PFAS: Forever Chemicals and Hexavalent Chromium

Beth Klein Marquesino: We're all contaminated.
[Tense music]

Cristine Kennedy: We made their formula. Like, that's what we did.

Emily Donovan: When I take a shower, I am showering in contaminated water. That we are bathing and cooking and cleaning in contaminated water.

Narrator: All of these North Carolinians are talking about the toxic chemicals found in their water.

Mike Waters: Now, that water coming out right there is contaminated.

Dorian Cromartie: I don't think people realize how screwed up this situation is.

Vickie Mullins: I'm tired of, to be honest, watching friends fight cancer.

Josh Stein, North Carolina Attorney General: You shouldn't have to worry that your water at your home is making your family sick. That— it's unacceptable.

Narrator: The chemicals were dumped into their water supply by a plant in North Carolina.

Announcer 1: Chemistry powers today.

Announcer 2: Good thing it's Teflon.

Announcer 1: At Chemours, we care.

Narrator: Owned by Chemours, a subsidiary of DuPont.

Michael Regan, Environmental Protection Agency: It infuriated all of us to learn that Chemours had been dumping this chemical compound into our Cape Fear River for decades.

Josh Stein: Cape Fear provides drinking water for hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians in the southeastern part of the state.

Vickie Mullins: We should not have to live this way. And it's all because of them and what they done.

[Dramatic violin music]

On-screen Text: Wilmington North Carolina

Beth Klein Marquesino: I thought it was paradise. I can run from my house to the beach, and it's great.

Narrator: Marathon runner Beth Klein Marquesino, her husband, and daughter moved from Michigan to North Carolina to live by the water and grow their family. Beth had just completed back-to-back races.

Beth Klein Marquesino: I took a little break to give my body a break and stuff. And we got pregnant. And we weren't planning on it, but we were really happy.

Narrator: A son they would name Samuel. Here's her daughter announcing the big news.

Beth Klein Marquesino: This is all I have of Samuel. This is what's in here. I guess this is blanket. Just lots of clothes that we bought because we thought we'd be taking home a baby and not losing one.

[Gentle piano music]

Narrator: A son they'd only get to meet for a few moments.

Beth Klein Marquesino: And we had like a proper funeral for him. You know, all my cousins, aunts and uncles, you would have thought Samuel like lived to 90. We came home and then started, you know, to heal and stuff, and then that's when I found out about GenX in our water. And right away I just thought, Could this have caused the problems with my son, the problems with me?

Speaker at Podium: Good morning, everyone. Welcome. I appreciate you all being here.

Josh Stein: Why is Gen X being discharged into the river?

News Announcer: It's like every few days we're hearing about more Gen X.

Narrator: In 2017, the world learned toxic chemicals and byproducts had been dumped in the Cape Fear River. The water supply for Beth and hundreds of thousands of others in Wilmington and surrounding areas was contaminated with these chemicals. The chemicals are part of a class of compounds known as PFAS, dangerous man-made toxins called forever chemicals because they never break down and build up in our bodies and the environment. Forever chemicals have been linked to negative health problems, including cancer, liver damage, and birth defects. Scientist Jamie DeWitt has been studying forever chemicals like PFAS and PFOA since 2005.

Jamie DeWitt, Professor of Pharmacy and Toxicology, East Carolina University: Well, we know that exposure to PFOA, through drinking water especially, has been linked to many different human health problems. Linkages for testicular and kidney cancer, suppression of vaccine antibody responses, elevations in cholesterol in the blood, and problems with pregnancy and development.

Cristin Severance, WRAL Reporter: I mean, what kind of keeps you up at night when you think about people just drinking this?

Jamie DeWitt: I think about effects of PFAS exposure on babies and children and adolescents because they're not fully formed.

Vickie Mullins: And then, like, got your good old pregnancy book that says nothing about PFAS in here. And then we soon found out that Samuel didn't develop his kidneys, bladder, or bowels And I have placenta problems.

Narrator: Beth was part of a 2017 NC State study which found higher than normal levels of PFAS in 97% of participants.

Vickie Mullins: I found out that I had really high levels of multiple PFAS in my blood.

Narrator: She has no proof it caused Samuel's death.

