The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has ordered the Chemours Company to implement testing and mitigation measures to address per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) releases from its the Washington Works facility near Parkersburg, West Virginia.
The order is the EPA’s first attempt to hold a company accountable for PFAS discharges under the Clean Water Act, the agency said in an April 26 news release.
The order requires Chemours to implement an EPA-approved sampling plan to analyze PFAS and conduct analysis to further understand the presence of PFAS in stormwater and wastewater discharged from the facility. Also, Chemours must submit and implement a plan to treat or minimize the discharge of PFAS to ensure compliance with numeric effluent limits of PFOA and Hexafluoropropylene Oxide (HFPO) dimer acid. In addition, to identify best practices to reduce PFAS discharges from the site, Chemours will submit its existing standard operating procedures relating to the management of wastewater for various systems and its revised storm water pollution prevention plan, according to the EPA.
The facility exceeded permit effluent limits for PFOA and HFPO dimer acid on various dates from September 2018 through March 2023, and Chemours failed to properly operate and maintain all facilities and systems required for permit compliance, according to the EPA.
Under the Clean Water Act, it is unlawful to discharge pollutants into U.S. waterways except pursuant to a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit, issued by EPA or a state, the EPA notes. The permit sets pollution discharge limits, monitoring and reporting requirements, and other conditions designed to protect water quality. Chemours operates several manufacturing units at the Washington Works facility, which produce fluorinated organic chemical products including fluoropolymers.
The facility discharges industrial process water and stormwater to the Ohio River and its tributaries, under the terms of a NPDES permit issued in 2018 by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company was the NPDES permit holder at Washington Works until 2015. In 2015, the permit was transferred to Chemours. The permit imposes discharge limits and requires monitoring of certain pollutants, including PFAS such as perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), which was used in the past as a processing aid for manufacturing, and HFPO dimer acid, also known as GenX, which replaced PFOA as a processing aid.