial pretreatment program and releasing a toxic compound without authorization in its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit.
The nonprofits further contend industrial pretreatment is more financially feasible than requiring downstream utilities to filter 1,4-dioxane. Indorama Ventures, the Thailand-based owner of StarPet, and Waste Management are both multinational firms that brought in billions in revenue last year.
SELC found Asheboro’s reported 1,4-dioxane spikes correspond to separate occasions in which it allowed StarPet to pause its pretreatment system. A North Carolina Collaboratory report published last year found the city was able to dramatically reduce its average 1,4-dioxane discharges in years preceding the September ruling — by 80% from 2018 to 2023, from 334 to 68 parts per billion — because its industrial customers were pre-treating wastewater before passing it through to the utility.
PCD reached out to Asheboro, Indorama Ventures, and Waste Management for comment on the recent letters but did not receive a response by press.
“Cape Fear Public Utility Authority regularly detects 1,4-dioxane in its drinking water supply above the cancer risk value,” SELC wrote in the letter. “According to DEQ data, CFPUA’s average 1,4-dioxane concentration for 2022 was 4.32 ppb, and ranged from 3.85 ppb to 5.14 ppb. Indeed, on 51 occasions since January 2019, CFPUA has detected more than 0.35 ppb of 1,4-dioxane in finished drinking water.”
SELC noted Brunswick County’s average levels over the same period were 0.87 ppb to 2.68 ppb and Pender County’s were 0.93 ppb to 3.1 ppb.
CFPUA executive director Kenneth Waldroup sent an emergency petition to the EMC and Department of Environmental Quality urging them to begin 1,4-dioxane rulemaking in November.
Waldroup spoke as an expert panelist at Clean Cape Fear’s World Water Day event last Saturday. He said 1,4-dioxane regulation is the utility’s top priority in ongoing discussions with the Environmental Management Commission. The EMC is a 15-member body appointed by the governor, General Assembly leaders, and the agricultural commissioner charged with reviewing and enacting rules for the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.
“They did not want a water quality standard,” Waldroup said at the event. “We spent tens of thousands of dollars on outside consultants — my time and our attorney’s time — trying to write a rule. Sadly, last week we came to the conclusion that there is no solution in North Carolina today without a water quality standard.”
The CFPUA executive director said he’d advised EMC members only two options exist to address 1,4-dioxane pollution: voluntary reductions and codified discharge limits. However, because past voluntary reduction methods have consistently failed, he believes numerical standards are the only feasible method to reduce pollution.
The Environmental Management Commission approved DEQ’s proposed 1,4-dioxane standards in 2022, but the Rules Review Commission — a 10-member body charged with ensuring state agencies’ compliance with the Administrative Procedures Act — rejected the proposal.
The Rules Review Commission objected to 1,4-dioxane standards after receiving opposition letters from dischargers who argued proposed rules would be prohibitively expensive. The RRC contended the Environmental Management Commission did not include an appropriate analysis of the rules’ economic impact. However, Assistant State Budget Officer Anca Grozav sent a May 2022 letter to the commission stating budget and management — the office charged with reviewing fiscal notes — approved the analysis.
The environmentalist’s recent letter noted the Department of Environmental Quality sought to initiate the rule making process for 1,4-dioxane and PFAS standards last year. Environmental Management Commissioners rejected the effort after receiving opposition letters from dischargers including Asheboro.
EMC commissioners are instead seeking to implement rules requiring industries to monitor their PFAS and 1,4-dioxane discharges and develop reductions plans. Critics, including Cape Fear River Watch and the Southern Environmental Law Center, argue the plan is “worse than nothing” because it would provide long-term liability protection for industry without consequences for pollution.
“While Asheboro’s 1,4-dioxane pollution has gone through the roof, the EMC is considering a 1,4-dioxane rule that could require no reductions of cancer-causing 1,4-dioxane,” SELC senior attorney Jean Zhuang said. “Polluters throughout North Carolina would use such a rule as an excuse to release as much of this toxic chemical as they want. For the EMC to propose a 1,4-dioxane rule like this—a rule that does more harm than good—when our communities are suffering from skyrocketing toxic 1,4-dioxane pollution, that’s beyond belief.”
