“A Bladen County plant that manufactures a potentially carcinogenic compound has reported two more spills to state officials in the past two weeks, bringing the total number of spills there in the past few months to four.
Chemours, which is off N.C. 87 near the Cumberland County line, reported to state officials that the amount of GenX involved in each spill was a small fraction of a pound. Company workers took quick action to keep the spills from spreading, the company said…
Christel Compton, program manager at Chemours, notified the state Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Water Resources of the two recent spills in letters dated Jan. 29 and Feb. 2. Both letters say the company faced no regulatory requirement to report the spills.
Compton says in the letters that only about a gallon of liquid spilled each time. The company estimates that .00006 pounds of GenX was in each gallon, the letters say.
The Jan. 25 spill happened when a drain clogged. The liquid spilled onto a concrete pad and dribbled down onto rocks and dirt when workers were trying to unclog the drain.
The rocks and dirt were removed and put into a drum. The concrete pad was sprayed with vinegar and cleaned with absorbent pads.
On Feb. 2, wastewater spilled onto concrete and asphalt as a contract worker was trying to connect a hose to a truck. A spill control agent and absorbent pads were used to clean the concrete.”
Read the full article by Steve DeVane.