Chemical giant Chemours and its political action committee gave thousands of dollars in donations to Republican lawmakers last fall, raising questions and concerns from residents living near the company’s Fayetteville factory and others affected by water contaminated by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.
Chemours is a spinoff of the chemical company, DuPont, one of the largest manufacturers of the forever chemicals, PFAS, going as far back as the 1940s along with 3M. These chemicals don’t break down in the environment, hence the name “forever chemicals”, and they build up in the body, showing up in the blood of 99% of Americans. The Environmental Protection Agency has shared that studies show links between PFAS and infertility, cancer, reduction in the effectiveness of a person’s immune system, and other critical health concerns.
Late last year, Chemours donated $10,000 to the North Carolina House Republican Campaign Committee. The company’s PAC gave $2,500 to Republican House Speaker Destin Hall, $1,000 to House Majority Leader Brenden Jones, and $1,000 to Senator Danny Britt.
Though PFAS have contaminated waters all over the state, some are more polluted than others. For example, Robeson County, with a population of about 118,624, represented by both Senator Britt and Representative Jones, has some of the highest PFAS pollution in the state, according to a study of state waters by the Environmental Working Group. As for the company’s Fayetteville Works factory, a community in Fayetteville has levels of PFOA and PFOS, other forever chemicals, that were “more than double and triple the new federal limits, respectively”, according to the group.
As water for 2.5 million North Carolinians is contaminated with forever chemicals, Chemours argues it should not be held to additional safety standards. “We’ve taken a broad and unprecedented set of actions, including investing hundreds of millions of dollars, to reduce PFAS discharges from Fayetteville Works,” the company said in a statement.
Those “unprecedented actions” include installing a thermal oxidizer to destroy air emissions and barrier walls and groundwater collection systems to reduce discharges into the Cape Fear River, which was required of the company due to a consent order from the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality in 2019.
Now the company is looking to lawmakers to avoid having to face more consequences for their pollution of North Carolina waters. This legislative session, lawmakers are considering bills to hold polluters accountable, including House Bill 569, entitled “PFAS Pollution and Polluter Liability” and Senate Bill 666, the “2025 Water Safety Act”. The Senate bill calls for adopting PFAS discharge limits for companies that pollute waters, and the House bill calls for polluters to pay for the public water systems to remove PFAS from polluted waters, as currently, the cost of filtration is sent to residents in the form of increased water rates. Both bills have bipartisan support.
Dale Canady, who has lived near the Fayetteville plant for his entire life, worries about the financial influence a company as big as Chemours, which reported $5.78 billion in revenue last year, would have on legislation. “My voice is just a whisper to the legislature,” Canady said. “But it feels like those with money get to scream.”
Dana Sargent, executive director of Cape Fear River Watch, is calling for the company to be held accountable for the damages it’s caused to North Carolina waters. “These are companies making billions,” Sargent said. “And yet families are stuck footing the bill to clean up chemicals they never asked for in their water.”
“We’re not asking for favors,” Canady said. “We’re asking for clean water. And for the people who polluted it to be the ones who pay to fix it.”
