Read the full article by Ben Schachtman (WHQR)
“On Wednesday, the Cape Fear Business Alliance announced its support for House Bill 864, legislation that would put companies that pollute the state’s waterways with PFAS — known as ‘forever chemicals’ — on the hook, financially, for water filtration efforts.
The bill would allow the Department of Environmental Quality to order a polluter, like Chemours, to provide funding to public utility systems for removing PFAS contamination, and allow utilities to reimburse ratepayers by reducing their bills in the future. Chemours is currently involved in several state and federal lawsuits aimed at forcing it to pay damages related to the cost of water filtration, but those suits have been mired in the slow process of major litigation.
The bill is sponsored by Republican representatives Ted Davis and Frank Iler — both serving counties hard hit by PFAS pollution. New Hanover and Brunswick counties will spend hundreds of millions of dollars over the next generation to filter PFAS out of the water, including significant pollution from Chemours’ Fayetteville Works facility.
Davis and Iler, along with Brunswick County Republican Representative Charlie Miller, put forward similar legislation — HB 1095 — several years ago, but it died in committee.” …