Vickie Mullins: I will never know the exact levels that Samuel had, but if I had it in my blood, Then he had to have it too.

Narrator: Beth has been trying to get answers for years.

Beth Klein Marquesino: I lost my son and I did drink the water.

Narrator: She spoke at the very first news conference about Gen X in 2017.

Beth Klein Marquesino: I don't think you should advise them to drink this water because I drank that water while I was pregnant.....

Narrator: She's part of a class action lawsuit against Chemours. And she created the nonprofit North Carolina Stop GenX in Our Water.

Beth Klein Marquesino: Every day I have people message me and call me, and they're wondering the same thing. Is the water I'm drinking toxic? Is it causing me or my children to be sick?

Narrator: PFAS was created in the 1940s. It became popular in the 1960s when DuPont's nonstick cookware made Teflon a household name.

Carrie Atkins: Well, good thing it's Teflon.

Commercial Jingle: Feel the buzz, DuPont.....

Narrator: Now it's in everything from makeup to waterproof clothing to fast food wrappers.

Josh Stein: One of the leading manufacturers of these forever chemicals is here in North Carolina, outside of Fayetteville on the Cape Fear River.

Narrator: DuPont started making PFAS in Fayetteville in 1980. Later, they introduced a new forever chemical called GenX, DuPont spun off its PFAS division into a company named Chemours in 2015.

Josh Stein: But in the process of manufacturing the chemical, they were discharging it directly into the Cape Fear River, and they were emitting it in the air, and in the air it could go for miles, and then when it lands on the ground, it could fall into folks' drinking water wells.

Narrator: Tests show Forever Chemicals have seeped into at least 7,000 wells, across an area spanning 800 square miles surrounding the Fayetteville plant.

[Dramatic violin music]

On-screen Text: Gray’s Creek North Carolina

Mike Waters: They found 16 different chemicals in my well.

Narrator: Mike Waters lives near the plant in Fayetteville in a community called Gray's Creek. He talked to us after surviving a massive heart attack.

Mike Waters: These are actually tomatoes, green peppers, some hot sweet peppers.

Narrator: He's also been fighting a rare form of leukemia.

Mike Waters: You know, I make a, I make a joke: 23 years in Special Forces and enemy couldn't kill me. This is what feeds the water to the house. But you know what, my water here will.

Narrator: Now he's on the front lines of this crisis.

Mike Waters: I actually literally care about my neighbors. I'm fighting to do our part for the community.

Narrator: Recruiting neighbors like Jamie White. She's lived in Grace Creek since 2008. Chemours is legally required to provide bottled water to people with contaminated wells.

Jamie White: We go through probably 10 bottles of water a day, these gallon-sized jugs. We're soaked every day trying to lift and juggle and move. Because as you can see how full these are.

Narrator: Jamie gets 30 bottles of water delivered to her home every 2 weeks to drink and cook with.

Jamie White: Y'all, you actually don't even realize how much water you use.

Narrator: She always runs out.

Jamie White: What is this going to do to my kids? The chemicals, what are they doing to the kids?

Narrator: It's a fear shared by everyone. WRAL environmental reporter Liz McLaughlin and I interviewed at Jamie White's house one afternoon. All have contaminated water and all wanted to share what life has been like.

Ashley Barez: I think it's disgusting. It's like heartbreaking.

Ron Ross: They can't tell me it's not harming the people.

Carrie Atkins: My doctors in Duke actually told me if I drank out the tap, it would make my cancer worse than what it is right now.

Carrie Atkins: Go, go, go.

Narrator: Carrie Atkins has thyroid cancer that has spread to her lungs and liver. She and her animals live in a trailer a few miles from Jamie. A 2023 study shows elevated PFAS in the blood of dogs and horses tested in Grace Creek.

Carrie Atkins: My dog has cancer. He's literally fighting for his life right now.

Narrator: She can't afford to pick up and leave.

Carrie Atkins: Like, I want to move, but I can't move. I'm stuck in this hellhole. And the only thing that goes through my mind is, well, well, my fur babies and I die together because we're all battling.

Brittany Tripp: She's closer to me than my actual sister is, and to watch her go through all this with her house and her dogs, it breaks my heart and it scares me. And I refuse to even run my water.