Commissioner Steve Keen noted at this month’s meeting that 80% of the EMC’s draft PFAS monitoring plan was written by industry groups including the North Carolina Water Quality Association, whose members include CFPUA. At Saturday’s event, Waldroup said he believes it is important to have a “seat at the table” at the NCWQA even if he does not agree with their positions; he said CFPUA plans to make a public statement soon to express its opposition to the draft PFAS monitoring and minimization plan.
Last month, New Hanover County Manager Chris Coudriet requested NHC Sustainability Manager Madelyn Wampler and other technical experts prepare a 1,4-dioxane policy review, including the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce’s position on the issue.
The Environmental Protection Agency sent a Jan. 3 letter to the Department of Environmental Quality determining Van der Vaart inaccurately interpreted the Clean Water Act in his September ruling. The EPA directed North Carolina to include 1,4-dioxane limits in Asheboro’s permit within 90 days or forfeit its enforcement authority to the federal government.
The state chamber sent Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) a January letter requesting his assistance to prevent the EPA from interfering in van der Vaart’s ruling.
“The chamber is involved because if municipal dischargers like Asheboro are held to those standards,” NHC staff wrote in a Feb. 25 memo, “large-scale manufacturers might also have to limit their discharges, potentially increasing their costs.”
Van der Vaart’s wife is chair of the NC Chamber Legal Institute, the lobby group’s legal arm.
“Court rulings on likely carcinogenic chemicals like 1,4 dioxane have lasting impacts on the health of people in our state,” a Toxic Free NC spokesperson wrote in an email to PCD. “Any judge who presides over this issue should have the best interests of NC communities’ rights and health at heart and not be acting in conflict of interest.”
Duke University director of environmental law Ryke Longest told PCD last fall he had serious concerns about potential conflicts among appointed officials influencing 1,4-dioxane and PFAS regulations. Commissioner Michael Ellison — who joked about removing a section of the draft PFAS monitoring plan at this month’s meeting because industry opposes it — works for consulting firm WK Dickson, a member of the industry group that helped draft the proposal. PCD asked WK Dickson if it has a position on 1,4-dioxane and PFAS regulation but did not receive a response.
NHC staff advocated New Hanover County commissioners support CFPUA’s request for 1,4-dioxane limits. Commissioners agreed to the recommendation and sent a March 6 letter to Environmental Management Commissioners — as well as state and federal elected officials — expressing support for enforceable 1,4-dioxane limits.
“As the elected body representing nearly 240,000 residents, we have long supported legislative and regulatory efforts aimed at holding polluters accountable,” commissioners wrote. “We believe the most effective way to protect drinking water, safeguard the health and safety of residents and shield downstream users from financial burden is to limit or stop pollution at its source.”
County officials noted CFPUA estimates updating the Sweeney Treatment Plant to filter the contaminant to a consistent level below 0.35 parts per billion would cost $24 million.
“This would be yet another burden on ratepayers who would face increased costs caused by something that was no fault of their own,” commissioners wrote. “This is unacceptable.”
Rep. Pricey Harrison (D-Guilford) told Port City Daily Friday she and Rep. Deb Butler (D-New Hanover) plan to introduce a bill the first week in April that would set limits on emerging contaminants including 1,4-dioxane and PFAS.
“I am terribly disappointed in those elected officials and other local organizations who refuse to condemn polluters and refuse to support regulations governing discharge limits to protect our citizens,” Butler told PCD. “They have the nerve to suggest that these protective measures are bad for business. You know what I think is bad for business? Carcinogens and other toxins in our water and air.”
[Update: This article was updated to include additional details after press.]
Tips or comments? Email journalist Peter Castagno at peter@localdailymedia.com.
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