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By Ena Sellers
Duplin Journal
A draft permit issued to Lear Corporation in Kenansville that would allow them to discharge PFAS into the northeast Cape Fear River is raising concerns in Duplin County.
“The draft permit said that DEQ, Department of Environmental Quality in North Carolina, was going to allow this company to continue to discharge PFAS into the northeast Cape Fear River,” said Kemp Burdette, Cape Fear River Watch’s Riverkeeper adding that they were shocked the state is allowing them to keep discharging PFAS. “We know people fish downstream of this discharge… We know how bad PFAS are for humans and for the environment, for fish and for anything that they come in contact with.”
Burdette initially discovered this a couple years ago while doing a patrol watch on an aircraft.
“I was taking photographs of the watershed,” said Burdette, explaining that he saw white foam being discharged in a small stream while flying over Kenansville and thought something didn’t look right. “I asked the pilot to circle around, and I took a bunch of photos…I looked up what they do and it said they did performance fabrics, and anytime I see the word performance fabrics, I think PFAS, because anytime you want to make something waterproof, or stain resistant, or fire resistant, you add PFAS to it.”
Burdette told the Duplin Journal that the next morning he took a water sample and sent it off to a lab. “It came back really high in PFAS and so I reported this to the state… eventually the state issued a notice of violation for them discharging this foam, which they’re not supposed to do.”
According to Burdette, eventually after almost a year the state issued a notice of violation to Lear Corp.
“They got a slap on the wrist for violating their permit,” said Burdette, adding that then the company was allowed to continue to discharge as long as they were reporting it.
But the PFAS is not a problem isolated to Duplin County, a few years ago Cape Fear River Watch sued Chemours for discharging PFAS into the Cape Fear River resulting in a consent order that required the Chemours to clean up its PFAS discharge.
“And yet, here, the state is allowing [Lear Corp.] to keep discharging PFAS,” said Burdette. “Industry can clean up their PFAS discharge. We know that because Chemours has been forced by the state to do it in their permit.”
Burdette told the Duplin Journal that there’s no limit to how much PFAS Lear Corp can discharge, adding that all that is required according to the draft permit is that they test the water once every three months.
“They want them to sample the water and just report what’s in it, not remove it, just report what’s in it. They want the company to do their own testing… Self-reporting is generally not a good way of ensuring this is safe,” said Burdette. “It just allows an industry to decide when they’re going to sample…they know when would be the best time to sample to show minimal impact, and when would be not a good time to sample.”
Epidemiological evidence shows a link between exposure to PFAS with kidney and testicular cancers, pregnancy-induced hypertension and preeclampsia, increases in cholesterol, changes in liver enzymes, and decreased antibody response to some vaccines, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Additionally, animal studies have found that PFAS can cause damage to the liver and the immune system.
It is unknown what the final permit will look like for Lear Corp.
“Lots of public comments were submitted, but we don’t know what, if any, changes the state will make to the permit based on the feedback that they got from the public,” said Burdette. “The state should have to prevent companies from discharging a toxic chemical into a public waterway where people fish and recreate, but we will see if they actually do anything, or if they just ignore hundreds … actually thousands of comments from the public.”
Burdette expressed concerns for people who fish downstream that area who could be getting exposed to the chemicals.
“I am very concerned that those fish are going to be contaminated with PFAS and that if people catch those fish and eat them or feed them to their families, then their families will be contaminated with high levels of PFAS.”
The Duplin Journal reached out to County Manager Bryan Miller to find out if the county was aware of Lear Corps discharging PFAS into the river or the public comment period for the permit renewal, which closed March 28. Miller said he was not aware.
In a letter from Southern Environmental Law Center asking NC DEQ for stronger regulations, SELC stated that results from 2019 samples confirmed Lear discharged “PFAS at concentrations as high as 1,863 ppt… On September 2, 2022, Cape Fear River Watch sampled a couple of miles downstream from Lear’s outfall and the sampling confirmed the presence PFAS at a total concentration of 71.7 ppt.” According to the letter the sampling showed the presence of at least 10 PFAS compounds, including PFOA and PFOS.
“Lear discharges into a portion of the Northeast Cape Fear River that is popular for fishing, kayaking, and other recreational activities… This portion of the river also provides abundant habitat for largemouth bass, sunfish, and American shad, and as a result, is a popular fishing destination,” states the letter. “Many community members in Duplin County and surrounding areas subsistence fish in this portion of the river— meaning they rely on an abundance of healthy fish as a source of food.”
The Duplin Journal contacted Lear Corp for comment but was unable to reach someone before press time.
Update:
The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Water Resources told the Duplin Journal that they are still evaluating and considering the public comments received during the comment period on Lear Corp’s draft National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit.
“The comments will be considered as part of the review of the proposed permit, which would regulate pollutants discharged from the facility in its wastewater. At this time, no decision has been made on the draft permit. Final action on the draft permit will be announced,” stated DEQ in an email to Duplin Journal. “DWR required PFAS discharge information to be disclosed as part of the review of Lear Corp.’s permit application, and the draft permit includes a condition for PFAS monitoring. As part of its action strategy for addressing PFAS, DEQ anticipates presenting proposed PFAS standards for groundwater and surface water to the Environmental Management Commission committees this year. …In addition, DWR is working with industrial users to take measures such as best management practices, material substitutions and other PFAS reduction strategies that can be implemented to reduce or eliminate PFAS discharges to state waters.”