Narrator: Brittany Tripp lives next to Carrie. Her son has autoimmune issues.

Brittany Tripp: Am I going to turn out like Harry and have cancer? Is my son going to develop cancer from this? It's a mother's worst nightmare thinking about this with children.

Kelly Arthur: This is so beyond just giving us a, a bottle of water.

Narrator: Kelly Arthur and her family moved to Grace Creek in 1997.

Kelly Arthur: Our daughter, um, at the age of 20 was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma. Our neighbor across the street from us was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Narrator: All of their wells had GenX.

Kelly Arthur: And I just don't think that that's a coincidence.

Narrator: And while many get bottled water to drink and some have gotten filters installed and paid for by Chemours—

Mike Waters: And the way it works, the water comes in here, it goes through a sediment filter.

Narrator: Thousands still have to use contaminated water every day.

Kelly Arthur: What we're bathing in, what we're showering, what we're watering our gardens, That is, we're still using the contaminated water.

Vickie Mullins: I've lost friends, like I say, many friends from cancer, couples. Explain to their families, explain to their grandkids why they're not here.

Narrator: Vicki Mullins' own grandchildren live with her.

Vickie Mullins: How do you tell a 5-year-old he can't take a bath because they tell you not to sit in the water? You can shower in it, but you cannot, you know, You can't take a bath in it. This is our life right here. This is crazy.

Narrator: She's sick of living with bottled water and fighting for clean water.

Vickie Mullins: I feel like they're waiting on us to die. Oh, they'll stop, they're gonna die, so it doesn't matter. No, I'm going down fighting, and I'm not giving up.

[Dramatic music]

On-screen text: Chemours would not do an on-camera interview. “WE sympathize with anyone experiencing health issues, but available data doesn’t support the conclusions being drawn.” Chemours spokesperson

Narrator: Coming up.

Ashley Barez: They went from one small town to another small town.

Kelly Arthur: They had to know the truth because we know what happened up in West Virginia. They know.

[Dramatic music]

On-screen Text: Parkersburg West Virginia

Emily Donovan: This was kind of like part 2 in a, in a horror tale.

[Dramatic music]

Narrator: DuPont had been making PFOA, including a forever chemical called C8, in West Virginia since the 1950s. Internal memos from the 1980s show DuPont knew about possible birth defects in babies born to women working in the Teflon department.

Farmer: I never saw nothing like this in my life.

Narrator: In the '90s, a farmer sued DuPont after the company bought his land to dump materials and hundreds of his cows died. In 2001, his attorney filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of 50,000 people in the Ohio River area when they learned DuPont had been contaminating their water.

Emily Donovan: The moment the news broke in Parkersburg, West Virginia, 20 years ago should have been the moment that everyone started looking at where is this happening elsewhere in the country, and let's make sure we stop it now.

Narrator: Permits show DuPont was producing Teflon at the Fayetteville plant since at least 2006. Then later GenX. GenX was supposed to be a safer alternative, but DuPont's own lab studies showed the replacement caused liver and kidney problems and cancerous tumors in rats. In 2017, reporter Vaughn Haggerty uncovered GenX was found in the Cape Fear River.

Mike Waters: I couldn't believe this was going on.

Narrator: Chemours, which was spun off from DuPont in 2015, has never denied the dumping.

Mike Waters: They told local officials that this stuff had been in the water since— for almost 40 years.

Narrator: Chemours said it did not violate any laws because GenX was not listed as a pollutant by the EPA, meaning the company was in compliance with its state discharge permit. Neither Chemours nor DuPont ever admitted wrongdoing, even after paying more than $670 million to settle thousands of lawsuits in Ohio and West Virginia.

Emily Donovan: It's there, contaminate.

Narrator: Emily Donovan, a mom in Wilmington, co-founded the group Clean Cape Fear.

Mike Waters: The subcommittee will come to order.

Narrator: She's fought for Chemours to pay for cleanup.

Emily Donovan: Today I'd like to speak to you as a mother who has spent the last 2 years getting a crash course in biochemistry.

[Emotional piano music]

Narrator: Friends who fought alongside her got sick.

Jonathan Sands: It's not fair. It's not fair this happened.

