Mark Ruffalo is concerned about PFAS chemicals in NC water. Could that lead to new laws?

Actor Mark Ruffalo is shining a spotlight on North Carolina communities struggling with contamination from “forever chemicals.”

In visits to Wilmington, Pittsboro and Raleigh on Tuesday and Wednesday, Ruffalo is working with local environmental groups to highlight the human impact of per- and polyflouroalkyl substances, widely known as PFAS, a class of long-lasting chemicals that have been linked to a wide range of human health impacts.

During an event Tuesday at Wilmington’s Thalian Hall, Ruffalo was scheduled to host a showing of “Dark Waters,” the recently released film in which he stars as Rob Bilott. Bilott, a Cincinnati, Ohio-based attorney, has spent much of the past 20 years facing off against DuPont due its contamination of Parkersburg, West Virginia, with PFAS chemical C8. That struggle is the core of Ruffalo’s film.

As concerns about the health impacts of C8 — also known as PFOA — mounted, DuPont shifted production to another chemical called GenX, which was supposed to be less risky and, due to its chemical structure, not accumulate in humans and animals as much as its predecessors. In 2009, the company told the Environmental Protection Agency it would begin making that chemical at its Fayetteville Works Plant, near the Bladen and Cumberland county lines.

GenX around Wilmington

Unknown to regulators or the public, however, GenX had been reaching the Cape Fear River for decades as a byproduct of a different chemical process taking place at Fayetteville Works. That was only revealed after a team of N.C. State University and EPA scientists profiled the chemical and measured it in the Cape Fear River. They discovered that it also had made its way through existing Wilmington-area water treatment processes and into the region’s drinking water.

After the Wilmington StarNews reported on the scientists’ findings in 2017, an environmental official for Chemours revealed that he and other employees had known that GenX chemicals were reaching the Cape Fear River since about 1980. In 2015, DuPont spun off its Performance Chemicals segment, forming Chemours in a move widely seen as an effort to limit its liability to PFAS and other litigation.

The revelation about GenX drew statewide attention and led to the formation of Clean Cape Fear, a group of community activists who have pushed state and local leaders for more protection of drinking water. That group will join the N.C. Conservation Network and the Center for Environmental Health in hosting Ruffalo on the “Why We Fight” tour of communities impacted by PFAS contamination.

Since the contamination was revealed, Chemours has agreed to pay a $12 million fine and spend about $100 million building a thermal oxidizer that will destroy emissions containing GenX chemicals. Brunswick County is spending $137 million to add a reverse osmosis system at a water treatment plant, while the Wilmington-area Cape Fear Public Utility Authority will spend $46 million installing granular activated carbon filters to capture PFAS chemicals.

Perhaps best known for his role as Bruce Banner/Hulk in many Avengers movies, Ruffalo has been nominated three times for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, including for performances in “The Kids Are All Right,” “Foxcatcher” and as Boston Globe journalist Mike Rezendes in “Spotlight.”

Pittsboro’s PFAS

During his visit to North Carolina, the actor will highlight that PFAS concerns are broader than the Wilmington area. Wednesday, Ruffalo is expected to visit Pittsboro, the Chatham County community where researchers have found elevated levels of PFAS compounds.

In a grant proposal, Duke University professors Heather Stapleton and Lee Ferguson reported they had found PFAS chemicals in the drinking water of every Triangle-area community. But in Pittsboro, the researchers wrote, levels were particularly high, on par with those of GenX contamination along the Cape Fear River — about 760 parts per trillion.

Since June 2019, the researchers have been taking samples at 13 points along the Haw River between Burlington and Jordan Lake, measuring for 13 different kinds of PFAS, Stapleton said recently. Researchers have homed in on the City of Burlington’s East Burlington Wastewater Treatment Plant as a likely source of the PFAS to the Haw River, potentially from an industrial client whose wastewater the treatment plant carries.

Between a testing point just upstream of the wastewater plant and one just downstream, Stapleton said, PFAS levels rise five to 10 times.

“Unfortunately, we know that the waste water treatment plants are not always equipped to actually remove these compounds, and as a consequence they end up in the effluent and entering the Haw River,” Stapleton said. “Our data suggest that that’s a primary source of PFAS to the City of Pittsboro. It is likely not the only source, there are other sources, but it does seem to be one of the major sources to the drinking water.”

After visiting Wilmington and Pittsboro, Ruffalo will join Rep. Pricey Harrison, a Greensboro Democrat, for a press conference at the N.C. Legislative Building. Harrison has in recent weeks said that she plans to push for legislation limiting the use of firefighting foam containing perfluorinated chemicals.

In a Feb. 7 tweet, Harrison wrote, “Given the ‘staggering’ levels of PFAS contamination throughout NC, we hope, at a minimum, to pass bipartisan legislation in the upcoming short session to limit the use of toxic fire foam.”

This story was originally published February 18, 2020 at 3:33 PM with the headline "Mark Ruffalo is concerned about PFAS chemicals in NC water. Could that lead to new laws?."

Adam Wagner

The News & Observer

919-829-4669

Adam Wagner covers climate change and other environmental issues in North Carolina. His work is produced with financial support from the Hartfield Foundation and Green South Foundation, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners, as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. Wagner’s previous work at The News & Observer included coverage of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout and North Carolina’s recovery from recent hurricanes. He previously worked at the Wilmington StarNews.