Advocacy

Read SELC’s comments, on behalf of CFRW, regarding Draft National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit NC0002861.

Check CFRW Executive Director Dana Sargent’s comments on Chemours’ draft NPDES Permit No. NC0090042.

Check our ours and North Carolina Sierra Club’s supplemental comments on Chemours’ draft NPDES Permit No. NC0090042, submitted on behalf of the Southern Environmental Law Center.

Check our our comments on Chemours’ draft NPDES Permit No. NC0090042, submitted on behalf of the Southern Environmental Law Center.

In response to a request from the Dpt. of Environmental Quality, Chemours submitted a groundwater sampling plan to test for PFAS in wells of New Hanover, Brunswick, Pender and Columbus Counties. It was wholly inadequate. This week, Southern Environmental Law Center submitted comments on behalf of Cape Fear River Watch noting, “The company’s plan aims to reduce risk to the company rather than the public and should be rejected.”  Read the full comment letter here. 

This letter was submitted to NCDEQ by 10 North Carolina environmental organizations with updated recommendations regarding next steps to be taken relative to PFAS action. 

These comments were submitted by SELC on behalf of American Rivers, Cape Fear River Watch, Carolina Wetlands Association, Catawba Riverkeeper, Coastal Carolina Riverwatch, Dan River Basin Association, Dan Riverkeeper, Good Stewards of Rockingham, Haw River Assembly, MountainTrue, Neuse Riverkeeper, North Carolina Coastal Federation, North Carolina Conservation Network, North Carolina Sierra Club, North Carolina Wildlife Federation, Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper, Sound Rivers, Waterkeepers Carolina, Winyah Rivers Alliance, and Yadkin Riverkeeper.

Read our letter (along with Center for Environmental Health, Clean Cape Fear, and Toxic Free NC) to EPA Administrator Michael Regan, Re: Additional Support for TSCA Section 21 Petition for Testing of Chemours PFAS

Read our comments to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on its proposed reporting and recordkeeping rule for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) under Section 8(a)(7) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).

The SELC filed these comments on behalf of CFRW and 84 other organizations to support the Biden administration in restoring strong clean water protections.

We signed on to this letter commenting on the triennial review of North Carolina surface water quality standards.

Read our comments on the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Clean
Water Act Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards for the Organic Chemicals, Plastics and Synthetic Fibers Point Source Category.

We signed on to this letter about the Development and Submission of Analytical Methods under Toxic Substances Control Act Sections 4 and 8.

We endorsed this position paper from North Carolina Conservation Network that outlines their concerns with directed biogas projects in North Carolina. 

Read our comments in response to the proposal by the Environmental Management Commission (EMC) to replace an obsolete temporary standard of 2,000 parts per trillion (ppt) for Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), and a default limit of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) at the
Practical Quantitation Limit (PQL) with a standard of 70 ppt for the sum of PFOS and PFOA.

This letter was submitted by 28 North Carolina environmental organizations urging Governor Cooper to take executive action to study and
address the environmental and community impacts of the wood pellet industry on the state.

Click here to read our Riverkeeper Kemp Burdette’s comments on the Grady Road Biogas permit at the Division of Air Quality hearing. 

Click here to read our Executive Director Dana Sargent’s comments on PFAS regulation at the NC Science Advisory Board Meeting.

Read our comments regarding the Corps’ proposal to remove dredging windows at Wilmington Harbor and Morehead City Harbor, submitted on our behalf by the SELC.

On behalf of Cape Fear River Watch, the Southern Environmental Law Center today reached agreement on the details of next steps under a consent order with the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality and Chemours that requires the company to stop 99 percent of GenX and other PFAS water pollution from its site into the Cape Fear River, the source of drinking water for Wilmington, Brunswick County, and Pender County. A public comment period will be held on the agreement before it is submitted to the Bladen County Superior Court for approval. If approved by the court, this agreement will be enforceable and amend the consent order the parties finalized in February 2019

Greensboro’s T.Z. Osborne Wastewater Treatment Plant treats wastewater from industrial facilities that use or produce 1,4-dioxane,  but they have not been removing the 1,4-dioxane from the wastewater, instead discharging it directly into the Cape Fear River Basin. Because drinking water utilities cannot remove 1,4-dioxane with conventional treatment, downstream communities are forced to drink water contaminated by Greensboro’s pollution. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services states that “1,4-dioxane is reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen based on sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity from studies in experimental animals.”

A Special Order by Consent (SOC) proposed by the City of Greensboro and DEQ would allow the City to continue dumping 1,4-dioxane into the drinking water of downstream residents, which is an unacceptable practice that must be discontinued. This document contains the comments submitted by the Southern Environmental Law Center on the draft SOC on behalf of Cape Fear River Watch, Haw River Assembly, North Carolina Conservation Network, Center for Environmental Health, North Carolina Coastal Federation, and the North Carolina Chapter of the Sierra Club.

The Trump Administration’s changes to NEPA – often called the “Magna Carta of environmental laws” – will reduce the public input that has guided major projects for decades, further diminish the voices of communities that have long suffered environmental injustices, and mask the full extent of polluting projects. The SELC filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration on behalf of 17 environmental organizations, including Cape Fear River Watch. The lawsuit accuses the government of racing through an industry-friendly rewrite of the National Environmental Policy Act by “cutting corners” and discarding decades of rule-making policies that ensure major legal changes are done fairly and transparently. Read the full complaint here. 

Read these comments, submitted by SELC on behalf of Cape Fear River Watch and others, about the Wilmington Harbor Navigation Improvement Project.

Cape Fear River Watch sued the NC Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ) for not taking swifter and stronger action, and we sued the polluter, Chemours for violations of the Clean Water Act and the Toxic Substances Control Act. The result was a Consent Order, signed February 26, 2019 by Cape Fear River Watch, NC DEQ and Chemours, which requires the company clean up its site, its emissions and its discharge at an accelerated pace.