Narrator: Emily's neighbor, Amy Shands, was diagnosed with a rare cancer affecting the head and neck. Her husband, Jonathan, said things got bad fast. 90% of those diagnosed are still alive 5 years later.

Jonathan Sands: She didn't last 2 years. Something had to accelerate that.

Narrator: Tests show PFAS from the Fayetteville site in their water and Amy's blood.
Jonathan Sands: If they're the one that put the chemicals in the water, and that's what caused my wife to lose time on her life and lose the time to be with her daughter, they should be at fault for it.

Narrator: Clean Cape Fear member Tom Kennedy traveled to Washington, D.C. To show lawmakers what a dad fighting to live looked like.

Cristine Kennedy: He really wanted to make sure that his face and the girls' faces were seen.

Narrator: He died of male breast cancer in 2022, leaving behind his wife Christine and their two daughters.

Cristine Kennedy: I want you to look at my family and understand that my family could be your family.

[Dramatic music]

Narrator: These families admit they can't prove Forever Chemicals directly caused their loved ones to get sick. While multiple studies from the National Cancer Institute and Centers for Disease Control link PFAS to increased cancer risk, that doesn't prove causation. A Chemours spokesperson pointed to two studies that show rates for some cancers were not significantly higher in the counties impacted by GenX contamination from 2011 to 2015. However, the agency behind one of those studies, NCDHHS, said in some counties, some cancer rates, including testicular and liver cancers, were significantly higher than the state rate. An agency spokesperson said a comprehensive research study is needed.

Cristine Kennedy: We don't know, but we deserve to know.

Narrator: We brought these concerns to the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Michael Regan.

Michael Regan, Environmental Protection Agency: They absolutely deserve to know what is causing or what has caused or potentially caused any of these illnesses.

Narrator: Regan used to be in charge of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality. In 2019, a settlement between DEQ and Chemours resulted in a consent order requiring Chemours to stop polluting PFAS into the air and water surrounding the plants. Chemours must also sample wells, provide bottled water, or if the levels of PFAS are high enough, provide filters. In Gray's Creek, Jamie White just got her filter installed but said it took fighting with Chemours for 5 years.

Jamie White: A very long 5 years of tears and fighting and yelling through the phone because they don't want to listen and they didn't want to do their part.

Narrator: Jamie's next-door neighbors, the Grimes family, just moved in. They don't have a filter, so Kelly Grimes bathes her newborn in the sink using the bottled water Chemours sends.

Kelly Grimes: I won't bathe him in the water. I won't let him have contact with it. I don't clean his toys off with the water.

Narrator: Do you regret buying the house?

Kelly Grimes: I regret buying it because I know that there are issues that are going to come. I have 4 other children that are bathing and showering in the Chemours water.

Narrator: Chemours is not required to provide water or filters to people in Wilmington.

Cristine Kennedy: So I guess the people that can't afford it, we should just all drink the water and hopefully not die.

Narrator: And the company does not have to pay to remove PFAS from the Cape Fear River. That cost falls on the customer. Vaughn Hagerty went from reporter who broke the GenX story—

Vaughn Hagerty: So this is the facility. —

Narrator: to director of communications at the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority. The utility authority spent $43 million on filters to remove PFAS from the water. So these were designed to specifically do what?

Vaughn Hagerty: These were designed specifically to remove Chemours PFAS.

Narrator: The filters are working, but Chemours didn't pay for it.

Josh Stein: They were the ones who poisoned the water, not us, so they should have to clean it up.

Narrator: North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein has filed lawsuits against DuPont and Chemours.

Josh Stein, North Carolina Attorney General: Now, they engage in these sales and changing who owns what. It's all malarkey. It's all nonsense. It's all about avoiding responsibility.

Narrator: In March of 2023, Michael Regan's EPA proposed the first-ever drinking water standard to establish legally enforceable levels of 6 PFAS chemicals to near zero, including 2 original Teflon chemicals. But there are more than 9,000 chemicals in this class, and one tweak of the compound means a whole new forever chemical to be researched and potentially regulated.

Michael Regan, Environmental Protection Agency: Yes, we've started with 6. Six of the most dangerous that we are aware of. These companies who will undeniably litigate against our standards. We want to be sure that they can stand up in court.

