UPDATE: As of June 20 at 4:30 p.m. Chemours has said it will begin removing ALL wastewater with GenX, including that which is seeping as a byproduct from their vinyl processing plant and tainting the Cape Fear River. Steps to containment will start Wed., June 21; however, the EPA still will investigate the Fayetteville Works site to make sure they are complying with all EPA requirements.

Recently, since the StarNews broke the report on June 8, my life (like yours, I imagine) has been consumed by the presence of GenX coursing through our waterways. I can’t escape it. Water is necessary for life; therefore, it is everywhere. The deeper I went into the story, the more it felt like staring into the sun: I became blind to anything else. I saw traces of chemicals in my morning coffee, raining from my showerhead, hiding on my toothbrush.

Everywhere.

I stepped outside to clear my head, after wading through every article the Internet offered, and reading about GenX’s effects on rats—changes in size and weight of livers and kidneys, alterations to immune responses and cholesterol levels, weight gain, reproductive problems, and cancer. As I wandered the shaded streets of my city, a thought occurred: Everybody I encountered had taken a sip of the proverbial Kool-Aid. Tourists gathered at the foot of Market Street to gaze at the river, which provided the tap water they ordered with dinner at one of our local restaurants. They seemed blissful in their ignorance.

I walked, carrying a horrifying secret that tinted the world. The cat who sauntered up to me probably drank tap water; her owner might not know about the chemical yet, or how it may have a greater effect on animals than humans. I walked past people’s gardens as they watered their plants. What was lurking in their tomatoes? I walked past the breweries, to which I admittedly am no stranger. How long had they been using public water to craft their beer? How many pints had I consumed? Was the alcohol the only thing having an effect on my mind and body?

DuPont, the company which originally created the chemical, and is now producing it under an offshoot company, Chemours, filed 16 reports to the Environmental Protection Agency under section 8 (e) of the Toxic Substances Control Act between April 2006 and January of 2013. These reports stated the chemical posed a “substantial risk of injury to human health or the environment.” The Intercept—the publication that originally produced all documents revealed by Edward Snowden when he showcased to the world our government’s hacking of its citizen’s privacy—quoted Deb Rice, a retired toxicologist from the EPA. Rice said its aftereffects were the “same constellation of effects as PFOA”—or C8, the chemical GenX was engineered to replace. DuPont had been using C8, which is used to make Teflon, in the Ohio Valley’s water supply and settled in paying $671 million to 3,550 residents in February 2017 in a class-action lawsuit that had been going on over the last decade. Rice said there was “no way to call [GenX] a safe substitute.”

Today, just like yesterday, just like every day last month, before we all knew about it, Chemours continues discharging about 15 pounds of the emerging contaminant and unregulated toxin into the Cape Fear River. GenX is only one of about six perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) that have been found downstream of Chemours’ Fayetteville Works plant—situated above the water intake at the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority. Most of these compounds we know even less about than GenX, and some were found in higher concentrations.

The company revealed during a closed meeting with county officials on June 15 at the New Hanover County Government Center they have been releasing the product into the river since 1980 and have it down to 100 parts per trillion (the Safe Drinking Water Act maintains 15,000 parts per trillion of lead is safe). The reveal has been confusing to many, since GenX is technically a “new chemical” they manufacture and is regulated only in that particular process, which has 100 percent emissions. But the GenX seeping into our river has come from another building of Fayetteville Works, where they produce polyvinyl ether. Through the production, GenX is an “unintended byproduct,” and is not regulated. Therefore, they technically can continue discharging it. The biodegredation of the compound is 0 percent, which means, as The Intercept put it, GenX “will remain on Earth long after humans are extinct.”

This is our legacy.

* * *

In November of 2016, in the respected American Chemical Society journal, Environmental Science and Technology Letters, a report on GenX findings in the Cape Fear River was published—the same study which prompted the StarNews report earlier this month. Dr. Larry Cahoon, a UNCW biological oceanographer, confirms the journal’s reputation. “They’re damn good at what they do,” he says. The paper, often referred to as “Sun et.al.,” was co-written by two employees of the CFPUA: Michael Richardson and Ben Kearns. “We can assume the co-authors knew the results of the tests long before the paper was published,” Dr. Cahoon says.

The questions remain: How long before? Maybe months, maybe years? The samples from the results were collected in 2013, so even if the tests took months to complete, it still puts knowledge of the findings sometime in 2014 (maybe 2015, to be generous). Mike Brown, chairman of CFPUA, says the staff found out about initial reports from NC State research in May 2016, with final reports released in September 2016.

