“A report released Wednesday shows the number of known sites with contamination from perfluorinated chemicals nearly doubled in the last 10 months, with many familiar to residents of Southeastern North Carolina.
Conducted by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) and Northeastern University’s Social Science Environmental Health Institute, the report, titled “Mapping the Expanding PFAS Crisis” shows where industrial chemicals, firefighting foam and other pollutants have caused contamination across the country. Last year’s studyshowed 52 contaminated sites in 19 states, while this year’s update identified 94 sites in 22 states.
The increased level of incidences is not a surprise, scientists and advocates say, because the chemicals are becoming better understood. EWG staff also believe that as the scope of the problem becomes increasingly clear, the case for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set a national regulatory standard improves.
In the Cape Fear region, Wilmington and Wrightsville Beach are both included on the map for detections of GenX, the chemical used in Teflon and dozens of other products, which Chemours was discharging into the Cape Fear River from its Fayetteville Works facility about 100 miles upstream. The Marine Corps Outlying Landing Field Atlantic near Cedar Island was also included on the list, as was the area around the Fayetteville Works plant.”
Read the full article by Adam Wagner.