In southeastern North Carolina, small business owners are grappling with a public health crisis caused by PFAS contamination—without consistent regulatory support. In Wilmington, coffee shops like Port City Java have spent thousands of dollars filtering toxic chemicals from water, while chemical companies like Chemours remain locked in legal disputes with public utilities. As lawmakers struggle … Read more
Chemours and DuPont want to keep 21,000 pages of documents sealed—secrets that could reveal the true cost of their PFAS pollution in North Carolina. Environmental groups are fighting back, demanding transparency for communities already scarred by decades of contamination. Let’s unpack the stakes for half a million people. The Battle for Transparency The Southern Environmental … Read more
The Cape Fear River Basin, lifeline to 1.5 million North Carolina residents, sits at the heart of a brewing dispute. Cities like Asheboro, Greensboro, and Reidsville continue dumping a chemical called 1,4-dioxane into its waters — a move that environmentalists say jeopardizes communities downstream. The cities, however, claim legality, citing favorable court decisions and the … Read more
A quiet weekend in North Carolina took a turn when over 80,000 gallons of pig waste flooded a waterway. The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) estimates the spill at 84,000 gallons, pouring into a tributary of Doctor’s Creek in Duplin County. This creek feeds the Northeast Cape Fear River, part of the state’s … Read more
Contaminated groundwater in parts of North Carolina may take more than 40 years to flush out harmful chemicals known as PFAS, according to a recent study from North Carolina State University. The findings highlight the persistent threat posed by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in Cumberland and Bladen counties, with significant implications for residents and … Read more
In 2017, Wilmington’s StarNews uncovered a shocking truth: the Cape Fear River, which supplies drinking water to around 350,000 people, was tainted by toxic chemicals known as PFAS (perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances). The contamination had been happening for decades, courtesy of DuPont and its spin-off company Chemours, which dumped these harmful compounds into the river. … Read more