Fruitless attempts were made to contact the writers of the essay, Mr. Richardson and Mr. Kearns. According to Mr. Richardson’s business partner, Mike McGill, also whom used to work with CFPUA, “Mr. Richardson had retired when the study came out.”

It’s imperative to note, both previous water utility directors, Richardson and McGill, recently started their own communications firm, WaterPIO. According to the Wilmington Business Journal’s reports on April 24, 2017, the company “boasts the development of the first emergency notification system that microtargeted customers about boil water advisories, water restrictions, ‘Do Not Use’ notices and sanitary sewer overflows” and “acts as public information liaisons in major emergencies, such as hurricanes, transmission main failures, algal blooms, and contamination from coal ash.”

Mr. Kearns never answered encore’s calls, despite several attempts and voicemails. Until they speak up, there is no way of knowing for certain when the men knew about GenX in such high concentrations—or when (or if) they told their superiors. But we can reasonably say it was well before last week, long before the rest of us knew.

If CFPUA had employees who knew this information, why was it not brought to the public’s attention sooner? Tim Buckland of the StarNews asked the question of NHC County Commissioner Woody White at last week’s press conference, following the closed meeting; he never got an answer. In fact, none of CFPUA’s board was in the room at the press conference—which speaks to a larger issue of transparency.

Even the circumstances surrounding the closed meeting were odd enough to be of mention: no press, save for one local pool reporter, StarNews’ Adam Wagner. This was presumably done at Chemours’ request, but when I spoke with Gary Cambre, senior communications manager from Chemours, he told me the county had come to the company with the idea; the county maintained it was mutually agreed upon during my phone call to them (full transcriptions can be read on encore’s Facebook). Stranger, still, there was no audio, video or photos allowed in the closed meeting. (For the record, I tried to slip my audio recorder into Wagner’s bag before he walked in, but he wouldn’t let me; Wagner’s notes can be viewed in full on encore’s Facebook page, too.)

“Our belief is the GenX level in the drinking water coming from the Cape Fear River is safe, and it does not pose any harm to human health,” said Kathy O’Keefe, Chemours’ product sustainability director. “We have that belief, we are confident in that belief.”

However, the other six compounds found remain an anomaly. According to O’Keefe, “They’re coming from somewhere, but I can’t speak for other users or manufacturers; I don’t know where.”

CFPUA’s Mike Brown responded in the closed meeting, “You’re saying those other six have been ruled out as coming from your processes?”

“I would not say that,” Mike Johnson, Chemours Fayetteville Works environmental manager, answered. “I’d have to look at those compounds.”

O’Keefe surmised the counties affected, New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender, didn’t want to necessarily hear from the company as much as from regulatory agencies and county governments. “If I were someone in the community, I’m not sure I would trust me coming in and saying everything is safe,” she admitted. “But we’re willing to partner with you as best as we can.”

Woody White, Chairman of the NHC Board of Commissioners, made it very clear: “It’s as simple as that: We want to see you turn the faucet off.”

O’Keefe merely noted, “Hopefully, this is the beginning of discussions.”

Community members and silent protestors, in organizations like Wilmington Progressive Coalition (Strength in Solidarity) and Women Organizing for Wilmington, carried signs that read “Water. Food. Shelter. In That Order” and “My Babies are Not your Lab Rats” at the press conference. They made it quite clear they wanted to hear from everyone—because answers and immediate solutions are really what matter. During the press conference, amid promises by the NC DEQ to conduct tests, paid for by Chemours, to ascertain the current level of GenX in the water, White stated, “Day-to-day life is fraught with all kinds of risk—out on the roadway [for instance]. As it was pointed out during our meeting, cooking Brussels sprouts in a pan creates carcinogens. There are risks associated with eating cereal.”

The difference, of course (and I can’t believe I have to make this distinction): Drinking water is not a choice, and driving a car and eating Brussels sprouts are not necessary to life.

While there have been claims reverse osmosis filtration is the only way to filter out GenX, it’s not 100 percent verifiable. When Chemours realized they could begin manufacturing GenX as a substitute for PFOA (C8) in 2009, few studies had been done to appropriate its regulation. In the consent report encore received from the EPA about the regulation of the chemical, it expressed forthright:

“The company has done limited biomonitering in workers and site monitoring. EPA has reviewed the biomonitering and concluded samples did not take place over a long enough period of time to see if accumulation occurred—and the limit of detection was not sensitive enough to draw any conclusions at this time.”

