North Carolina is approaching the five-year anniversary of when a specific "forever chemical," known as GenX, was discovered to have been dumped for decades into the Cape Fear River by the company Chemours. In response to this crisis, Governor Cooper and the NC Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) have taken action to hold Chemours accountable and demand they clean up their pollution. Much more work remains to clean up the Cape Fear River.
Unfortunately, forever chemicals have been found in drinking water sources all over the state of North Carolina. We need our state leaders to do all that they can to get these toxic chemicals out of our air and water by requiring polluters to stop pouring the chemicals into our rivers and drinking water sources. Governor Cooper and DEQ can protect communities from PFAS pollution by taking strong, statewide action.
Add your name to our petition below in support of getting these dangerous chemicals out of our air and water!
We urge your administration and the NC Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to take strong, statewide action on toxic forever chemicals. For decades, residents of the Cape Fear River basin were exposed to high levels of PFAS in their drinking water. This June marks five years since we learned of the contamination. In this time, we've learned how toxic, pervasive, and ubiquitous these chemicals are due to the widespread pollution, dumping, and inclusion of "forever chemicals" in everyday consumer products. The science is clear on the detrimental health impacts and dangers of PFAS.
While DEQ has taken actions to hold Chemours accountable, there are additional steps the state can take to end PFAS pollution and protect residents of our state. DEQ should require all PFAS polluters to inform the state and public that there are PFAS in their wastewater, and DEQ should require polluters to stop pouring PFAS in our rivers and drinking water sources. As the settlement with Chemours has shown, effective technology is available to nearly eliminate PFAS discharges.
Please work to ensure that DEQ acts now to protect our communities from toxic forever chemicals.
Thank you.
