HomeMy WebLinkAboutDEQ-CFW_00075938ROBINSON
BRADSHAW
sdegeorge@robinsonbradshaw.com
September 15, 2017 704.377.8380 : Direct Phone
704.373.3980 : Direct Fax
VIA EMAIL
William F. Lane, Esq.
Francisco J. Benzoni. Esq.
General Counsel
Assistant Attorney General
NC Department of Environmental Quality
NC Department of Justice
217 West Jones Street
114 W. Edenton Street
Raleigh, NC 27603
Raleigh, NC 27603
Re: Chemours' Third Response to DEQ's September 10, 2017 List of Priority
Requests
Dear Messrs. Lane and Benzoni:
On behalf of The Chemours Company FC, LLC ("Chemours"), this letter and
enclosed materials are submitted in response to DEQ's September 10, 2017 request
that Chemours prioritize certain of DEQ's pending requests for information related to
Chemours' Fayetteville facility ("Fayetteville Works"). This submission supplements
Chemours' August 4th, August 18th, August 25th, September 1st, September 12th, and
September 14th productions to DEQ.
Chemours has enclosed its sampling plan for responding to requests 4 and 5 in
DEQ's September 10th list of priorities. See CH-FW-DEQ-0057813 to CH-FW-DEQ-
0057823. This plan follows the general approach Chemours outlined for DEQ on the
September 13, 2017 teleconference, with refinements based upon further discussions
with both internal and external technical experts. This plan also incorporates the
comments DEQ provided on the September 13th teleconference.
As Chemours has noted in the attached sampling plan and in prior
communications (including on the September 13th teleconference), based on the
Company's due diligence in this area, there appear to be no commercially available or
certified analytical methods for detecting or quantifying in wastewater many of the
parameters for which DEQ has requested analysis. Chemours is working diligently to
develop internally (and externally through the assistance of independent laboratories
and by consultation with Dr. Strynar at EPA) analytical approaches to respond on an
expedited basis to DEQ's requests. Although Chemours believes it will be able to
develop methods for some or even all of the subject substances, Chemours' success in
doing so will not be clear until the analyses set forth in the attached sampling plan are
undertaken. Thus, while Chemours will use its best efforts to complete the sampling on
ROBINSON, BRADSHAW & HINSON, P.A.: robinsonbradshaw.com '
Charlotte Office : 101 N. Tryon St., Ste. 1900, Charlotte, NC 28246 : 704.377.2536
DEQ-CFW 00075938
September 15, 2017
Page 2
the schedule provided, given the truly cutting edge nature of the analysis involved, we
cannot guarantee that the schedule will hold. However, we will keep you apprised if
there is a need to adjust the schedule and/or sampling plan as a result of technical
issues.
As noted above, we have reached out, with your assistance, to Dr. Strynar at
EPA to see if he would be willing to run the requested analysis in his lab. He said he
needed to check with his management and we are awaiting his response. To the extent
he is able to run the analysis for certain of the compounds, that would likely expedite the
process and we are prepared to work collaboratively in such an effort. We understand
that DEQ and EPA will be taking further samples at the Fayetteville facility on Monday
morning, September 18th, and we assume these will be analyzed in Dr. Strynar's lab.
We would like to discuss with you when those results will be available and how we can
best account for the results in the sampling program Chemours is conducting.
In light of all the foregoing, Chemours recommends that we schedule weekly
teleconferences during the implementation of the sampling plan so Chemours can
continue to update DEQ on the results from, and its progress under, the sampling plan.
These reoccurring weekly teleconferences also could be a venue to discuss the results
from DEQ's own sampling. Chemours proposes Wednesday afternoons for these
weekly teleconferences and will make its team available at times that work best for
DEQ. Please let me know if DEQ would prefer another day or time.
We look forward to continuing to work with DEQ and the Attorney General's
office cooperatively on this matter. If you have any questions about this submission,
please let me know.
Sincerely,
ROBINSON, BRADSHAW & HINSON, P.A.
R. Steven DeGeorge
Enclosures
cc:
Linda Culpepper
DEQ
DEQ-CFW 00075939
September 15, 2017
Page 3
Evelyn Brantley
The Chemours Company, FC LLC
John Savarese
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
Ralph Levene
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
Lester Sotsky
Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer
Joel Gross
Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer
DEQ-CFW 00075940