August 2, 2020
Preliminary data released last month by scientists at seven North Carolina universities showed the highest levels of ‘forever chemicals’, known as PFAS, were observed at the Cape Fear region’s main raw water supply at the Kings Bluff pump station on the Cape Fear River. The high level was attributed to PFAS chemicals coming from discharges at the Chemours Fayetteville Works plant.
The team of scientists measured a total PFAS level of 425.5 parts per trillion (ppt) at the station, only two points higher than the nearby Bladen Bluffs station — which only serves the Smithfield Foods plant in Tar Heel — but nearly double the third-highest level found in Harnett County. (It is important to note that these numbers only included the study’s first round of testing; a second round is in progress, which identified a preliminary PFAS level of 804.9 at Pittsboro’s water source.)
The pumps at Kings Bluff supplies water to at least 350,000 people in New Hanover, Brunswick, and Pender counties. The study measured untreated, raw water.
Cohen Milstein is Interim Co-Lead Counsel in this consolidated environmental toxic tort class action against E.I. DuPont de Nemours Company, and its former wholly-owned subsidiary, The Chemours Company.
Cohen Milstein’s team is led by Theodore J. Leopold, and includes S. Douglas Bunch, Jamie Bowers and Alison Deich.