Read the full article by Steve DeVane

“The Chemours facility in Bladen County that manufactures GenX suffered no major damage in Hurricane Florence or its aftermath, company officials said.

‘Our Fayetteville Works site did not experience any major wind or water related damage as a result of Hurricane Florence and, due to the elevation of the site, we experienced no impact from flooding,’ Chemours spokeswoman Lisa Randall said in a written response to questions about how the plant fared in the storm…

GenX, which is used in nonstick cookware and other products, has been linked to several forms of cancer in animal studies, but it isn’t known if the effect is the same in humans. The chemical has been found in hundreds of wells around the Chemours plant.

Bladen County received some of the worst conditions in the Cape Fear region during and after Hurricane Florence. Elizabethtown, which is about 20 miles from the plant, got nearly three feet of rain…

‘Our site plans and trains for severe weather emergencies,’ she said. ‘Plan execution began several days in advance of the impending storm.’

The preparations included a coordinated effort to stabilize work sites, secure all equipment and supplies, and shut down the manufacturing units by the evening of Sept. 13, Randall said…

State Department of Environmental Quality workers have not gone to the site since the storm, but plan to visit when possible, said Laura Leonard, a department spokeswoman.

Chemours officials notified the department Wednesday about an incident Tuesday involving a truck, Leonard said. An email to the department said the driver of a truck carrying rainwater noticed that the dome on the trailer was not sealed, causing a leak on the road and roadside. The driver estimated that less than a gallon leaked, according to the email.

Thom Sueta, a Chemours spokesman, said rainwater had accumulated in the area of the cooling water channel and sediment basins. The plant doesn’t have a permit to discharge it into the river, he said.

‘In order to dry out this area, this water was pumped and had to be disposed,’ Sueta said. ‘… Therefore, the rainwater was loaded into transport vehicles for shipment to our deep well site.’ “