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NC pushes Chemours for GenX information, action - News - Wilmington Star News = Wi... Page 1 of 4
NC pushes Chemours for GenX information, action
Lack of standards complicates move by environmental officials
By Adam Wagner GateHouse Media
Posted Jun 9, 2017 at 5:45 PM
Updated Jun 10, 2017 at 12:16 PM
RALEIGH -- State regulators and Chemours are locked in ongoing discussions about GenX, a
chemical produced at the chemical giant's plant near Fayetteville that researchers have found in
the Cape Fear River, N.C. Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) officials said Friday.
A major hurdle to any action will be that GenX is an emerging contaminant, meaning, officials
said, any enforceable standard would need to come from the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency.
"We can't regulate it at a set number because no number exists. But given the concern, we will
ask (Chemours) about it, talk to them about it," said Julie Grzyb, the supervisor of DEQ's
National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) complex permitting staff.
Establishing a standard takes years, sometimes decades, due to the deliberate, science -grounded
nature of the process.
For instance, C8, the chemical DuPont and Chemours agreed to phase out before eventually
replacing it with GenX, has been found to likely cause cancer, high cholesterol and other
diseases. In February, C8 was the subject of a $670.7 million class action lawsuit settlement in
West Virginia.
But the EPA has said a federal standard for C8 will not come until at least 2019.
Unanswered questions
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One option open to state regulators could be requiring Chemours to monitor the Cape Fear
River near its 2,150-acre site, about 100 miles upstream from Wilmington, as part of the
company's NPDES permit. The company would need to agree to that provision as part of the
permit's five-year review process, which is scheduled to begin within the next six months.
A Chemours spokesman would not answer specific questions Friday about the ongoing
discussions between the chemical company and regulators or whether the company would be
Willing to install a monitoring system as part of its NPDES permit renewal process. An
additional question asked if the company has heard from local officials or residents and, if so,
what its message has been to those people.
The StarNews also reached out to officials in the EPA's Southeastern region with similar
questions. A spokesperson responded late in the day to say the questions had been passed to
the agency's federal office.
`High gear'
State officials remain optimistic Chemours will agree to share some internal information about
GenX, noting they believe the chemical company has historically been open about what is
being discharged at the Fayetteville plant.
"Most industries want to do the right thing," Grzyb said, "and we would work with the
industry-- ask them what can they do and work with them from there. If they were willing to
commit to something, we could put something in a permit."
DEQ officials have been hurrying this week to learn as much as they can about GenX,
contacting federal EPA officials, as well as Detlef Knappe, the N.C. State University researcher
whose teams located the chemical in the Cape Fear River on three separate occasions.
"We had conversations today and, again, looking at the national data, looking at the data that's
been generated here in North Carolina and looking at the research ... how can that contribute
not only to the state dialogue, but to the national dialogue?" said Linda Culpepper, deputy
director of the N.C. Division of Water Resources.
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The average concentration of GenX found by Knappe's teams at Cape Fear Public Utility
Authority's (CFPUA) intake on the Cape Fear River in 2013-14 was 631 parts per trillion, nine
times the 70 parts per trillion drinking water advisory standard -- an unenforceable,
scientifically based suggestion -- the EPA has implemented for C8.
"It's put everybody in high gear to really figure out what this is," Marla Sink, a spokeswoman
for DEQ's Division of Water Resources, said about Knappe's research and the StarNews
report.
Local water agencies such as Brunswick County Public Utilities, CFPUA and H2GO have
noted repeatedly in multiple forums this week that their water meets all federal and state
standards. This is true, but GenKs relatively new nature means it remains unregulated and
does not have a federal or state standard.
Is it safe?
Scientists and public officials have many unanswered questions about GenX and its impacts on
humans.
Chemours has previously said GenX underwent extensive safety evaluations as part of the
EPA's standard review process.
Still, scientists are concerned perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs), the class to which both GenX
and C8 belong, have been proven dangerous enough to raise concerns.
Dr. Alan Ducatman, a professor of environmental health sciences at West Virginia
University's School of Public Health, has researched the impacts of contamination at the
Parkersburg, W.Va., plant that led to the $670 million settlement. Ducatman recently told the
StarNews that he is wary of anything proclaiming GenX safe.
"I hope, I really hope, that the replacement chemicals are as safe as DuPont scientists think," he
said. "I believe that it is reasonable to hope that they are either `safer' or `less hazardous' to
humans. The choice of `safer' or less hazardous' is a matter of perspective. And nothing about
either term should be equated with `we know it's safe: In my view, we don't."
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NC pushes Chemours for GenX information, action - News - Wilmington Star News - Wi... Page 4 of 4
Late Friday, New Hanover County released a statement in partnership with CFPUA and the
City of Wilmington, saying it had sent a letter to DEQ to take the lead on researching as
quickly as possibly "the nature, extent and potential impacts of GenX."
According to county officials, representatives from the county, city and CFPUA also spoke to
the Chemours Company Friday in an hour -and -half -long phone call, and local officials would
be meeting with technical experts from the company next week to better understand the
situation and any possibly health risks.
Reporter Adam Wagner can be reached at 910-343-2389 or [e-mail].
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