HB 569, or the PFAS Pollution and Polluter Liability Act, passed the state House on Wednesday. The bill would hold PFAS manufacturers who discharge the cancer-causing chemicals into public water supplies pay for cleanup costs.
According to Davis, who represents New Hanover County in the state House, it's been a long time coming. He told WHQR that he's been trying to pass this legislation for five years.
"I'll be honest with you, it's the hardest bill I've ever worked on," he said. "I've been up here 13 years, and by far that was the toughest bill for me to get through."
Rising rates
Since GenX was first publicly identified in the Cape Fear River in 2017, Cape Fear Public Utility Authority has spent over $80 million on removing the compound from its water supply. That includes $43 million to construct granular activated carbon (GAC) filters at the Sweeney Water Treatment Plant. Brunswick County, which is in the process of completing its low-pressure reverse osmosis treatment system at the Northwest Water Treatment Plant, has spent close to $160 million.
Chemours, the company responsible for discharging PFAS into the Cape Fear River, has had to pay for some of the impacts of its pollution. In 2019, Chemours entered a consent agreement with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality and Cape Fear River Watch which compelled the company to provide clean water and water testing to private well water users impacted by groundwater contamination.
But, ultimately, the company has not had to cover the costs associated with PFAS removal in public water systems. Those costs have largely been passed on to utility customers. Davis told WHQR that in New Hanover County, monthly rates have increased by about 10% to cover PFAS costs. In Brunswick County, rates have gone up approximately 40% (although part of the county's new reverse osmosis plant was also to increase capacity).
Brunswick County did not respond to WHQR's requests for comment. But CFPUA spokesperson Vaughn Hagerty said the GAC filters alone have added $5 to New Hanover County ratepayer bills.
"Chemours has left CFPUA to bear all of this expense, along with the tens of millions of dollars spent to operate the GAC filters and other actions related to Chemours' pollution," he wrote in a statement to WHQR. "We're grateful to Rep. Davis for his diligent efforts on behalf of his constituents and our customers to hold polluters such as Chemours accountable for the costs to deal with their pollution."
"I didn't think, and still don't think, and won't ever think that it's right for the ratepayers to have to pay that money to remove the pollution that the polluters put in there," Davis told WHQR.
Building support
The bill has been through several iterations. Davis first proposed the legislation during the 2022 session, then again in 2024. Both times, the bill failed to generate enough support.
Davis said part of that was due to GOP lawmakers' mistrust of the DEQ.
"[In the 2022 version], DEQ would not only set the contaminant standards; they would also enforce that. And the thought [from Republican House members] was, well, now you just given one entity too much authority," he said. "So it never really got even to committee stage."
But he also started to hear objections from pro-business lobbyists, specifically from the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce, a staunch opponent to PFAS regulation. According to Davis, the Chamber called the bill bad for business.
"The message they were giving me was: 'What business would want to come here if they knew that they could be liable for polluting our water?'" he told WHQR. "Well, my response to that was: 'How many businesses do you think want to stay here if they know that their employees, their families don't have clean drinking water?'"
A spokesperson for the Chamber provided the following statement to WHQR: "Giving the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality Secretary unprecedented, unchecked authority would have economically debilitating consequences for business and the state. The NC Chamber is advocating for sound, science- and health-based policy that addresses PFAS in the environment and minimizes discharge in the future. We prefer to find solutions to protect ratepayers, the environment, taxpayers, and job creators."
Though the Chamber has continued to lobby against it, the 2025 version of the bill had much more support. Rep. Frank Iler of Brunswick County, who declined to comment, co-sponsored the bill. Iler is also a Republican, and has advocated for increased PFAS regulation for many years.
"People around here didn't know a lot about til 2018," he said during an October 2024 candidate forum. "[Our] committee was formed immediately, and our local delegations were on it."
Democratic House Minority Leader Rep. Robert Reives also co-sponsored the bill.
"I was glad to see the House overwhelmingly support the PFAS Pollution and Polluter Liability bill," he wrote in a statement to WHQR. "North Carolinians should not be held accountable for the bad actions of polluters."
To build further Republican support, Davis narrowly tailored the bill. It's only applicable to PFAS manufacturers who discharge the chemicals into water supplies, not companies who use PFAS in the manufacturing of other goods. The bill also requires that the PFAS manufacturer in question enter a consent order admitting liability for pollution, and that the total cost of cleanup for a public utility authority exceed $50 million.
Davis said these concessions ultimately still make Chemours, the primary PFAS manufacturer in North Carolina, pay for its impacts on public water users.
"Three times the charm"
The bill had overwhelming support in the state House at 104 to 3, with Reps. John Bell of Wayne County, Jimmy Dixon of Duplin and Wayne counties, and Keith Kidwell representing Dare, Beaufort, Hyde, and Pamlico counties voting against. But it still has to get through the Senate.
Sen. Michael Lee has filed his own PFAS regulation bill during this session: the 2025 Water Safety Act, which would set aside $56 million for a PFAS mitigation fund within the DEQ and mandate discharge limits for the most common PFAS. That bill appears to have died in committee, but Lee has previously indicated his support for other PFAS legislation.
Other members of the Senate may be less enthusiastic. Still, HB569's sponsors remain optimistic.
"This is commonsense legislation to improve the quality of our water and I am hopeful that the Senate will do the right thing and get this bill to Governor Stein's desk," Reives stated.
Davis, perhaps understandably, the most enthusiastic of all.
"What is it? Three times the charm?" he said. "I tell you what, you just can't imagine how happy I was with that margin of victory getting that bill passed."
Read more:
- Wilmington Star-News: Toxin taints CFPUA drinking water
- WHQR: For Cape Fear residents drinking well water and concerned about PFAS, it's a communication breakdown
- WHQR: Unpacking the state House and Senate candidates' forum
- NC Chamber of Commerce: Beyond the Noise on PFAS
- Port City Daily: Sen. Lee files PFAS bill to establish discharge limits, fund mitigation and research
- WUNC: Brunswick County almost finished installing PFAS water treatment system
