The silence of upper management was baffling. The meeting with Deputy Secretary Denny Benson and the communication with senator T.E. Ham's office did not result in any explanations or honest communication. Jack tried to make sense of what was happening in Raleigh based on the many news reports about both DuPont Fayetteville Works and DuPont Washington Works in Parkersburg, West Virginia. In Parkersburg, DuPont certainly seemed to be a bit 'on the ropes.'
An investigative reporter with the Fayetteville Observer, Nancy Lantern, had written multiple in-depth articles on the growing concerns about DuPont Fayetteville Works in light of what was happening in West Virginia. As a result, it seemed reasonable to assume that North Carolina and the U.S. EPA were now looking closely at the multiple fluorochemical manufacturing processes, usually referred to as "Nafion" or "Nafion Vinyl Ethers," and their ongoing discharges into the Cape Fear River of halogenated carbon chemicals that don't break down.
However, the expected agency investigative reports were not showing up in the state agency's iBeam database. It appeared that the North Carolina and U.S. EPA investigation into the ongoing discharges of industrial fluorochemicals into the Cape Fear River was locked down in secrecy.
Jack's wife Lori met with Deputy Director Brad Nicholson to discuss the disturbing events in Fayetteville. The Deputy Director had many years of prior experience working at the U.S. EPA and was now the number two person under Director Keith Undercash in the agency's Division of Air Quality. Due to his many contacts with EPA officials located in downtown Durham and also in the large EPA facility in the Research Triangle Park, he would likely be involved or familiar with the investigation of DuPont Fayetteville Works. Lori described to him how painful the experience of the last several months had been, including the ongoing, unexplained anger and retaliation. Why the secrecy and cruelty? And why was she dragged into it? Surely, he could provide help or some explanation. However, Deputy Director Nicholson would only tell Lori that he did not agree with what was happening in the agency's Division of Air Quality, but there was nothing he could do about it. Nothing he could do about it?? It was baffling?
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