Wilmington City Council members visit DC to discuss PFAS, CFMB replacement

WASHINGTON, D.C. (WWAY) — 6 members of the Wilmington City Council are in Washington D.C. this week for the National League of Cities Congressional City Conference.

During the visit, council members will be meeting with members of Congress to discuss several items that impact Wilmington.

Among the issues to be discussed will be P-FAS or forever chemicals.

Council member Charlie Rivenbark said they want clarification from the Environmental Protection Agency about what is being done to help combat these contaminants in the river.

“With regard to water, we just want the EPA to establish firm standards and reinforce that at the federal level as we’re trying to do at the state level,” Rivenbark said. “We know what we need, we’re up here to express that and hopefully impress them and see some more funds come our way for those projects.”

But the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge is the top concern for council members, so they will speak with the U.S. Department of Transportation about funding to replace the aging bridge.

Last year, the Biden administration awarded a $242 million grant to cover part of the cost of replacing the bridge, which has now more than doubled to $1.1  billion.

Mayor Bill Saffo said Wilmington residents need to remain patient as the city is still in the early stages.

“But I do know this, we are in the first phase or the first quarter of a 4 quarter game as they say in football analogy,” Saffo said. “So we’re in the beginning processes of this thing and there’s going to be a lot more input and discussions from the community, from business folks, from the Coast Guard, the Corps of Engineers.”

Mayor pro-tem Clifford Barnett said the council will continue to work on getting funding and moving the process along.

“It’s one of those things that we have to do in order to keep Wilmington safe,” Barnett said. “The bridge is old and it needs to be replaced and that’s one of those things that we definitely got to do. And it’s probably the biggest thing we’ll do as a council that’s going to affect Wilmington generations to come.”

The only council member to not go to D.C. was Councilman Kevin Spears.

According to a city spokesperson, every year, each council member is allocated a travel budget for city business, which reimburses certain expenses for traveling to meetings like the conference. 

Council members met with the Department of Transportation on Monday and will meet with the EPA on Tuesday.