The replacement for PFOA (GenX) indicates a different and less toxic profile; however, based on the persistence, toxicity and the likelihood this substance may be used as a major substitute, EPA “believes more information is needed on the toxicity and pharmacokinetics of the PMN substance.

“Toxicity studies on the analogs PFOA and PFOS indicate developmental, reproductive, and systemic toxicity in various species. Cancer may also be of concern. These factors, taken together, raise concerns for potential adverse chronic effects in humans and wildlife.”

Perhaps the most important sentence from the document: “The company should make every effort to minimize or prevent any release into the environment of these substances.” Moreover, the document stated EPA requires people who come in contact with GenX to wear gloves, full-body chemical protective clothing, goggles, and respirators.

GenX is an endocrine disrupter, according to Dr. Cahoon. He had a conversation with Susanne Brander, an ecotoxicologist at UNCW, to confirm it interferes with proper hormone function. “In the environment we find endocrine disrupters frequently affect the sexual development of amphibians, fishes, stuff like that. And they frequently act at extremely low concentrations,” Dr. Cahoon noted.

GenX has a reasonably strong affinity for lipids, fats in the body which make up cell membranes. Basically, it can soak into body tissues and accumulate over time. Dr. Cahoon continued, “In terms of functioning as an endocrine disrupter, it’s going to stick to the molecules embedded in the cell membranes—hormone receptors, for example. It also affects immune function. The longer we’re exposed, the more it can build. So it’s not the daily dose, it’s the sum of daily doses, minus your clearance rate.”

That’s the rate at which our bodies dispose the compound. In the case of GenX, half of it passes in about three and a half days. “But a steady intake—you drink water every day, right? So, you know, you’re adding to the pile,” Dr. Cahoon explained.

Madi Polera, who works with Cape Fear River Watch and was a grad student under Dr. Cahoon, says she’s concerned since she’s a woman of childbearing age. “One of the important things here is we don’t know the compounding effects of these other substances,” she stated. “So [in] many of them, we already don’t know what the health effects are.”

Dr. Cahoon calls it the “pucker factor.” Still, he’s reluctant to tell people they absolutely cannot drink the water.

“I think the public should be educated about the options and consider their own situations,” he clarified. “Just because [a carcinogen is present] doesn’t mean you will get cancer. It’s a risk, and some people are more at risk than others. Some of that is age-based, and obviously pregnant women and little kids—I would be most concerned about that demographic. Or if I had a family risk history of cancer of any kind, you might have the genetic risk factor. I’m not a physician, but I’m not drinking the water, either. Why roll the dice?”

* * *

Our Cape Fear River Watch has worked tirelessly to hold accountable people who contaminate our public waters. Just two years ago, Kemp Burdette, the Cape Fear Riverkeeper, followed closely and responded to Duke Energy’s coal ash dump in the Dan River in NC. Cape Fear River Watch, along with other environmental groups, were represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center, and gave notice of their intent to sue Duke Energy. At the time of press, Burdette stated the watch was assuredly exploring legal ramifications.

“There’s a principle in risk management,” Burdette said, “where you try to analyze risks before you do something, rather than trying to analyze it after you’ve done it—and we don’t operate like that. It’s crazy that people say, ‘Alright, we’re going to determine when there’s a risk based on the impacts to human health and the environment, and we’re going to say, ‘Well, OK, looks like we’ve got some real problems here—this cancer cluster—maybe we need to go back in.’”

By the time pollutants have gotten into the river, it’s too late; preventative measures work better than retroactive cleanup. “The big-picture problem,” Burdette stressed, “is the way we are doing things. Until something is found to be harmful, it’s not regulated.”

One positive element of the disaster is it agitated citizens into action. The Facebook group, Wilmington’s Stop Putting GenX into our Water, grew to over 8,000 members in less than a week. The public has inundated it with information as it becomes available.

The Public Education Campaign released its intent to “engage in direct actions, social media campaigns, information gathering, and coalition building.” They will launch a program, eventually, to collect a database across the entire Cape Fear region on C6 and C8 concentrations in blood levels, not to mention collect economic impacts, begin a study on causes of deaths in the region for the last three decades, assist citizens in filing criminal complaints, and more.

DuPont started Chemours in order to separate its Performance Chemicals segment from other businesses within the company. With the impending merger of DuPont and Dow Chemical—which is in the process of seeking the federal government’s approval—the window of opportunity to hold DuPont accountable is closing, according to Mack Coyle, who started Public Education Campaign. Coyle—an innovator of solar-panel and water-pump technologies and who sat in at the CFPUA board meeting last week—is attending a meeting with Mayor Bill Saffo on Wednesday, June 21, to discuss what or if the city is planning to do anything.

