UN blasts Chemours, DuPont, EPA on PFAS pollution

United Nations human rights and environment monitors are calling out Chemours Co., DuPont Co. and U.S. government agencies over "extensive" drinking water contamination from PFAS chemicals the companies discharged from a large manufacturing plant in North Carolina.

The monitors, including U.N. special monitors investigating environment, human rights and drinking water issues, in a Feb. 21 statement accused the companies of "completely disregarding the rights and wellbeing of residents" and similarly said government agencies in the United States had "fallen short" in protecting public health from the so-called "forever chemicals."

The monitors asked the U.N. Environment Assembly, a gathering of nearly 200 countries held every two years, to address risks from the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. UNEA is meeting Feb. 26 to March 1 in Kenya, its first session since 2022.

"DuPont and Chemours have produced, marketed and profited from PFAS for decades, contributing to a global toxic contamination problem," the U.N. officials and rapporteurs said. "Even as DuPont and Chemours had information about the toxic impacts of PFAS on human health and drinking water, the companies continued to produce and discharge PFAS."

The companies, however, strongly defended their actions.

Chemours said it has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to eliminate almost all PFAS discharges from its Fayetteville Works facility and said it was committed to responsibly manufacturing PFAS chemicals, which it said are critical to making semiconductors, electric cars and green hydrogen.

"Chemours has taken a broad and unprecedented set of actions, costing hundreds of millions of dollars, to eliminate almost all PFAS discharges from Fayetteville Works," the company said in a statement. "We know of no other company in North Carolina that has made such a significant investment to address emissions and legacy remediation."

Chemours questioned the scientific accuracy of parts of the U.N. report, detailing those concerns in an 18-page November letter responding to the concerns.

"We find it unfortunate and disappointing that numerous statements made in the press release issued by the U.N. Rapporteur's Office lack factual or scientific foundation," Chemours said in an emailed statement.

DuPont, in a two-page letter to the U.N. officials, said the Fayetteville, N.C., site at issue in the U.N. report was spun off to Chemours in 2015.

It said that implicating the current DuPont Co. "disregards these varied corporate histories, the movement of product lines and personnel that now exist with entirely different companies and only serves to foster confusion."

The U.N. officials, however, pushed back and said the corporate restructuring "posed further obstacles to achieving accountability and effective remedies."

The U.N. officials said the companies "continue to spread disinformation about PFAS," including that the substances are essential for use in semiconductors and in plastics needed to fight climate change.

"Decarbonization strategies must be integrated with detoxification strategies and guided by human rights," the U.N. officials said.

One leader of a community group in North Carolina, Clean Cape Fear, told Inside Climate News that "it feels like validation" to have the U.N. elevate the state's PFAS contamination problems.

The U.N. officials said government agencies in the United States have not responded forcefully enough and said DuPont and Chemours have "captured the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and delayed efforts to properly regulate PFAS chemicals."

"Health and environmental regulators in the United States have fallen short in their duty to protect against business-related human rights abuses, including providing the public, particularly affected communities in North Carolina, with the type and amount of information necessary to prevent harm and seek reparation," the U.N. officials said. "Where legal action has been taken against the two companies, enforcement and remediation measures have been inadequate."

The United Nations also criticized North Carolina state officials.

EPA said it would be responding to the U.N. in more detail "in the near future" but noted in a statement that it has been addressing PFAS contamination in a strategic road map.

It also said, in response to a specific point in the Feb. 21 U.N. letter, that it had withdrawn its conditional approval for Chemours to ship wastewater containing PFAS from a site in the Netherlands to the Fayetteville, N.C., site.

The U.N. letter said it "expressed alarm" that the PFAS waste was shipped "in apparent breach of international law."

EPA said it withdrew its previous consent for the shipments Nov. 29, saying that "by Chemours' own admission, the information it submitted in its notification was inaccurate."

EPA said it also asked Chemours to pause importing nonhazardous waste from the Netherlands to Fayetteville.

"In addition to the inaccurate information Chemours provided regarding these imports, it has a history of PFAS releases, which raises concerns about the company's ability to take measures that fully protect public health and the environment," the agency said. "EPA will continue to work in close partnership with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, as well as maintain a constructive dialogue with the company, to use every available tool to protect people from dangerous PFAS chemicals."

North Carolina DEQ said the U.N. did not contact it directly but defended its work, saying agency staff have taken "decisive action" to reduce PFAS pollution from the Fayetteville plant and sample for contamination in more than 10,000 private water wells in an eight-county region.

"The DEQ Consent Order has become a model for EPA and other states who are targeting PFAS reductions and cleanup at individual manufacturing sites," the agency said. "DEQ will continue to hold Chemours accountable for the cleanup of PFAS contamination and for preventing future PFAS impacts to North Carolinians

While not responding directly to the EPA allegation, the Chemours statement said it supports science-based regulation and that its remediation and emissions control activities are based on the best-available science and proven technology.

"We are proud of the investments we've made to reduce emissions from our N.C. manufacturing site, and the significant progress we've made to eliminate 99 percent of fluorinated organic chemical emissions from our global manufacturing sites by 2030 as part of our Corporate Responsibility Commitment," the company said.