On Wednesday, the Cape Fear Business Alliance announced its support for House Bill 864, legislation that would put companies that pollute the state’s waterways with PFAS — known as “forever chemicals” — on the hook, financially, for water filtration efforts.
The bill would allow the Department of Environmental Quality to order a polluter, like Chemours, to provide funding to public utility systems for removing PFAS contamination, and allow utilities to reimburse ratepayers by reducing their bills in the future. Chemours is currently involved in several state and federal lawsuits aimed at forcing it to pay damages related to the cost of water filtration, but those suits have been mired in the slow process of major litigation.
The bill is sponsored by Republican representatives Ted Davis and Frank Iler — both serving counties hard hit by PFAS pollution. New Hanover and Brunswick counties will spend hundreds of millions of dollars over the next generation to filter PFAS out of the water, including significant pollution from Chemours’ Fayetteville Works facility.
Davis and Iler, along with Brunswick County Republican Representative Charlie Miller, put forward similar legislation — HB 1095 — several years ago, but it died in committee.
Unsurprisingly, the new legislation has been opposed by Chemours’ lobbyists in Raleigh.
In a statement, Chemours called the bill “redundant” and accused it of giving “unprecedented authority to the Secretary of North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.” Chemours also touted support from several lobbyist and industry groups.
“Chemours is disappointed in the North Carolina House Environmental Committee’s decision to advance House Bill 864 — which appears to be directed at one company and proposes administrative processes for which legal and judicial authority already exists — despite multiple concerns voiced by Chemours, the American Chemistry Council, the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce, and the North Carolina Manufacturers Alliance,” Chemours wrote in a statement to WECT.
The North Carolina Chamber of Commerce, which has also pushed back against other regulatory efforts, has not yet responded to WHQR’s request for comment on the latest legislation.
The Wilmington Chamber of Commerce, which has been outspoken on other issues, such as the consideration of a toll on a replacement for the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, declined to comment on HB 864 or the state-level implementation of recent EPA restrictions on PFAS contamination.
“We don’t have any comments for the media on these issues,” a spokesperson told WHQR.
The Cape Cape Fear Business Alliance (CFBA) was founded in 2022 as a non-profit, non-partisan representative of small businesses around southeastern North Carolina. While CFBA promotes itself as fighting for free markets and limited government, it doesn’t agree with the NC Chamber’s assessment of the bill.
“While we do believe in limited government, free markets, you know, we also believe in personal responsibility, and that's where we draw the line. What Chemours did, and their failure to take responsibility, hurt taxpayers, ratepayers, and many small business owners,” Jonathan Bridges, CFBA executive director, told WHQR.
Bridges criticized the state Chamber’s opposition to the bill.
“The Chamber of Commerce has wrongly called this bill anti-business. HB 864 protects businesses, their customers, and employees from contaminated water and ensures that the cost burden rests with big polluters like Chemours, not local businesses,” Bridges said.
Asked why he thought the state and local chambers had not supported the bill, Bridges pointed to the support for large over small businesses.
“The chambers have done amazing work, but the state, even the local chamber, they tend to favor big corporations over small businesses. And this is one of those examples of where they put big corporations above small business owners,” he said.
