HOPE MILLS — First came the presentations, then the questions — and the heat.
At a forum Thursday evening in a packed Gray’s Creek High School auditorium, representatives of three state regulatory agencies presented updated information on private well results and additional sampling plans regarding the chemical compound GenX.
Members of an audience of more than 350 people were angry, frustrated and came seeking answers.
The state’s Department of Environmental Quality and its Department of Health and Human Services hosted the public information session.
If my well tests positive at any level, I’m not accepting that.” According to DEQ, 115 private well owners living near the Chemours plant are receiving bottled water because of GenX detections above the provisional state health goal of 140 parts per trillion.
Samples from an overall 349 wells have been collected and verified, the state agency said, with 144 of those indicating a detection of GenX below the health goal and 30 wells showing no detections of the chemical.
The wells the state are sampling … we’re paying for that out of our budget — the state department of water quality.” “That’s good.
Isaac Thorp, a Raleigh lawyer representing some concerned landowners, asked if those living near the Chemours plant off N.C. 87 are being poisoned by cancer-causing chemicals.
Would the state cover the costs of medical diagnostic testing of those residing in the vicinity of the plant: “Is it in everybody today?” he asked rhetorically.
“The state is doing the best it can right now.