DEQ-CFW_00074299

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Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to be here this evening. I appreciate the opportunity to
share with you the steps that the Department of Environmental Quality has taken to address the
unregulated compound, GenX.
On June 14t", Governor Cooper instructed DEQ to launch an investigation of this compound and
Chemours, the company releasing the compound into the Cape Fear River.D3Q is conducting a water
sampling analysis to better understand the current concentrations of GenX in the river
,k§ 'aresult of DEQ's investigation and following requests from the state, local officials and the public,
Chemours has voluntarily stopped the discharge from the known sources of the compound. The
company recently discovered additional sources of discharge and has subsequently redirected those
discharges to a holding tank. DEQ has visited the facility to confirm that the discharges have been
diverted and are no longer part of the wastewater stream ente�ingth river.
The data for the first few weeks of sampling show the values declined from week 1 to week 2 and that
the concentrations for the finished drinking water systems a generally at or below the new health goal
established by DHHS. The exception of one site, where the value was slightly above from one lab, and
below for the other lab on the same day.
The Department will continue sampling through next week, so there will be a total of 6 weeks of data at
each of the 12 monitoring locations, and 3 weeks at the upstream site. After analyzing the 6 weeks of
data, the Department will then develop a long term monitoring strategy. The data will be released to the
public and posted on our website after it has been quality assured by our Division of Water Resources
staff.
On Monday, Governor Cooper issued a letter to EPA asking that the agency speed up its work on the
health assessment of Genx, and to establish a water quality standard for the chemical. These steps are
necessary to provide NC with the regulatory authority to address the release of Genx into the river.
The Governor also asked EPA to revisit the TSCA consent order to address all releases of GenX.
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In addition, DEQ is carefully reviewing both the company's existing permit and its permit application ofbyo
as part of the ongoing investigation. DEQ is also evaluating whether the permit terms have been ( Q�J
ry
violated. Thi part of the investigation is ngoing.Q� "
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Additionally, DEQ has asked EPA to analyze the samples for the 6 weeks for all of the fluorinated
compounds analyzed in Dr. Knappe's original study. Then we will work with our partners at DHHS to
determine which of those compounds need to be further studied based on the concentrations in the
samples nd the expected impacts n huma ealft �
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�,1 wan to conclude by saying thattt is committed to completing the investigation and
ensuring that all necessary steps are taken to protect the public's health and the environment.
Again, thank you for the opportunity to be here tonight.
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DEQ-CFW 00074299

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DEQ-CFW 00074300