Wilmington City Council unanimously pass resolution opposing expansion of Chemour’s Bladen County facility

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Wilmington City Council unanimously passed a resolution during its meeting Wednesday night opposing the expansion of Chemours’ Fayetteville Works facility in Bladen County.

Councilwoman Salette Andrews introduced the resolution.

Chemours submitted a revised permit application as part of a plan to expand P-FAS production at the facility.

Andrews is a cancer survivor.

She said preventing further pollution of the river has always been a focus of hers.

“It was a campaign promise of mine that anything that I could to protect our drinking water and really any part of our environment from harmful chemicals or any toxins that would affect human health, that I would do that,” Andrews said.

The executive director of Cape Fear River Watch, Kemp Burdette, spoke briefly to the council about why his group opposes the expansion.

“They (Chemours) sued to stop community health studies for residents who drink contaminated water for decades. They spent millions lobbying to have PFAS regulations eliminated.”

Burdette said Chemours does not care about protecting the environment or the people of Wilmington.

“They have a history of being a bad actor, they have a history of violating the law,” Burdette said. “So really important that we, that we make a statement that says we don’t want that expansion because we’ve been exposed to too many PFAS already.”

The resolution calls upon state regulators to deny the application, which is being reviewed by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.