The silence of upper management was baffling. The meeting with Deputy Secretary Dempsey Benson and the communication with State Senator Tony Rand's office did not result in any explanations or honest communication. The Fayetteville coordinator & former DuPont inspector 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, Nomee Landis, 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 chemicals that don't break down.
However, the expected 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.
Sally met with Deputy Director Brock 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 perhaps 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. Sally 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 say that he "did not agree with what was happening, but there was nothing he could do about it." This was surprising and disturbing. Why was there nothing he could do about it?
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