DEQ-CFW_00083082

Michael S. Regan, Secretary
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Release: IMMEDIATE Contact: Jamie Kritzer
Date: Sept. 1, 2017 Phone: [phone]
State urges company to stop additional discharges of chemicals into the Cape Fear River
DEQ also again calls on Chemours to provide complete inventory of company's waste stream
RALEIGH — As part of its ongoing investigation. the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality this week urged
Chemours to stop discharging chemical compounds that were identified in an EPA analysis of the company's waste stream
and shared with the state this week. DEQ also again called on the company to provide the state with a complete inventory
of all chemicals included in the waste stream at its Fayetteville facility.
DEQ made its requests in two letters issued this week after a meeting in which EPA shared preliminary results of its
analysis of water samples collected at Chemours" wastewater discharge outfall in Fayetteville and finished drinking water
at the Sweeney plant in Wilmington.
One I-e-tte-r requests that Chemours stop the release of chemicals identified by the EPA as Nafion byproducts I and 2, which
the federal agency estimated to be elevated in the company's waste stream. Concentrations of the three other perfluorinated
chemicals identified by the EPA have dropped significantly similar to the way GenX levels fell after the company stopped
discharging GenX. For that reason, state and federal officials believe the three perfluormated compounds were part of the
same wastewater discharge that included GenX and was stopped. In the second letter, DEQ amplified its previous request
that Chemours provide the state agency with a complete inventory, sampling data and test results for all chemicals included
in the company's waste stream.
Little is known about the health effects of any of the five compounds included in this week's analysis from the EPA.
"Our top priority is to protect the state's citizens," said Michael Regan, secretary of the N.C. Department of Environmental
Quality. "Until we know more about the health effects from the chemicals found during our investigation of Chemours, we
are asking the company to stop releasing these compounds immediately and provide the state with information about all
other chemicals in its waste stream."
DEQ and the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services began investigating the presence of GenX in the river on
June 14. As part of the investigation, DEQ requested the EPA analyze water samples for GenX and other unregulated
chemical compounds included in a 2016 study conducted by the EPA and N.C. State University. Among those chemicals
are the perfluormated compounds the EPA reported this week. The EPA chose to analyze for what they call the Nafion
byproducts based on the federal agency's own prior study. The EPA's analysis was conducted by specialists with the
EPA's lab in Research Triangle Park using new technology and methodology. Scientists at the EPA lab are conducting
further analysis of water samples collected by DEQ. The analysis looked at water samples collected over a six -week period
starting June 19.
DEQ will review all this information as part of its investigation and the agency's review of Chemours' application for a
new wastewater discharge permit.
The ongoing investigation along with pressure from residents and local officials prompted Chemours, the company
manufacturing the unregulated chemical, to stop discharging GenX from the facility. DEQ is now making the same request
to stop the release of other compounds, including those the EPA identified as Nafion byproducts because the chemicals are
believed to originate at Chemours' Nafion process area.
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Public health experts with DHHS used available studies to establish a health goal for GenX. Since the GenX discharge
stopped, concentrations of GenX have dropped well below the health goal of 140 parts per trillion. No similar health
studies have been identified for the Nafion byproducts or the other three perfluormated compounds analyzed by the EPA
" 1 know how frustrating it is to all of us that we have very little scientific information about these unregulated, emerging
compounds," said Mandy Cohen, secretary of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. "We continue to work
with the Environmental Protection Agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other scientists to get more
information as quickly as possible."
The EPA informed state officials this week that it is working on a comprehensive report that will include concentrations of
other compounds at multiple sampling locations over a seven -week period.
As with the results for GenX, DEQ will make public test results for all the compounds when final data is available.
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1601 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1601 RSS feed: http://portal.ncdenr.org/web/opa/news-releases-
rss
Twitter: http://twitter.com/NCDENR
An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer
DEQ-CFW 00083083