Standing Unified Against PFAS: Addressing Emerging Contaminants in Communities

Excerpt From the Article: North Carolina regulators pass on establishing standards for forever chemicals, NC Health News by Will Atwater

The Environmental Management Commission committee votes to pursue groundwater standards for only three PFAS compounds at the September meeting.

Undeterred by the sweltering heat on the grassy mall behind the legislative building in Raleigh on July 10, Democracy Green’s co-founder and executive director Sanja Whittington stepped to a microphone and delivered an impassioned plea.

“We are calling upon the Environmental Management Commission to vote yes to removing PFAS from our drinking water sources today,” Whittington said. ”Our bodies weren’t created to consume and digest toxic cancer-causing chemicals such as PFAs and other emerging contaminants.”

Democracy Green, an environmental advocacy group, organized the news conference, which was livestreamed on the group’s Facebook channel one hour before the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission’s Groundwater and Wastewater Committee meeting.

Democracy Green, the National BITPOC-ECC alongside Nearly 30 North Carolina residents and leaders, including community residents, local officials, youth organizers and faith leaders, endured 95 degree heat to support the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s recommendation to establish surface and groundwater standards for eight PFAS.

After the news conference ended, the focus shifted to the nearby Archdale Building, where the Environmental Management Commission committee met in the afternoon to listen to the presentation by DEQ staff members and decide whether to move forward with the agency’s recommendation to the entire commission, which calls for establishing health-based standards for eight PFAS: PFOA, PFOS, GenX, PFBS, PFNA, PFHxS, PFBA and PFHxA.

After a lengthy discussion, in a move that surprised some, the Groundwater and Waste Management committee voted to have the DEQ staff present a revised regulatory impact analysis for just three PFAS — PFOA, PFOS and GenX — to the Environmental Management Commission for regulatory consideration in September.

Robin Smith, an environmental lawyer and previous assistant secretary for environment at the former North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, posted the following response to the committee’s decision on her SmithEnvironment Blog: “It was difficult to discern from the discussion any clear rationale for the recommendation to abandon adoption of health-based standards for the other five PFAS when those standards would have provided greater clarity on health risk; reduced the regulatory burden on business; and protected property values.”

Forever chemicals

PFAS or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as “forever chemicals” for their potential to persist in the environment for thousands of years, comprise nearly 15,000 compounds, according to CompTox, a chemical database maintained by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The compounds are used in hundreds of industrial, commercial and consumer products, such as nonstick cookware, makeup, moisture-repellent garments, fast-food wrappers, firefighting protective gear and some firefighting foams.

PFAS accumulates in people’s bodies, and researchers have found evidence that suggests links between PFAS exposure and an expanding list of adverse health impacts, such as weaker antibody responses against infections, elevated cholesterol levels, decreased fetal and infant growth, childhood obesity and kidney cancer in adults.

In conclusion, the work of the National BITPOC Emerging Contaminants Coalition is instrumental in advocating for equity and justice in the face of environmental injustices. By coming together and taking collective action, we can bring about positive change and ensure a healthier, safer future for all communities.

The conversation about PFAS began to take hold in North Carolina in 2017, when GenX, a class of PFAS manufactured at the Chemours’ Fayetteville Works facility, was discovered in the Cape Fear River.

The Environmental Management Commission meets in September and will decide whether to move forward with the surface and groundwater committee’s recommendation and then solicit public comment. 

As Democracy Green’s news conference continued, Brunswick County resident and leader Evelyn Johnson offered a reminder of what the ongoing battle against PFAS has cost her community.

“A lot of these people are on fixed income and now have the added expense of purchasing water for basically everything … We can’t afford it. We just can’t afford it.” She added, “Where I come from, fish is a two to three week meal staple, because we get it fresh from the water, [but] even the fish are now contaminated.”