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US Prosecutors Seek Records Of Unregulated Chemical In River

Cape Fear River at Raven Rock State Park NC
Keith Weston
/
WUNC
File photo of the Cape Fear River. On August 3, 2017, the NC DEQ said it received a subpoena for records invloved in disharges into the river.

Federal prosecutors are investigating a company and its discharges of a little-studied chemical into a North Carolina river that supplies drinking water to hundreds of thousands of people.

The state Department of Environmental Quality said Thursday it received a subpoena last week for records involving discharges into the Cape Fear River of the unregulated chemical GenX. The river is the main source of the water utility serving about 200,000 people in and around Wilmington, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) downstream of the Chemours plant near Fayetteville.

Related: Cooper Lays Out Plan For GenX

Chemours did not respond to messages inviting the company's response.

GenX has been used since 2009 to make Teflon and other non-stick products. There are no federal health standards and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency classifies it as an "emerging contaminant" to be studied.
 

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