DEQ-CFW_00080470

Dr. Thomas E.Price
Secretary, United States Department ofHealth and Human Services
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Washington, D[
E. Scott Pruitt
Administrator, United States Environmental Protection Agency
12OOPennsylvania Ave,NVV
Washington, D[IO46O
Dear Secretary Price and Administrator Pruitt:
I write seeking your urgent assistance to protect the health and safety of the people of North Carolina.
When we turn on the tap to get a drink, cook a meal for our family, or run a bath for our children, we
count onthat water tobesafe. VVeneed your immediate help tomake sure the water issafe for
millions of families in North Carolina.
Researchers recently identified the presence of the unregulated chemical GenX, a compound used in
non-stick coating, in the lower Cape Fear River, the primary source of drinking water for Pender, Bladen,
New Hanover and Brunswick counties in North Carolina. This compound entered the river aswastewater
discharge at a Chemours manufacturing facility near Fayetteville. At the request of my administration,
local leaders and area residents, Chemours has stopped discharging GenXvvhi|e the state investigates.
Clean water iscritical for public health and economic vitality, and communities, families and businesses
in the [ape Fear region deserve to access to drinking water they know is safe. North Carolinians are
understandably alarmed and we look to you for answers about why this chemical is in our water and
how it may affect our people's health. The EPA and US DHHS must work as quickly as possible to help us
resolve this potential public health crisis and bring certainty to North Carolinians wondering if their
water is safe to drink.
Little is currently known about the chemical GenX. Scientists with the North Carolina Department of
Environmental Quality (DEQ) and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)
are working to better understand both the amounts of GenX present in drinking water in the region and
any impact itmay have onhuman and environmental health and safety. NCDE{lscientists began
collecting water samples near the facility and downstream on June 19, 2017. Samples are being
analyzed at the EPA's National Exposure Research Laboratory in Research Triangle Pad, NC and at Test
America, aprivate lab inColorado. Results from the first two weeks ofsampling were released onJuly
14,vvith additional sampling and analysis ongoing. Meanwhile, public health experts with N[ DHH5 are
working closely with toxicologists and scientists in the EPA's Office of Water and the Risk Assessment
Division toassess the health risks for exposure toGenX.

|appreciate the assistance the EPA has provided toour state agencies throughout this process but we
need you to do much more. The troubling problem of unregulated, relatively unknown chemicals in the
public water supply is not unique to North Carolina and cannot be solved by our state alone. I am calling
on your agencies to step forward to provide crucial guidance to my administration and to local officials
and much -needed peace ofmind tothe public.
I understand that the EPA is working to finalize its own health assessment of GenX, and ask you to
confirm when this effort will be completed as we need it done as soon as possible. We also need the
EPA to move quickly to set a maximum contaminant level for GenX. These are critical steps that must
take place in order for our state to be able to require [hemouo to limit oreliminate discharge ofGenX.
In addition, I am formally petitioning DHHS to have experts from the Centers for Disease Control
conduct a public health assessment of GenX and its related perflourinated compounds. An immediate
and independent investigation by the CDC's Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) is
needed to determine whether people who rely on the lower Cape Fear River for their drinking water
have been exposed to a hazardous substance and whether short-term and long-term exposure may
cause adverse health impacts.
The EPA already has an order in place to control some GenX emissions that should be expanded to hold
[hemoumaccountable for any discharge ofGenX.Asyou may know, EPA concerns that GenXcould be
toxic led the agency to seek a 2009 consent order limiting Chemours' emissions from GenX production.
However, to the dismay of residents throughout the Cape Fear region Chemours has stated publicly that
it does not believe this order governs discharge of the same chemical when it is a byproduct of other
chemical processes. | ask that the EPA review this consent order immediately and modify it to apply to
GenX released through the discharge as well as the manufacturing process.
North Carolina and its people rely on the EPA to ensure chemicals are manufactured in a way that
protects our air, our water and our health. Under the U.S. Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the EPA
bears the sole responsibility for regulating the introduction of new chemicals, a complex process
requiring the EPA to balance economic growth and access to new products with health and safety. I urge
you to use EPA authority under the TSCA to evaluate byproducts from other Chemours production lines,
including wastewater discharge.
I also ask that you require companies to submit not just one but multiple health studies covering several
exposure methods when registering chemicals under TSCA. This will increase the public's understanding
of chemical compounds introduced into our waterways. These safeguards are more important than
ever as North Carolina and other states confront the presence of unregulated, emerging contaminants
inour water.
Administrator Pruitt, at your confirmation in January, you said, "What could be more important than
protecting our Nation's waters, improving our air, and managing the land that we have been blessed
with as a Nation, all the while protecting the health and welfare of our people?" The water, health and
welfare ufthe people ofNorth Carolina require your protection now, along with expert public health
guidance from Dr. Price'udepartment.
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I thank you for the support that your agencies are providing to North Carolina, and look forward to your