Cape Fear River Watch is a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting and improving water quality in the Cape Fear River basin. Executive Director and Riverkeeper Kemp Burdette spoke about a number of the organization’s ongoing environmental fights.
River Watch is currently advocating against chemical dumping from the Chemours Fayetteville site into the Cape Fear River. The company’s Fayetteville location produces compounds that go into a wide range of products, including batteries and electronic chips. The manufacturing process produces PFAS as a byproduct; these PFAS are long-lasting — thus the term 'forever chemicals' — and some are linked to harmful health effects.
When speaking about factory farms, Burdette voiced concerns about animal waste runoff making its way into the river. Large factory farms store animal waste in lagoons, then pipe and spray waste on surrounding land.
River Watch is also advocating against a proposed dredging project that would deepen the riverbed, making way for larger ships. The $1.3-billion project would better accommodate ships built after the Panama Canal’s 3x expansion in 2016. River Watch cited concerns that the expansion could damage river ecosystems and dredging the river could unearth PFAS that had settled under layers of sand and silt (the project has also faced objections from the state, which is responsible for roughly $340 million of the cost).
Burdette says he hopes people will participate in public comment for proposed legislative changes, including ones that could reduce the EPA’s PFAS regulation. People will also have the chance to weigh in on factory farm permitting.
Burdette said, “It’s easy to get kind of discouraged because you see these attacks every day, but if you look back at what this community has been able to do over the last 20 years, we’ve had some huge wins that seemed like they were impossible at the time.”
A full video of the presentation will go up on the Cape Fear River Watch’s YouTube page.