Narrator: Chemours sued the EPA in 2022 for setting a health advisory for Gen X, claiming the agency failed to use the best science when making its determination. Residents worry the company will fight the drinking water standard too.

Jamie White: They still swear that this stuff is safe and that we're all crazy.

Chemours TV Commerical: Good neighbors care. At Chemours, we care....

Narrator: Next.

Unidentified Resident: Chemours is not a good neighbor. If I had a neighbor like that, I'd say, "Please move."

[Dramatic violin music]

Cristine Kennedy: Chemours has a great PR team.

Chemours TV Commerical: Good neighbors care. At Chemours, we care. North Carolina is our home. Our quality of life and environment must be protected.

Mike Waters: The Good Neighbor campaign is absolutely insulting. They are not a good neighbor.

Chemours TV Commerical: Our goal: a 99% reduction by 2030.

Narrator: The Chemours commercials never mention its contaminants from the Fayetteville Works facility they are trying to eliminate.

Carrie Atkins: You did bad. You poisoned us. And now you're trying to get, like, applauded for making efforts to fix what you did.

Narrator: As part of the 2019 consent order, Chemours started filtering PFAS from its wastewater and installed a $100 million thermal oxidizer to stop emitting PFAS into the air.

Emily Donovan: They had installed one in Parkersburg, West Virginia decades ago. Why did they wait until they were forced by a court order to install it here in Fayetteville, North Carolina? They were saving money at our expense.

Chemours TV Commerical: The new Chemours barrier wall is under construction.

Narrator: The company was also required to build a barrier wall to contain the pollution seeping out below the plant.

Cristine Kennedy: And it's just a joke because it's already in there. This wall isn't going to save us.

Narrator: In June 2023, Chemours completed the barrier wall after missing the state-imposed deadline twice. In 2022, Chemours announced plans to expand production in Fayetteville after paying more than $300,000 in fines to the state for environmental violations.

Mike Waters: So, you know, all of us around the plant already realize that expansion, it's going to happen. Doesn't matter how hard we scream.

Narrator: Chemours says the expansion won't increase PFAS emissions.

Jamie DeWitt: I don't really see many answers that talk about the science in detail or that really show the degree of empathy that should be shown.

Beth Klein Marquesino: It says, "I'm the big sister." My daughter never got to wear it.

Narrator: Scientist Jamie DeWitt, who has met Beth Klein-Marcosino through her research, said she's doing the work for babies like Samuel.

Jamie DeWitt: Beth, I think, experienced a, a life-changing event through the loss of her child. She lives in an area where we know PFAS can contamination has existed at high levels for many years, maybe even decades. And I'm doing the best job that I can do as a scientist to try to get more information on the scientific level to help decision makers move forward so that what happened to you doesn't happen to anybody else.

Beth Klein Marquesino: I don't want the loss of my son to go like— for him to just, you know, die in vain and because I know there's just so many other people that are— they're hurting and don't know why.

[Dramatic violin music]

On-screen Text: “The world depends on our products, and we are committed to manufacturing these essential chemistries responsibly.” Chemours spokesperson. ‘In 2019, DuPont de Nemours was established as a new multi-industrial specialty products company. Dupont de Nemours has never manufactured PFOA, PFOS…” Dupont spokesperson. Dupont, Chemours, and subsidiary Corteva agreed to pay $1.19 billion in June 2023 to remove PFAS from drinking water systems across the country. The companies did not admit liability. Thousands of lawsuits, including the claims in North Carolina, are still ongoing. All of these people are part of pending litigation against Chemours.

Erin Brockovich: That means that it was right up on the PG&E property over there.

Donna: And you say that this stuff, this hexavalent chromium— Well, it's poisonous.

Erin Brockovich: Yeah.

Donna: Well— Erin, it's just got to be different than what's in our water, 'cause ours is okay. The guys from PG&E told me. They sat right in the kitchen and told me that it was fine.

Erin Brockovich: I know, I know, but the toxicologist that I've been talking to, he gave me a list of problems that can come from hexavalent chromium exposure. Everything you all have is on that list.

Donna: No, no, no. No, that's not what— That's not what our doctor said. He said that— Well, that one's got absolutely nothing to do with the other.

