RALEIGH — At the request of state officials, the federal Environmental Protection Agency has agreed to test water from the Cape Fear River; today the EPA released a projected timeline for those tests.
Following last week’s closed door meeting, Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Michael S. Regan told local media the DEQ had requested testing of the Cape Fear River. That testing began this week.
The EPA has since initiated an investigation into The Chemours Company’s compliance with the Toxic Substances Control Act for the production of the chemical known as GenX (perfluoro-2-propoxypropanoic acid, or PFPrOPrA). As part of that investigation, the EPA will be performing tests on water samples from 13 locations in the Cape Fear River.
According to an agency spokesperson, the sampling process will take three weeks. Samples will be tested at an unnamed private laboratory in Colorado, as well as the EPA Office of Research and Development’s laboratory in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. The agency expects to have results from Colorado four weeks after samples are received there, or in approximately seven weeks, or the end of July, beginning of August. The EPA is working to establish a time table for its own independent analysis.
The Chemours Company will be funding all sample collection and testing, according to the EPA.
In addition to performing tests for GenX in the DEQ water samples, the EPA is also working to update its assessment of how dangerous GenX is to humans. The agency is reviewing additional toxicity data submitted by Chemours and updating the risk assessment using the additional toxicity data specific to GenX. Apparently, Chemours is the sole source of data on the toxicity of GenX.
