EPA decision: Fayetteville Chemours cannot import millions of pounds of waste with GenX, for now

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday it had reversed a decision that would have allowed the Chemours company to import as much as 4 million pounds of wastewater containing GenX to its Fayetteville Works plant from the Netherlands.

The agency's decision was based on inaccurate information it was given by the company about how much of the recycled GenX it could process, according to reporting in NC Newsline, which cited an EPA official. The company admitted in a Nov. 13 letter to the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality that it had made an error in its calculation.

More: Protest planned at Fayetteville Chemours plant in spite of pause to GenX imports

NC Newsline reports: “New information from Chemours suggests that its import notice was for about 10 times more than the facility could actually process in the year which the notice covered.”

The reversal was a major win for state environmental groups, state and local government officials and activists in Bladen and Cumberland counties who have tangled with the chemical company for years over GenX contamination in the Cape Fear River and in residents' groundwater.

GenX is part of a group of per-and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAs) compounds, so-called "forever chemicals," that have been linked to cancer in animal studies.

Cumberland County commissioners and N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper were among officials who had called for the EPA to reverse its prior authorization, made public earlier this month. Cooper and Commission Chairwoman Dr. Toni Stewart addressed letters to Michael S. Regan, EPA administrator, who formerly headed the N.C. DEQ.

“It’s good that the EPA reversed this decision and I’m grateful for their quick response," Cooper said in a statement. “We have been working for years in North Carolina to force the cleanup of forever chemicals to help ensure clean water, and companies like Chemours have made this effort more difficult.”

More: Residents still on bottled water as more ‘forever chemicals’ on way to Fayetteville Works

Starting in 2017, the company was found to have contaminated water for tens of thousands of residents in the Cape Fear River basin; many residents with wells are still using bottled water cases provided by Chemours under a consent order between the company, environmental groups and the N.C. DEQ.

Chemours is also encountering resistance in the Netherlands, from where it wants to export the recycled GenX. A Dutch court ruled in September that the U.S. company was liable for damage there caused by PFAs from 1984 to at least 1998.

United Nations officials recently accused Chemours and parent company, DuPont, of violating the human rights of people in southeastern North Carolina by contaminating the drinking water.

Chemours said in a statement that the reclamation and recycling process for HFPO-DA (GenX) was better for the environment than manufacturing large amounts of new compound. The company acknowledged its "calculation error" but blamed what it called the media landscape that had raised "unnecessary alarm."

A familiar protest on N.C. 87

Before the reversal came down, more than a dozen people held a roadside protest on Nov. 18 to criticize the EPA’s initial decision to allow the imports. They staged the event at what has become a familiar location for their protests: near the Chemours sign on northbound N.C. 87 at the Cumberland and Bladen county lines.

At the time, the EPA, in response to concerns, had paused the imports. The protesters were optimistic the pause would lead to a reversal but wanted to keep a focus on the issue, and raise others including potential contamination of crops.

One of the younger protesters was Aiden Autry, a freshman at Gray's Creek High School.

He said he was there to protest because: "I don't like being, you know, poisoned. I gotta take a stand for myself."

Like many young people in the area, he has spent much of his life using bottled water for drinking and other household uses. He says it can be hard.

"We have a horse, and three dogs," he said. "We use most of our water on the dogs."

He said one basic problem: "It's tough finding places to put it."

Myron B. Pitts can be reached at mpitts@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3559.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Fayetteville Chemours will not import GenX from Netherlands for now