DUBLIN — Chemours is moving ahead with plans to expand operations at its Fayetteville Works plant, even as the chemical company continues efforts to mitigate contamination from GenX and other potentially harmful chemicals found in more than 5,200 wells.

Many residents near the site, located in Bladen County just across the Cumberland County line, have been using bottled water for years after the groundwater was found to contain PFAS or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, according to the N.C. Dept. of Environmental Quality. PFAS are often called "forever chemicals" and are linked to an increased risk of cancer and other illnesses, according to the  National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The Wilmington Star-News first reported in 2017 on contamination in the lower Cape Fear River, affecting several counties along the river.

More:Cumberland County sues Chemours over PFAS contamination

On Tuesday, Chemours officials held an open house from 5 to 7 p.m. to answer residents’ questions at Bladen Community College. Attendees were allowed in the auditorium in groups of 12 to 15; they moved to different stations, and at each, a Chemours representative explained different parts of company operations.

Chemours officials said the company had dramatically reduced all ground and water emissions at the Fayetteville Works. They said they were prepared to expand operations with a net neutral effect on emissions, and that chemicals such as GenX, a PFA also called HFPO dimer acid, would be strictly limited and stay within the plant boundaries.

More:Would a Cape Fear River barrier wall do enough to stop contaminants?

But there were skeptics among the 50 or so people who attended.

Kemp Burdette, the Cape Fear Riverkeeper, asked Chemours Plant Manager Dawn Hughes about the company's decision to sue the Environmental Protection Agency on its assessment that PFAS chemicals are not safe.

Hughes said she could not talk about ongoing litigation, but that the disagreement was over the science behind the EPA's determination. In the meantime, the company had worked with the EPA as well as the state Dept. of Environmental Quality on a drinking water program for residents affected by the contamination, she said.

Another man asked Hughes how the public could trust Chemours to keep its word on containing emissions from what had happened in the past.

Hughes said: “I can’t speak for the past.” 

More: EPA to publish toxicity assessment, set health advisories for GenX. Here's what it means.

She pointed instead to the company’s investment in addressing issues with emissions and reducing them, and to a consent order signed by Chemours, the Department of Environmental Quality and Cape Fear River Watch. She said Chemours had invested $400 million in its effort to address emissions, a process she said will continue.

“We have projects that are underway. We have completed projects — we’ve completed significant projects.” 

She said the NC Department of Environmental Quality had recently approved a barrier wall that will “address groundwater contamination that’s coming from the plant site.”

On the expansion, Christel Compton, the environmental manager at the Fayetteville Works, said Chemours had met with officials with N.C. Division of Air Quality. A timeline she displayed showed the company intended to submit an application for a permit this month or October; it then hopes for a review by the division within six months, followed by a 30-day period for public comment.

Compton described the permitting process for expansion as “on track.” 

She said the plant did not plan to ask for any increase in the amount of GenX it produces. GenX is used in non-stick cookware and other products.

She said the plant has been able to reduce the amount of GenX through its thermal oxidizer, which it installed in 2019 and which destroys the compound.

She said that the plant had already had reductions, including a 99% reduction in fluorinated organic compounds across the site; a 99% reduction in GenX; and an 85% reduction in greenhouse gasses which she said helps the plant lower its carbon footprint.

Of past contamination, she said: “We do not want to repeat that.” 

Amber Wellman, national director of sustainability, said that Chemours Fayetteville Works makes many of the initial ingredients for several growing industries, including superconductors and electric vehicles. She said the plant produced products called Nafion ion exchange membranes, which are used to produce chlorine, a disinfectant. Future uses for a more specialized kind of membrane will help produce hydrogen, a potential fuel source that has no carbon emissions, she said.

“We are seeing a significant increase in demand for these new clean-energy technologies,” she said.

She cited the Inflation Reduction Act, which passed the U.S. Congress this summer and contains several green energy initiatives, and Wolfspeed, a new semiconductor plant planned for Chatham County, as examples of the need for products that Chemours produces. 

Wellman said the Fayetteville plant also produced monomers, a molecule “building block” she compared to Legos. Monomers, she said, are the “very important beginning point” that leads to a number of applications, including plastics used in semiconductors; O-rings used in car engines; and high-end lubricants used in ventilators, which came to the fore during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In reference to the company’s role in many common products, she said: “It really does start here at Fayetteville works.”

Cumberland County farmer and beekeeper Vickie Mullins attended the open house and afterward said she opposed the expansion plans. She was standing with a group of three other people who live near the plant and who were also skeptical.

Mullins had challenged Hughes in the open house by saying residents still had to haul bottled water.

After the open house, she said purchasing and lifting cartons of bottled water could be difficult for some residents because of physical limitations. 

She dismissed what she had heard in the open house as, “Lies. I’m sorry.” 

She pointed to a lawsuit the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners filed against Chemours, as a sign the company is not ready to expand.

“If all this wasn’t going on, I could see the expansion of something,” she said. “But they didn’t clean up the first mess.

Mullins continued: “I’ve been at this close to five years. We were here when it first started.” 

She believes the contamination is spreading and is airborne.

“Until they get this under control, don’t expand. Fix the problem.”  

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