The Cumberland County Board of Commissioners at their Nov. 20, 2023, regular meeting voted unanimously to adopt a resolution opposing the Environmental Protect Agency’s (EPA) authorization of Chemours to bring more GenX to its Fayetteville Works plant.
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – The Cumberland County Board of Commissioners at their Nov. 20, 2023, regular meeting voted unanimously to adopt a resolution opposing the Environmental Protect Agency’s (EPA) authorization of Chemours to bring more GenX to its Fayetteville Works plant.
The action comes following the EPA’s decision to allow Chemours to export up to 4 million pounds of GenX from the Netherlands to the Fayetteville Works plant, which is located in Bladen County along the Cumberland County line, within an authorization period expiring Sept. 7, 2024.
According to the Resolution, the Board “stands firmly opposed to the Environmental Protecting Agency (EPA) allowing the importation of waste material containing GenX to the Chemours Fayetteville Works plant” and calls for “augmented transparency, community involvement and intergovernmental cooperation in decisions regarding the management, regulation and oversight of substances such as GenX that pose considerable public health and environmental risks.”
As part of the action, the Board directed that copies of the Resolution and an accompanying letter from Board Chairwoman Dr. Toni Stewart to EPA Administrator Michael Regan be shared with the County’s federal and state legislative delegations, as well as Gov. Roy Cooper and the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) Secretary Elizabeth Biser.
Cumberland County filed a lawsuit in March 2018 alleging that Chemours and DuPont have “discharged millions of pounds of PFAS” in air, groundwater and surface water from the early 1970s until 2015, demonstrating a “blatant disregard” for the health and well-being of county residents.