Thank you for your care and concern regarding the ongoing and devastating PFAS contamination of the Lower Cape Fear region. We applaud your swift and strong actions thus far to hold companies, like Chemours, accountable for the messes they make in our beautiful state. We are grateful you significantly expanded the Chemours consent order immediately upon taking office to protect private well owners living outside of Bladen and Cumberland counties. We now need you to provide better protections for the nearly 500,000 residents living downstream of Chemours who rely on the Cape Fear River as their primary source of drinking water.

Since October 2021, Clean Cape Fear has sent multiple requests to meet with you and discuss the needs of our communities. On March 29, 2022, you visited our region with top level staff for, essentially, a closed door meeting with elected leaders where the media was alerted at the last minute (if at all) and the public was not adequately notified.

Unfortunately, these actions do not build public trust and public trust is what we desperately need right now.

What's at stake for our severely PFAS contaminated communities?

NCDEQ just issued a draft permit which would allow Chemours to take groundwater underneath their facility highly concentrated with PFAS--remove 99% of the PFAS--and release the remaining 1% into our drinking water supply which would eventually wash up on Brunswick County beaches.

Why are we concerned?

- We still do not know the full scope of Chemours' contamination. How many different kinds of PFAS are in this groundwater? 300? At what concentrations? Our water districts are only able to test for 50+ different PFAS.

- Our drinking water, air, soil and local food supply was contaminated for decades with these toxic forever chemicals. We are an overexposed community and believe we cannot afford one more drop of PFAS coming from Chemours into OUR river--to later wash up on OUR beaches.

- Brunswick county has abnormal foam coating its beaches and sticking to the shoreline. We tested that foam and found a ton of different kinds of PFAS in the foam--many coming from Chemours. NCDHHS recommends "avoiding contact with all foam, especially for children and pets as a precaution." DEQ must stop the releases of all PFAS into the Cape Fear River so children, pets, and other vulnerable populations can safely enjoy OUR beaches.

- NCDEQ is not offering any public hearings on this critically important draft permit. The public deserves a chance to learn about what's at stake and have their voices heard.

- If this permit is not issued correctly THE FIRST TIME it is nearly impossible to get NCDEQ to open a permit and re-write it. We are not aware of instances where this regularly or easily occurs within NCDEQ.

- we believe Chemours should never be allowed to release any levels of PFAS into our air, soil, water, or food supply. Full stop. Chemours sent NCDEQ preliminary data showing it has the technical capabilities to remove all PFAS from its groundwater to levels of non detect. NCDEQ should use this science and demand Chemours control all releases.

- We believe NCDEQ is issuing this permit backwards. The goal should be to stop ALL releases of PFAS as a precaution until it is proven that 1% of Chemours' PFAS groundwater releases are safe for human exposures. Instead, it appears NCDEQ is asking the public to allow 1% of PFAS releases into OUR river without proper scientific research proving their safety.

Our community deserves a public hearing on this draft permit. We deserve to be fully informed about what's at stake and what it means for our short and long term health; as well as, the vitality of our fishing, real estate, and tourist economies.

Thank you for your time. We hope you will give our community the ethical treatment it deserves considering the scope and proportion of our PFAS contamination crisis.