GenX no longer on agenda for legislative panel overseeing environment

Raleigh, N.C. — As state regulators ordered chemical maker Chemours on Wednesday to supply bottled water to 30 more households near its Bladen County plant, the General Assembly's major environmental oversight commission didn't even address the water contamination problem associated with the plant.

Out of about 350 private wells near the Chemours plant tested so far, two-thirds have had GenX in them, and half of those had levels of the chemical above the state's goal of 140 parts per trillion. Overall, 115 households have been found to have contaminated wells.

GenX is an unregulated compound used to make Teflon and other items. It has been found to cause cancer in mice, but because it hasn't been studied extensively, the health effect of long-term exposure in humans is unknown.

Chemours and its predecessor company, DuPont, have dumped GenX into the Cape Fear River for years until state officials asked them to stop this summer. Chemours and the state Department of Environmental Quality have since been fighting over renewing the wastewater discharge permit at the Fayetteville Works plant.

Some House lawmakers want to take up legislation on GenX during a special session scheduled for Jan. 10, but the issue wasn't even mentioned Wednesday at the Environmental Review Commission, the top oversight body on the matter.

Read more: http://www.wral.com/genx-no-longer-on-agenda-for-legislative-panel-overseeing-environment/17183957/