Thread by @JeffJacksonNC

The drinking water for at least 200,000 people along the Cape Fear River is polluted with industrial chemicals that a nearby plant discharged into the river for years.

If you don't live near the Cape Fear, you might not have heard - but it's a major issue.

/thread/ #ncpol

When we went to New Hanover County to hold a town hall, it was the first question we got.

And when we went to Chatham County - 150 away from New Hanover, but also on the Cape Fear - it was the first question again.

The issue is PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. This is a group of industrial chemicals used in many consumer products, notably including Teflon, but as varied as pizza boxes, microwave popcorn bags, firefighting foam, cosmetics, textiles, and stain repellents.

A specific type of PFAS related to this matter is known as GenX, which is why you’ll frequently hear people who get their drinking water from the Cape Fear River refer to the “GenX problem.”

The concern about potential long-term health effects of PFAS/GenX is magnified by the extreme durability of these chemicals.

Durability is one of their key features - that’s why they’re called “forever chemicals.”

To that end, just about every American has some PFAS in our blood.

North Carolina, however, has the third-highest rate of PFAS exposure in the country.

In 1980, DuPont began production using PFAS at its plant in Fayetteville - on the Cape Fear River.

In 2016, GenX was detected in the Cape Fear River due to discharge from the plant.

The year before, DuPont had spun off the plant into a new entity, The Chemours Company, which was assigned the vast majority of the potential liabilities associated with PFAS.

As a result of years of PFAS/GenX contamineation, a major region of our state is now deeply concerned about their access to clean drinking water.

Here's our plan for how to address it: #ncpol jeff-jackson.medium.com/you-deserve-cl…