At the press conference last week, former Wilmington Mayor Harper Peterson stood up at the end to announce a “citizen’s conference.” People who didn’t get to ask questions of the elected officials, since they only took questions from the press, could have a say. Among the questions asked:

Is it in the groundwater?

Is the city prepared to file a lawsuit if the company doesn’t cease and desist?

Why is the testing on the water being done in Colorado, when UNCW possesses a world-class laboratory in our own backyard?

Who are the elected officials more concerned about: the profits of Chemours or the lives of their constituents?

The latter question came from a real-estate agent who had lost three sales in the last 48 hours from concern about the water.

There was little partisan bickering which has dominated political discussions of late. The crowd seemed to agree, safe drinking water is not a partisan issue. “Politics is what got us here,” said one woman.

Another responded, “If we can’t unite on clean drinking water, we will never unite on anything.”

And she’s right.

“The fact CFPUA was not present to make a statement or answer questions from the press is unacceptable … I’ll be kind,” Peterson growled. “The fact they have not communicated in the last week to their customers—you, the citizens—they had no public statement to make. Something is wrong. Collectively, they have failed this community, and by not being here, they continue to fail, and threaten your public health and safety.”

Further igniting outrage, CFPUA announced a decision to raise rates by 2 percent on June 14. According to reporting by WECT, as of June 16, the board is still discussing whether to approve the increase. Board member Skip Watkins stated, “Citizens will see a reconsideration of that budget.”

Commissioner White told encore at the press conference, the timing of the rates raise “absolutely sent the wrong message” to the community.

Also on June 16, the CFPUA released a resolution which requests the DEQ and EPA further investigate and regulate the company, and immediately modify their permit to prevent discharge of GenX. The resolution asks Chemours to “act responsibly and cease all discharges that contain fluorochemical compounds” until the DEQ and EPA can determine safe levels of concentration.

Peterson, along with other community members, including Kemp Burdette, Dr. Cahoon, Dr. Brander, Adam Wagner, attorney John F. Green, and pediatrician Dr. David Hill will have a community forum on Wednesday, June 21, at the Coastline Convention Center from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. It was announced that efforts are underway to form a coalition of citizens, community stakeholders, professionals, and educators called Clean Cape Fear in coming weeks, too.

* * *

Despite so much uproar, Chemours legally can continue to dump 15 pounds of GenX into our river, into our drinking water. Precious answers are far and few between. The compound cannot be boiled out; CFPUA cannot filter it out, either. Reverse osmosis is the best option, so we hear. The Culligan man has been working overtime recently, and local businesses are…

Ah, Jesus.

Look, I’m not going to keep up the charade of journalistic objectivity because, first and foremost, I’m a writer, and writers have an obligation to tell the truth as they see it. Up until last week, we—the people whom I love and me—were drinking the water. What I have felt since probably mirrors your emotions: anger and incredulity this could happen in a post-Flint, Michigan, world. Confusion by the tsunami of information which nearly drowned me, which I had to swim through hard to make sense of. Fear—the cold, uneasy fear that comes from uncertainty, fear that can only be melted by small sparks of truth.

I tried to nourish necessary hope—to believe this would be an alarm to shock us into a collective realization of how much we are connected to the planet in real and tangible ways, and how important it is to fight for our place. I had hoped the City of Wilmington would live up to its motto to persevere, and our individual experiences will add up to something greater than the sum of its parts, and demand real and lasting change. But such hope must be counterbalanced by a realization this is happening still—and it will keep happening if we lose focus, or choose to ignore it and return to the soft, comforting routine of daily life. It would be an easy choice to make. But, when a corporation which doesn’t give a damn about our health—and made $5.6 billion in 2015—is being fought by a handful of underfunded regulatory agencies and our beloved local scrappy underdog of an environmental advocacy group, we—the people affected by this, the people drinking the water—can’t afford to forget.

Welcome to the new normal in our city by the river. Remember: The river flows deep and strong, and through our veins in more ways than one. We belong to the river just as much as the river belongs to us.

What do you want to see in it?

DETAILS:

Cape Fear Riverwatch Community Forum

Wed., June 21, 6 p.m.

Coastline Convention Center • 501 Nutt St.

Free, public encouraged to attend

www.facebook.com/CleanCapeFear