BLADEN COUNTY, N.C., July 28, 2021 – The Chemours Company (Chemours) has made significant progress on meeting its commitments to North Carolina on PFAS reductions at its Fayetteville Works site and recently reached two additional milestones focused on reducing loading of legacy PFAS to the Cape Fear River.
In June, Chemours completed construction of the last of four treatment systems along the Cape Fear river to remove PFAS from naturally occurring seepage of groundwater before the water continues its natural course toward the river. Testing of these systems shows they are exceeding consent order requirements to remove 80% of PFAS. Construction was also completed in June on a complex stormwater capture and treatment system that is designed to remove a minimum of 99% of PFAS from collected stormwater near two of the site’s manufacturing units. This system is meeting consent order requirements. These projects add to the previous loading reduction project where Chemours is capturing and treating groundwater that expresses itself as a stream. This facility began operating on September 30, 2020, and additional enhancements have been made in the first half of 2021 to improve the resiliency of the system.
Chemours focus is now turning fully towards site preparation activity and working with NCDEQ on the design and construction of a proposed groundwater remedy that includes an underground barrier wall greater than 70 feet in depth and more than a mile long that will run near the Cape Fear River. This wall and related pumping system would keep groundwater and legacy PFAS from reaching the river. With this proposed system, the water would be captured by interceptor wells that would pump the water to a newly constructed water treatment facility where PFAS would be removed from the groundwater before being discharged.
These actions reduce loadings to the Cape Fear River from legacy discharges and follow actions previously taken that greatly reduced PFAS water discharges and air emissions from our manufacturing processes. For example, Chemours has reduced HFPO-DA (GenX) discharges and emissions by 97%.
“We take seriously our obligation to manufacture our products responsibly, and fulfilling our commitments toward the reduction of PFAS allows us to continue delivering quality products that the U.S. and the rest of the world depend on,” said Fayetteville Works Plant Manager Dawn Hughes.
Chemours has also announced strong progress towards achieving its long-term corporate sustainability goals with the launch of its 2020 Corporate Responsibility Commitment (CRC) report. This year’s report lays out the work Chemours is doing around the world to deliver against its ten ambitious goals that relate to three pillars—Inspired People, Shared Planet, and Evolved Portfolio—and map to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). Specifically, the report highlights the continued progress toward achieving the company’s goal to reduce air and water process emissions and discharges of fluorinated organic compounds by 99% or more by 2030. Click here to read Chemours’ 2020 Corporate Responsibility Commitment report.
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