Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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4 UCW OCTOBER 30-NOVEMBER 5, 2019 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM STAFF PUBLISHER Bill Bowman Bill@upandcomingweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER/EDITOR Stephanie Crider editor@upandcomingweekly.com OPERATIONS DIRECTOR Paulette Naylor accounting@upandcomingweekly.com ASSISTANT EDITOR Jenna Shackelford jenna@upandcomingweekly.com HOPE MILLS AND SENIOR SPORTS EDITOR Earl Vaughan Jr. EarlUCWSports@gmail.com REPORTER Jeff Thompson news@upandcomingweekly.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER Elizabeth Baker art@upandcomingweekly.com MARKETING ASSOCIATE Linda McAlister Brown linda@upandcomingweekly.com DISTRIBUTION MANAGER/SALES ADMINISTRATOR Laurel Handforth laurel@upandcomingweekly.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS D.G. Martin, Pitt Dickey, Margaret Dickson, Karl Merritt, John Hood, Jim Jones, Shanessa Fenner, Prudence Mainor, Avery Powers, Eliza- beth Blevins, Crissy Neville ––––––––––– Up & Coming Weekly www.upandcomingweekly.com 208 Rowan St. P.O. Box 53461 Fayetteville, NC 28305 PHONE: 910-484-6200 FAX: 910-484-9218 Up & Coming Weekly is a "Quality of Life" publica- tion with local features, news and information on what's happening in and around the Fayetteville/ Cumberland County community. Up & Coming Weekly is published weekly on Wednesdays. Up & Coming Weekly welcomes manuscripts, photographs and artwork for publica- tion consideration, but assumes no responsibility for them. We cannot accept responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts or mate- rial. Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. The publisher reserves the right to edit or reject copy submitted for publication. Up & Coming Weekly is free of charge and distributed at indoor and out- door locations throughout Fayetteville, Fort Bragg, Pope Air Force Base, Hope Mills and Spring Lake. Readers are limited to one copy per person. © 2019 by F&B Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial or advertisements without permission is strictly prohibited. Various ads with art graphics designed with ele- ments from: vecteezy.com and freepik.com. GenX: So many questions, so few answers; a healthy skepticism abounds by REP. BILLY RICHARDSON PUBLISHER'S PEN Last week our legislative delegation, along with some of the members of the New Hanover delegation, were invited to visit the Fayetteville Chemours plant to see what the plant is doing to abate the GenX contaminant that has severely affected our river, streams, air, soil, area wells and people's health. GenX is a man-made chemical compound whose practical uses extend life in products we all use —from clothing to pots and pans. Its durability allows it to have myriad uses. But, its durability also makes it very difficult for Mother Nature to break down and restore it to its original state. It makes one wonder if we can coexist with these chemical compounds. is question is complicated by Chemours' actions, despite significant pressure from our governor and legislature concerning the need to reduce, clean up and prevent these chemical compounds from entering our rivers, streams, groundwater, soil and air. To put it bluntly, we are still facing challenges in understanding the nature and degree of the harm GenX might do and how to protect our residents. e good news is you have a com- mitted local delegation determined to fix and abate the GenX situation we are facing. With that determination, we attended a meeting with Chemours Plant Manager Brian Long. e meet- ing began with Long answering some concerning GenX questions from the delegation. I cannot speak for everyone, but I was amazed at how little I knew re- garding chemical compounds like GenX and the long-term challenges they pose. Initially, it appeared that Chemours had a genuine commitment to Cumberland County and North Carolina residents. But, like many citizens, I have become wary of excuses and delays and want action now. e meeting got more interesting when Long introduced us to Chemours's latest big investment, which we were surprised to learn was currently under construction. A brand-new $199 million thermal incinerator. at's Chemours' solution to the GenX problem. To infer this is a mammoth project does not come close to doing it justice. e site enhancements include an underground foundation and piping that extends 40 feet below the surface. However, what is on the surface is even more impressive. In simpler terms, it is a giant all-in-one furnace and washing machine. A ther- mal incinerator produces intense heat then scrubs the compound elements, after which additional heat is reapplied. is leads to the breakdown of GenX into its basic elements, which are then recycled back to nature, presumably here in our county. e plant is sched- uled to be operational by December. At first look, it appears Chemours has made a major commitment and invest- ment into providing a solution to the ongoing GenX problem. I, like many others, am skeptical even though it does seem to be a better alternative than shipping and relocating 40,000 gallons of GenX-laced water to deep-water wells in Texas. Especially since deep-water wells pose their own set of issues, and HIGH 64 LOW 45 HIGH 60 LOW 46 HIGH 67 HIGH 61 HIGH 69 LOW 35 LOW 42 LOW 46 NOVEMBER 4 NOVEMBER 3 NOVEMBER 1 NOVEMBER 2 NOVEMBER 5 AM Showers Mostly Sunny Sunny AM Showers Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy OCTOBER 31 HIGH 83 LOW 63 Humidity 63 81 57 67 63 51 We are still facing challenges in understanding the nature and degree of the harm Che- mours's GenX might do and how to protect our residents. e good news is you have a com- mitted local delegation determined to fix and abate the GenX situation we are facing.