Abstract
The US Environmental Protection Agency is going after Chemours to reduce per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in wastewater regularly discharged into the Ohio River from the company’s Washington Works facility, near Parkersburg, West Virginia. The agency claims that the levels of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid (HFPO-DA), a breakdown product of a PFOA replacement known as GenX, exceed those set in the facility’s discharge permit. The action marks the first time the EPA has used its enforcement authority to target PFAS in wastewater discharges. Chemours produces fluoropolymers and other fluorinated organic chemicals at the Washington Works site. The company says those products are not harmful. But the fluorinated surfactants used as processing aids to make the chemicals are persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic. Contamination from the former use of PFOA as a processing aid at the Washington Works facility still plagues Chemours, which was spun off from DuPont
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