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.
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1473705
WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM JULY 20 - 26, 2022 UCW 7 e Chemours chemical company blamed for polluting water supplies in southwestern Cumberland County, the Cape Fear River and points south into Wilmington today filed legal action against the U.S. Environmental Protec- tion Agency and its health advisory data released in late June. In June, Chemours hinted it was considering legal action after EPA and North Carolina released new health ad- visories for private drinking water wells in the Gray's Creek Community. ose advisories upgraded what EPA believed were dangers to the public exposed to chemical compounds that leached into local area wells. Chemours Fayetteville Works is located along the Cumberland/Bladen County line and was previously known as DuPont. Today, the Chemour Company peti- tioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the ird Circuit for a review of the June 15 EPA health advisory for hexafluoropro- pylene oxide dimer acid (HFPO-DA) and its ammonium salt. In a recent statement, Chemours states that it supports government regulation "that is grounded in best available science and follows the law." It claims that the health advisory issued by EPA in June fails to follow science or the law. "When an agency misuses its author- ity to promulgate a health advisory that is scientifically unsound, in a manner contrary to the agency's own processes and standards, we have an obligation to challenge it, administratively and in the courts," according to the statement. Chemours argues that nationally recognized toxicologists and other sci- entists evaluated the EPA's analysis and determined it "fundamentally flawed." Chemours also contends that EPA knew its data was flawed, ignored relevant data and used "grossly" incorrect and "overstated" exposure assumptions in determining GenX levels. Hexafluoropropylene oxide (HFPO) dimer acid and its ammonium salt are compounds used in manufacturing and referred to by their trade name GenX. Chemours states that its parent company DuPont sought EPA approval to use GenX under the Toxic Substance Control Act and was given the go-ahead by the EPA in January 2009. In its June 15 health advisory, the EPA dramatically changed the mini- mum levels of GenX in drinking water from 140 parts per trillion (ppt) to 10 parts per trillion. e new minimum ppt replaces the state's provisional safe drinking water goal for GenX, estab- lished in 2018. e EPA's final health advisory for GenX affects a current consent order requiring Chemour to provide whole house filtration or connection to public water for any private drinking well that tests above the new health advisory ppt. e North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality already directed Chemour to revise its drinking water compliance requirements by consid- ering the 10 ppt for GenX. According to the state, the newly released lower GenX ppt levels will make about 1,700 more private wells eligible for whole house filtration systems. e concern of GenX contamination of private water wells in area communi- ties is prevalent among County leaders and staff. So far, well water contamina- tion has ranged 10 miles south and 25 miles north of the plant. e EPA had also listed interim health advisory levels for several other PFAS chemicals: PFOS at .004 ppt and PFOA at.02 ppt. A third chemical, PFBS, did not have significant concentra- tions in samples taken to date in North Carolina. e NCDEQ scheduled an in-person community information meeting on Tuesday, July 26, at the Crown eater. Registration is open at 5:30 p.m., and the meeting starts at 6. e intent of the meeting is to share information and answer questions about how the EPA's newly revised lower health advisory for GenX af- fects drinking water well sampling in Cumberland, Bladen, Sampson and Robeson counties. Chemours files suit, community meeting upcoming by JASON BRADY NEWS A carbon adsorption unit is seen at Chemours plant near Fayetteville on August 2, 2018. e company said the unit was intended to reduce air emissions. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits, Carolina Public Press) JASON BRADY, Staff Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcom- ingweekly.com. 910-484-6200. Fort Bragg may soon go by another name: Fort Liberty. In last year's National Defense Au- thorization Act, Congress charged the Naming Commission with renaming any military installation whose name commemorates the Confederacy. Fort Bragg is named after North Carolina native Braxton Bragg, a Con- federate general and slave owner prior to the Civil War. e Naming Commission released the potential new name of Fort Bragg, along with eight other military instal- lation names that commemorate the Confederacy, in April. In October, the commission will present the new names to Congress for review, after which the U.S. Department of Defense will implement the new names by Jan. 1, 2024, per the federal legislation. According to documents from the Naming Commission, Liberty was chosen as a name due to its value being "more essential to the United States of America and the history of its military" than any other. Views on name change Jimmy Buxton, president of Fayette- ville's NAACP chapter, said that, while growing up in the area, he wasn't aware that Bragg was named after a Confed- erate general. But after learning the history in adulthood, he supports the change. "If you have a chance to correct it, correct it," he said, referring to the racist history of Confederate monuments and commemorations. Some, however, feel differently about the name change. Grilley Mitchell, president of the Cumberland County Veterans Council, said he viewed the name change as erasing history. "You should never try to erase his- tory," he said. "I'm a firm believer that he that (does) not learn from history (is) doomed to repeat it." Mitchell, a Black man who grew up in the Jim Crow south in Georgia, said the name change won't heal the racist past of that era. "Changing the name, it's not going to heal anything, it's not going to fix any- thing," he said. "To me, it covers it up by putting a coat of paint on something." Mitchell said the history involved with the name of Fort Bragg shouldn't be ignored. "at's just the truth, this history," he said. "at's the ugly part of history in this nation. at is something that we should understand and know that no hu- man being that walks the face of this Earth should be subjected and treated in that manner. Period." Mitchell did say he recognized that some view the name change as stopping the glori- fication of Confeder- ate figures. "Some feel and be- lieve that taking that name away would allow them to move forward with that part of the past behind them," he said. Buxton said, speaking specifically to white people who oppose the renam- ing, that change is inevitable. "Change is something most people don't know how to take, especially when you do a big change like this," he said. "I can live with the name change because I can see the reason why, I would say, a lot more because of my color as a Black man." While many may not be ready for the change, regardless of their reason, Buxton said it is for the better. "at's something I think we as a people have to get used to, change for the better," he said. "In the long run. We shouldn't have a Confederate general's name on an Army post, especially one who owned slaves." Even though Mitchell initially op- posed the change, he said that many on active duty, as well as veterans, will accept it. "e decision was made, and I'm an old soldier," he said. "Once the leaders make the decision, we adapt to the new decision." Fort Liberty: Divided views on changing Fort Bragg's name by BEN SESSOMS e intersection of Bragg Boulevard and Fort Bragg Street in Fayetteville, seen here on July 11, 2022. (Photo by Ben Sessoms, Carolina Public Press) BEN SESSOMS, Carolina Public Press. COMMENTS? Editor@ upandcomingweekly.com 910-484-6200.