SOUTHEASTERN N.C. — More officials are calling on the federal government to block the import of millions of pounds of GenX being shipped from overseas.
READ MORE: EPA authorizes 4M pounds of GenX to be imported to NC from overseas
The Environmental Protection Agency authorized Chemours on Sept. 8 to import 4 million pounds of GenX over the next 12 months from its Dordrecht, Netherlands facility.
On Saturday, Gov. Roy Cooper sent a letter to the EPA Administrator Michael Regan urging him to reconsider and reverse the decision.
“North Carolina has been at the forefront of PFAS issues for the past seven years and worked relentlessly to mitigate the health risks posed by these chemicals,” Gov. Cooper said in a press release. “It is unacceptable for North Carolinians to bear the risks associated with importing millions of pounds of GenX from other countries for disposal in our air, land and water.”
The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality also expressed concerns to the EPA regarding the shipments of GenX to Chemours’ Fayetteville Works Facility, 70 miles upstream of Wilmington.
“The introduction of a large quantity of PFAS-containing waste material into North
Carolina is a significant setback for our ongoing efforts to limit PFAS impacts on the
environment in North Carolina,” Cooper wrote in the letter. “And it conveys a message of indifference to the members of many communities in North Carolina, covering at least an eight-county region, who have long borne the impact of PFAS releases from the Fayetteville Works facility.”
That eight-county region includes the Cape Fear; Brunswick County commissioners sent a letter Regan as well Nov. 1 and New Hanover County commissioners followed suit Nov. 6.
READ MORE: ‘Hold Chemours accountable’: Brunswick sends letter on GenX import concerns to EPA
Brunswick commissioners urged the EPA to guarantee Chemours “has significantly reduced the amount of PFAS entering the Cape Fear River before allowing more PFAS into the state.”
New Hanover commissioners noted in their letter they are “deeply concerned” with Chemours ability to safely manage new imports of GenX, given their lengthy history of polluting the Cape Fear River.
“The company has done little to voluntarily address its long-term pollution without direct action by New Hanover County, the City of Wilmington, Cape Fear River Watch and NCDEQ,” NHC commissioners’ letter continues.
It then asks for the EPA to establish controls through the imports to prevent further contamination.
Both counties have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to install treatment methods at their public utility authorities to protect customers from the contamination in the drinking water.
Cooper’s letter indicated the allowance of importing GenX is exactly why the EPA needs to move ahead on designating four PFAS as hazardous constituents under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
An EPA spokesperson told Port City Daily last month since GenX is not regulated in the U.S., the federal agency legally had to allow the import.
The Fayetteville Works facility will receive the GenX for “recycle or reuse,” which a Chemours spokesperson told PCD reduces the need to manufacture larger volumes of new compounds.
The product will be imported in as many as 100 shipments through the Port of Wilmington to Fayetteville Works in Bladen County.
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