NC fines Chemours $200,000, says company isn't keeping 'forever chemicals' out of river

North Carolina regulators fined The Chemours Co. nearly $200,000 on Wednesday for violations related to the company’s failure to properly construct and install water treatment measures at its Fayetteville Works plant on the Cape Fear River.

Chemours was required to install the treatment systems as part of its 2019 consent order agreement with the state to prevent water contaminated with manmade “forever chemicals,” known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), from reaching the Cape Fear River.

For decades Chemours and its predecessor, DuPont, dumped manmade chemicals into the Cape Fear from the sprawling plant. The Cape Fear River is the primary drinking water source for an estimated 350,000 downstream residents, including in and around the fast-growing Wilmington area.

“[The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality] is committed to protecting communities and their water quality and ensuring that Chemours meets all its requirements and obligations, including those under the consent order to prevent PFAS from entering the Cape Fear River,” DEQ Secretary Dionne Delli-Gatti said in a statement. “We will take all appropriate enforcement actions, when they they fall short of those obligations.”

Read more: https://www.fayobserver.com/story/news/2021/03/31/north-carolina-fines-chemours-200-000-over-treatment-system-violations/4827503001/
(Fayettesville Observer)