The Environmental Protection Agency has taken its first-ever federal Clean Water Act enforcement action to address PFAS discharges at the Chemours Company's Washington Works facility in West Virginia.
The EPA ordered the Chemours Company to take corrective measures to address pollution from per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in stormwater and effluent discharges from the Washington Works facility near Parkersburg, according to an April 26 news release.
“Administrator Regan has directed EPA staff to use every enforcement tool at our disposal to compel manufacturers of PFAS to characterize, control and clean up ongoing and past PFAS contamination,” Acting Assistant Administrator of EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Larry Starfield said in the release. “Through this order, EPA is taking action to address PFAS violations and better protect the resources and people of West Virginia.”
This is the first EPA Clean Water Act enforcement action taken to hold polluters accountable for discharging PFAS into the environment, the release reported. PFAS levels in the discharges from the facility exceed levels set in the facility's Clean Water Act permit.
Chemours will implement an EPA-approved sampling plan to analyze PFAS and conduct analysis to further understand the presence of PFAS in stormwater and effluent discharged from the facility, according to the release. Additionally, Chemours will submit and implement a plan to treat or minimize the discharge of PFAS to ensure compliance with numeric effluent limits of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and HFPO Dimer Acid.
The company will also submit its existing standard operating procedures relating to the management of wastewater for various systems and its revised Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan to identify best practices to reduce PFAS discharges from the site, the release said.
Since 2004, the EPA has been working to understand and address PFOA and other fluorocarbon chemicals released from this and other sites, the release reported. In 2021, the EPA launched the PFAS Strategic Roadmap, a whole-of-agency approach for addressing PFAS, which sets timelines by which EPA plans to take specific actions and commit to new policies to safeguard public health, protect the environment and hold polluters accountable.
