Investigation confirms PFOA contamination at DuPont site

An official investigation requested by a coalition of environmental and labor groups has confirmed perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and other chemicals are leaking from DuPont's plant in Richmond, Va.

In early 2006, the Sierra Club, United Steelworkers union, and Ampthill Rayon Workers Inc. (ARWI) asked the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VDEQ) to investigate suspected PFOA leaks from the plant. The groups’ own investigation revealed PFOA in samples of DuPont's wastewater, local drinking water and employees’ blood.

An investigation conducted by VDEQ, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Environmental Protection Agency and DuPont confirmed PFOA in groundwater beneath the plant, Grindall Creek, and an unauthorized surface water discharge to the James River from a location called East Ditch.

“DuPont should be fined for continuing to discharge from the East Ditch into the James River without a permit,” said USW researcher April Dreeke. “The discharge contains PFOA and other toxic chemicals.”

In 2001, DuPont told the EPA there has never been an environmental release of PFOA “that would lead to contamination of soil, groundwater or air." However, a 1991 internal document shows DuPont knew about the East Ditch discharge and a "company confidential" report from the same year identifies PFOA groundwater contamination as an "environmental concern.”

PFOA was found as high as 7.5 parts per billion (ppb) in groundwater, as high as 7.1 ppb in surface water and as high as 800 ppb in employees' blood. DuPont's own community exposure guideline for PFOA was once 1 ppb.

The coalition disagrees with DuPont's characterization of newly discovered PFOA levels as "low." PFOA is an industrial chemical that doesn't break down, accumulates in the body, and is a likely human carcinogen, according to the EPA’s Scientific Advisory Board.

Although DuPont maintains that PFOA is everywhere, it was not detected at measurable levels in the plant's intake from the James River. It was detected in water coming out of the plant and downstream from the plant.

“VDEQ and EPA need to address the contamination of drinking water that families are still drinking,” said Josh Low, conservation coordinator for the Sierra Club. “It starts with fining DuPont and requiring the company clean up PFOA around the plant.”