[ad_1]
The EPA has withdrawn its consent for the
The decision follows intense local, state, federal, and <-bsp-article-citation state=”{“cms.site.owner”:{“_ref”:”00000166-e5a9-d785-a767-fffdcac50000″,”_type”:”00000151-acf5-d1ce-a159-bff728d6001e”},”cms.content.publishDate”:1701292166669,”cms.content.publishUser”:{“_ref”:”00000154-f343-d26b-a3fc-f7c747a50000″,”_type”:”00000151-acf5-d1ce-a159-bff728d8001b”},”cms.content.updateDate”:1701292166669,”cms.content.updateUser”:{“_ref”:”00000154-f343-d26b-a3fc-f7c747a50000″,”_type”:”00000151-acf5-d1ce-a159-bff728d8001b”},”articleCitation”:{“_id”:”0000018c-1cea-dea3-a58e-dfff40850000″,”_type”:”00000160-bca2-df03-a1ef-bcef37330000″},”_id”:”0000018c-1cea-dea3-a58e-dfff40800000″,”_type”:”00000160-bca2-df03-a1ef-bcef37350000″}”>international pressure-bsp-article-citation> brought upon the Environmental Protection Agency following its September conditional approval to import the wastes that the company said it would recycle.
Protecting public health and the environment from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) requires accurate information to inform agency decisions, the EPA said.
“In this case, by Chemours’ own admission, the information it submitted in its notification was inaccurate. Therefore, as EPA conditioned its prior consent on receiving accurate information from the company, EPA is withdrawing that consent,” the agency said.
“We identified and acknowledged a calculation error” in the applications sent to the Netherlands’ Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT) and disclosed the error to US regulators, Chemours said in a statement.
Import Estimate Wrong
The error suggested that more material would be imported than Chemours ever intended, it said. “The amount being imported is in fact far below the levels approved by EPA in the original permit.”
The error came to light on Nov. 13 as Chemours answered questions North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) had posed as it sought to understand how the imported material could impact the environment, the EPA said in a letter it sent to state Gov.
Misinformation about the wastes containing hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid (HFPO-DA), a type of PFAS, that Chemours sought to import for recycling has dominated the media landscape and raised unnecessary alarm, an outcome Chemours said it regrets.
“Our reclamation and recycling process for HFPO-DA is circular and more environmentally friendly than manufacturing larger quantities of new compound,” Chemours said.
“The Fayetteville operation that is used for recycling of HFPO-DA does not discharge to the Cape Fear River, meaning it does not impact communities downstream,” the company said. “We are working to correct the information and will continue to engage with authorities on the path forward.”
HFPO-DA and related chemicals, often dubbed GenX due to the technology used to make them, help produce fluoropolymers that semiconductor, fuel cell, and other manufacturers use.
Broader Concerns, Complexities
The EPA’s concerns go beyond the import volume error, the agency said.
Chemours “has a history of PFAS releases, which raises concerns about the company’s ability to take measures that fully protect public health and the environment,” the EPA said.
The history of corporate ownership of the Fayetteville factory adds to the complexity and difficulties in attributing responsibility.
“E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. used to own the Fayetteville Works site until it spun out the Chemours Co. in 2015,” DuPont de Nemours wrote to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights, Marcos A. Orellana, in a recently posted letter responding to alleged human rights violations he’s investigating due to PFAS released from the site.
Those allegations however, don’t apply to DuPont de Nemours Inc. which has never manufactured GenX or certain other well-recognized PFAS, DuPont’s letter said.
Corteva Inc. now owns E.I. du Pont, DuPont de Nemours said.
Yet in its response to Orellana, Corteva said it’s a stand-alone agricultural company that has never made, used, or sold the PFAS the UN office is investigating.
Prompt Praise
Regardless of ownership, Cooper and state DEQ Secretary Elizabeth S. Biser praised the agency’s decision in a statement.
“We have been working for years in North Carolina to force the cleanup of forever chemicals to help ensure clean water, and companies like Chemours have made this effort more difficult,” said Cooper, who’d asked the EPA to reverse its approval.
“North Carolina is committed to reducing PFAS pollution and today’s reversal aligns with that goal,” Biser said.
“We’re really proud of how quickly our community came together to oppose these shipments,” said Emily Donovan, co-founder of Clean Cape Fear, which represents communities in North Carolina that have dealt with contaminated water and other problems related to PFAS released by the Fayetteville Works plant currently owned by Chemours.
“We are grateful the EPA acknowledged their mistake and chose to do the right thing. We now encourage the EPA to designate GenX and other PFAS as hazardous substances to permanently end shipments like these from crossing our borders,” she said.
[ad_2]
Source link