Document 24vqZBgkXwYkdngG4pJpL536

UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY REGION III 1650 Arch Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103-2029 Mr. Andrew Hartten Principal Project Manager-Corporate Remediation The Chemours Company 1007 Market Street, #3094 Wilmington, DE 19899 JAN 1 1 2018 Re: Request for sampling; GenX in water supplies Dear Mr. Hartten: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Regions 3 and 5 have issued a series of Safe Drinking Water Act Orders in 2002, 2006 and 2009 to E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (DuPont) concerning the contamination of numerous public and private drinking water supplies with Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), in the vicinity of the Washington Works facility located in Parkersburg, West Virginia. PFOA is a processing aid used in the manufacture of Teflon. PFOA had been released from the facility and leached into the ground water serving the water supplies in areas of West Virginia and Ohio. In February of 2015, The Chemours Company (Chemours) was formed as a wholly-owned subsidiary of DuPont. It is EPA's understanding that, at that time, Chemours took over ownership and operation of the Washington Works facility. Shortly thereafter, in July of 2015, Chemours became an independent publicly-traded company. In January of 2017, EPA, DuPont and Chemours amended a 2009 Safe Drinking Water Action Section 1431 Consent Order with DuPont to, among other things, add Chemours as a respondent and require both DuPont and Chemours to preliminarily provide temporary alternative drinking water to users of drinking water systems contaminated with PFOA concentrations exceeding 70 parts per trillion (ppt), and subsequently to treat and monitor those affected drinking water systems. According to DuPont and Chemours, in 2013, DuPont discontinued the use and discharge of PFOA at the Washington Works facility. EPA understands that DuPont and Chemours replaced PFOA with the compound GenX, which is manufactured at the Chemours facility in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Over the past few years, the compound GenX has been identified by EPA and the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality in the Cape Fear River, several water supplies downstream from that facility, and in groundwater wells at and around the Fayetteville facility. Chemours is currently providing bottled water to residential well owners in the vicinity of the Fayetteville facility whose drinking water samples showed levels of GenX above North Carolina's health goal of 140 ppt. EPA is concerned that drinking water wells in the vicinity of the Washington Works facility may similarly be contaminated by GenX. This concern is based in part upon the fact that W Primed on 100% recycled/recyclahle paper with i 00% post-consumerfiber and process chlorinefree. Customer Service Hotline: 1-800-438-2474 GenX has been detected in three on-site production wells and one on-site drinking water well, at the Washington Works facility. EPA requests that Chemours sample a select group of public and private drinking water supplies for GenX in the vicinity of the Washington Works facility. The water supplies on the enclosed list were chosen by EPA based upon their historically high concentrations of PFOA. It is likely that these same wells would be impacted by GenX based upon the common methods of dispersal. Each of the selected water supplies is currently being treated with granulated activated carbon for PFOA removal. Chemours should collect GenX samples from both the raw (untreated) and the finished (treated) water in order to determine whether GenX is present, and if so, in what concentrations, as well as to determine the GAC treatment system's ability to remove GenX. Please initiate GenX testing in the next round of regularly scheduled monitoring for the identified drinking water systems, but no later than March 31, 2018. Thank you for your cooperation in this matter. If you have any questions, please contact Roger Reinhart or Jennifer Wilson at 215-814-5462 and 312-353-3115, respectively. Sincerely, Enclosure Cc: Bradley Aulick, Esq. The Chemours Company GenX Sampling Locations near Chemours Washington Works facility - Washington, WV Ohio Sampling Locations > Public Water Systems o Belpre Public Works (PWS ID: OH8400012) o Little Hocking Water Association (PWS ID: OH8400212) > Private Drinking Water Wells o 138 Emory Lane o 996 Mill Branch Road o 2481 State Route 124 o 3986 Braun Road o 2128 State Route 339 West Virginia Sampling Locations y Public Water Systems o Lubeck Public Service District (PWS ID: WV3305404) o Chemours Washington Works (PWS ID: WV9954007) > Private Drinking Water Wells o 1672 Club Drive o 1652 Club Drive o 321 Walker Lane o 91 South Street o 1027 Low Gap River Road