... the actual emissions from the Hexafluoropropylene oxide (HFPO) Product Cylinder Decontamination Process were estimated to be 37.1 tons of VOC during 2008 ...
In 2009, the DEQ Division of Air Quality received a notification from Dupont Fayetteville Works reporting they had discovered another significant source of PFAS chemical emissions (HFPO - hexafluoropropylene oxide) at their large Fluorochemicals Plant on the Cape Fear River. The DEQ fined Dupont $3,285 for not having the source listed on their permit.
... a company engineer realized these sources were unpermitted while reviewing results of a calculation performed to estimate annual losses from the decontamination process ...
... The pollutants being emitted from these processes are VOC. The Vinyl Ethers North Decontamination process also emits a water-soluble acid fluoride ...
The 2009 notification from Dupont, as well as the agency's $3,285 enforcment action against the company, should have served as another "reminder" to the DEQ Division of Air Quality of the persistent PFAS chemicals emitted to air and water (via the scrubbers) from the company's large Fluorochemicals Plant (Nafion Vinyl Ethers plant) on the Cape Fear River. In light of the 2009 notification from DuPont, it is baffling how the DEQ could have later presented false and misleading information in the 2012 Memo & Report. The DEQ's 2012 report tried to make the untruthful argument that PFAA chemicals (PFAS, PFOA, GenX, acid fluorides, fluorocarbons, etc.) are released to the environment in other states, but not in North Carolina.
In the event that the DEQ kept "forgetting" about Dupont's Nafion Vinyl Ethers plant and the PFAS and GenX chemicals discharged to water and air, Dupont's detailed annual reports to the DEQ Division of Air Quality should have "refreshed" their memory. Since 2005, DuPont's annual reports to DEQ specified repeatedly that PFAS and GenX chemical pollutants were being transferred to the wastewater from the "scrubber" systems associated with the Nafion Vinyl Ethers plant.
The DEQ obtained additional Title V money from DuPont as a result of the company reporting this additional source of PFAS chemicals. Note that the annual Title V money received from DuPont, as well as from other large sources of pollution in North Carolina, is used to fund the salaries of most of the engineers in the DEQ Division of Air Quality.
Reviewing the agency documents from 2005 to 2009, it is not clear which state agency director, deputy director, or upper-level manager was responsible for looking at the "big picture" of the Dupont Fayetteville Nafion Vinyl Ethers plant and its discharges of chemical pollutants (fluorocarbons, acid fluorides, GenX, PFAAs, PFAS, etc.) into their wastewater, to the air, and in their waste.
It is important to note that the chemical company's scrubbers are "control devices" regulated by the DEQ Division of Air Quality under the Title V permit program. In 2009, the agency's Director of the Division of Air Quality was Keith Overcash. Mr. Overcash retired from the DEQ in 2010. View the document.
2008: DuPont again reported GenX, PFAS chemicals in water;
2009: DuPont again reported GenX, PFAS chemicals in water;
2010 - 2012: DuPont's annual reports during this 3-year period are not available; and
... Mr. Johnson indicated that they have detected perfluorooctanoic acid, also known as C8, in one of their groundwater monitoring wells. This is quite surprising since the APFO plant only began operation in December 2002...
...He indicated that it might have been formed from a chemical reaction associated with a process stream not involving the APFO process...
... The acid fluorides are highly soluble in water, not readily emitted to the air during the wastewater process, and readily converted to fluorcarbons. The fluorocarbons are persistent chemicals that are not degraded by the microorganisms and remain unchanged as they are discharged to the river...
