Chemours fined more than $300,000; incident, the third this year, traces to March

FAYETTEVILLE — Chemours, the chemical company in Bladen County along the banks of the Cape Fear River, has been fined $305,611 for exceeding GenX air emissions limits.

The penalty was announced late Monday afternoon by the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality. Chemours, it said, exceeded the limit for the entire facility on an annual measurement.

In a release, DEQ Secretary Elizabeth Biser said, “DEQ is holding Chemours accountable and ensuring they meet the requirements of their permit at all times. They must uphold their obligations to reduce PFAS impacts to their neighbors in the community.”

PFAS is an acronym for a family of chemical compounds known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. This includes GenX.

This was the third time Chemours was found to be in violation of a court order. It was announced in August, and the chemical giant — in 2020, it had net income of $219 million; more than $4.9 billion in net sales; and $879 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization — was given until early September to respond.

Chemours, at the time of the August announcement, defended itself saying, “This issue was quickly resolved when the carbon was replaced in this unit, and emissions have returned to their usual low levels. However, the data results from that one emissions sampling caused an exceedance of the site’s calculated 12-month rolling air emission allowance.”

In a statement Monday evening, a spokeswoman wrote in an email, “Today’s announcement by DEQ relates to an issue that occurred almost six months ago, and was promptly corrected. Chemours informed DEQ of the unexpected and temporary increase in air emissions, and we returned emissions levels to their normal very low levels quickly.”

GenX has been detected in a number of area wells. It’s also been detected in the air. The company has invested more than $100 million in environmental improvements, including building a $75 million thermal oxidizer with efficiency to control PFAS emissions exceeding 99.999 percent.

The plant site has been under the microscope since June 2017 when it was reported GenX was being released into the Cape Fear River. Since that time, further examination has revealed release of the chemical compound in ground water that supplies area residents’ wells and through the air.

The river is the source of drinking water in the fast-growing Wilmington area. Cape Fear River Watch and Chemours entered into a consent order in 2019, part of which requires Chemours to reduce its air emissions of GenX compounds by more than 99 percent.

Chemours meets the annual emissions limit on a rolling 12-month calculation. The limit is 23.027 pounds per year, and equates to a 99 percent percent reduction from GenX emissions in 2017.

The March excess resulted in noncompliance. Chemours, in its response, said the dates of its carbon adsorber unit not working properly was March 9 to April 6, a period of 26 days.

The civil penalty is based on the facility permit provisions, and the agency’s statutory enforcement authority, a release says. The annual GenX air emissions limit in the Consent Order entered by DEQ, Chemours, and Cape Fear River Watch was effective until DAQ issued an equal or more stringent limit in the permit.

Earlier this year in March, DEQ fined Chemours, saying it wasn’t keeping manmade “forever chemicals” out of the river. The fines — $198,929.16 — imposed were for violations related to the company’s failure to properly construct and install water treatment measures at its Fayetteville Works plant.

It also had “several instances of noncompliance” in January, and a write-up in June 2020 for improper disposal of materials.

Lawsuits have been numerous.

In February, it was learned that DuPont, Chemours and Corteva reached agreement in 2020 resolving their legal disputes in a $4 billion settlement. The pact attempts to protect all three against “potential legacy PFAS liabilities,” a joint statement from the three CEOs said.

Chemours is a 2015 spinoff from DuPont. Corteva was the Agriculture Division of DowDuPont until becoming an independent company on June 1, 2019.

The Cumberland County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously June 21 to hire three law firms to investigate potential claims against Chemours. Seagle Law of Asheville, Baron & Budd of Washington, D.C., and Crueger Dickinson LLC of Wisconsin will advise the county on whether to pursue action.

County Attorney Rick Moorefield told his board that Baron & Budd and Crueger Dickinson litigated approximately 90 percent of the nation’s environmental suits. According to Baron & Budd’s website, the firm handled a case on behalf of more than 150 water providers and 17 states concerning drinking water contaminated with methyl tertiary butyl ether.