Gov. Cooper visits Brunswick, New Hanover, Pender

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Gov. Roy Cooper will spend much of his day in southeastern North Carolina.

For the third time now, the Governor is in the Cape Fear area to address the ongoing Gen-X contamination. He began his trip in northwest Brunswick County at the municipal water treatment plant.  The Governor’s tour comes after the Environmental Review Commission held an investigative hearing in Wilmington.

They heard about his request to use state funds to investigate water quality but no vote happened.

“Fix it and make sure it doesn’t happen again,” says Brunswick County Commission chairman Frank Williams.

Since Chemours stopped discharging Gen-X in June, fixing the contamination OF Gen-X in the Cape Fear River has hit a road block.

“We need more scientists, we need more people working on permits, we need more inspection capacity,” says the Governor.

This is also the Governor’s first trip after tasking lawmakers to give more than two and a half million dollars to the Department of Environmental Quality and Health and Human Services to dig deeper on water quality statewide.

“This department is going to work as hard as it can with the resources it has to do the job,” says Cooper.

Gen-X levels have dropped nearly three-fold in Brunswick County since July tests.

“I don’t care whose name is on the plan as long as the plan works for our citizens,” says the chairman.

Local lawmakers are concerned the Governor’s plan will not work fast enough nor would it directly help those along the Cape Fear River. Senator Michael Lee moved to collaborate with utilities like CFPUA and UNCW professionals to address Gen-X. The Governor was not against that.

“It’s important that we collaborate, protecting water is not a partisan issue and we need to work together,” Cooper says.

That’s the same mindset local leaders have on keeping the water clean.

“We just want to folks in Raleigh to know this is an important issue and it’s not one to be politicized,” says Williams.

The DEQ released new test results today for Gen-X levels concluding that levels are continuing to drop. They also say the levels are well below public health risk amounts.