Erin Brockovich: Right. But PG&E paid for that doctor.

Donna: Ashley! Jenna! Get out of the pool! because I said so, that's why.
 

Julie Roberts playing Erin Brockovich: That is my work!

Dan Simon, CNN: In the movie Erin Brockovich, Julia Roberts played the tough and relentless paralegal who brought PG&E, Pacific Gas and Electric, to its knees. One memorable scene: Brockovich fighting PG&E lawyers to compensate her clients, the residents of Hinkley, California.

Julie Roberts playing Erin Brockovich: I want you to think real hard about what your spine is worth, Mr. Walker, or what you might expect someone to pay you for your uterus, Miss Sanchez. Then you take out your calculator and you multiply that number by 100. Anything less than that is a waste of our time.

Dan Simon: PG&E eventually wrote checks totaling $333 million to more than 600 residents. So they come to you and they say $333 million, and you were like—

Erin Brockovich: Holy shit. I mean, you know, I mean, it's pretty cool. I was excited for these people.

Dan Simon: 13 years later, the excitement is now replaced with fear. Recent evidence indicates the same underground chemical plume that caused so much illness and heartbreak here is growing.

Erin Brockovich: And I'm thinking somebody, somewhere has been asleep at the wheel.

Dan Simon: After an enormous settlement and the worldwide attention that came with a Hollywood film, people who live here thought their problems would have ended a long time ago. But it turns out those toxic chemicals have been spreading over time. That's a finding by the State Water Control Board. Brockovich puts the blame squarely on PG&E.

Erin Brockovich: This is a company that has great technology. They certainly have the money. You can't control this plume here in Hinkley after everything that's happened? It makes no sense to me.

Dan Simon: The plume is 2 miles long and nearly a mile wide. It's made up of hexavalent chromium, a chemical once used by PG&E in the '50s and '60s to prevent rust in the machinery at a nearby plant. It's the same chemical that seeped into the groundwater here and can cause life-threatening illnesses. Roberta Walker received an undisclosed amount of money in the settlement for illnesses she blames on the contamination.

Roberta Walker, Hinkley CA resident: I've had several stomach surgeries, I've had a hysterectomy, I've had several lumps removed from my breast, and I've got asthma now.

Dan Simon: So when Walker learned the hexchromium is now moving towards the very home she moved to to get away from the danger, she naturally thought,

Walker: Oh my God, it's like being struck by lightning twice, you know. It's like, how can this possibly be happening to me again? It's like a cancer.

Dan Simon: PG&E says great strides have been made in cleaning up the contamination. So how could this happen after everything the community endured? A top company official agreed to meet with us at its San Francisco headquarters.

Dan Simon: These people, they're concerned about their water. They're concerned about their way of life. Are those concerns justified?

PG&E Official: The approach that we're taking with the residents in Hinkley is we're committed to working with those individuals that live in Hinkley, either directly over the plume or in the adjacent vicinity to the plume.

Dan Simon: The utility denies it's been asleep at the wheel and says it's difficult to contain the chemical, but also says it has a comprehensive plan to do so. Including pumping in more than 100,000 gallons of fresh water each day into the underground plume to block the contaminants from advancing. It says the water quality on or near the plume meets safety guidelines set by the state of California. But with growing unrest, not to mention bad PR, the utility, as of last week, took the momentous step of offering to buy all the properties of those affected. We're told it could be as many as 100 homes.

Dan Simon: You can look at residents in the eye and tell them that if they're near this plume or on the plume, you'll buy their house?

PG&E Official: Yes. Really and truly, what really matters is what the residents think. And so if the residents feel that you need to do more, if they have health concerns, then what we've got to do is we have to do more and we have to be committed to addressing those concerns.

Dan Simon: Whether that will be enough to stem rising anxiety remains to be seen.

Dan Simon: Do you see a second lawsuit here?

Erin Brockovich: That I don't know yet. I, I wish, and I don't want to see lawsuits in this instance being the solution. It's going to do nobody any good to drag them through the mud again for 5 years. What I do want to see is a company take accountability for what they've done, come out here and make it right by these people.

Dan Simon: PG&E promises it will. Brockovich and others will be watching. Dan Simon, CNN, Hinckley, California.