3 days ago
Conservation group sues to stop toxic pollution in Cape Fear River Basin
CHAPEL HILL — On behalf of Cape Fear River Watch and Haw River Assembly, the Southern Environmental Law Center recently filed a lawsuit in federal court against the city of Asheboro and PET plastics manufacturer, StarPet Inc., to stop their discharges of toxic 1,4-dioxane into the Cape Fear River Basin.
The city of Asheboro is allegedly dumping a cancer-causing chemical into rivers upstream of drinking water supplies for nearly 900,000 North Carolinians. Much of Asheboro's 1,4-dioxane pollution comes from StarPet, a plastics manufacturer that pays the city to accept its industrial waste, according to the complaint.
Asheboro and StarPet's chemical dumping occurs upstream of the drinking water supply for Sanford, Fayetteville, Wilmington, Brunswick County and Pender County, as well as Pittsboro, Holly Springs and Fuquay-Varina, which have arranged to buy drinking water from Sanford.
'Not only have StarPet and Asheboro done nothing to stop their toxic chemical pollution into the drinking water for North Carolinians living from Sanford to Wilmington—they have the nerve to increase it,' said Jean Zhuang, attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center.
'Over the past year, StarPet and the city of Asheboro have doubled down on their cancer-causing 1,4-dioxane pollution, putting thousands of North Carolina families at risk.'
In January, StarPet caused Asheboro to release 1,4-dioxane at levels above 3,500 ppb, more than 160 times what is protective of downstream drinking water, a release states.
In April, after the Southern Environmental Law Center notified StarPet and Asheboro that their pollution violated federal law, StarPet again allegedly caused Asheboro to discharge 1,4-dioxane at levels above 820 ppb into downstream drinking water sources.
StarPet and Asheboro's toxic chemical releases are not random. Following a North Carolina administrative court decision overturning DEQ's attempts to control the city's 1,4-dioxane, Asheboro gave StarPet permission to stop using part of its 1,4-dioxane treatment system, allowing the industry to release untreated waste through the city's wastewater plant and into downstream drinking water.
The Clean Water Act requires Asheboro to control industrial pollution before it reaches the wastewater utility, but the city is refusing to do so, according to the release.
Stopping pollution at the source so industrial polluters pay is more cost-effective than treating pollution at municipal wastewater treatment plants or downstream drinking water utilities. It also avoids placing the burden of contaminated drinking water on nearby and downstream communities.
1,4-Dioxane is a manmade chemical that is harmful to people at extremely low levels and has been linked to cancers and liver and kidney damage. 1,4-Dioxane is not removed by conventional water treatment.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina.
