May 12 is our opportunity to stop polluter written PFAS "minimization" rules. We are counting on our communities to show up in mass to speak up for our river and ensure that our state agencies have the authority to hold polluters accountable. We're providing you with background on the rules, talking points to build out your comments (up to 3 minutes, but could be as short as you like!) and parking information.
Tell the Environmental Management Commission to prioritize our health over the profits of polluters!
📍 Guilford Technical Community College,:May 12, 2026
HEARING BEGINS AT 6:00 PM. SIGN-IN FOR PUBLIC COMMENT BEGINS AT 5:00 PM.
Percy H. Sears Applied Technologies Building
1201 Bonner Dr.
Jamestown, NC
The Environmental Management Commission (EMC) is accepting comments and has been holding a series of public hearings on their draft rules for PFAS and 1,4-dioxane. Unfortunately, the EMC’s rules will not protect public health. These rules were written by the polluters themselves and have no real restrictions or consequences for continued discharges of these toxins, even if the levels increase.
You have been showing up in-person hearings!! We are so grateful, but also, we recognize that attending in person is not a privilege all of us can afford. Please use this form to submit a written comment:
If you are unable to attend in person, written comments may also be submitted by email to publiccomments@deq.nc.gov with the subject title “PFAS + 1,4-dioxane minimization” through June 15. Written comments may also be submitted by mail to: Karen Preston, DEQ-DWR NPDES Permitting Section, 1617 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1617.
All hearings begin at 6pm, but sign in for comments begins at 5pm. These hearings are structured as either PFAS or 1,4-dioxane, not both. This structure makes it complicated for the public, so we encourage you to speak on either compound, or both, at the public hearings, but include the following statement in both your written and spoken comments:
“I request that this comment be included in the public record for both the proposed 1,4-dioxane monitoring and minimization rules and the PFAS monitoring and minimization rules.”
Please have a written copy of your comment ready to turn in after your comments, with the previous line at the top of the written copy.
Here are a few talking points for you on both PFAS and 1,4-dioxane. We encourage you to use these as a guide, but the most effective comment will be personal. How does this affect YOU and your family? Your drinking water and health matters.
As a reminder, include the following sentence in your comment:
“I request that this comment be included in the public record for both the proposed 1,4-dioxanemonitoring and minimization rules and the PFAS monitoring and minimization rules.”
About the “rules”:
The EMC plans to adopt a set of rules that were written by polluters and would allow nearly 500 industrial facilities across our state to continue to dump toxic PFAS and 1,4-dioxane into our rivers and drinking water supplies.
Rather than require industries and wastewater plants to reduce their chemical pollution, these rules only tell dischargers to collect a handful of samples and to write a plan for how they could reduce pollution. There are no consequences or penalties if the polluter fails to cut its pollution—not even if the polluter increases its toxic discharges.
How should the EMC move forward? North Carolinians deserve strong rules that protect people over polluters. Instead of pursuing toothless rules, the EMC should work toward health-based water quality standards for PFAS and 1,4-dioxane.
About 1,4-dioxane
1,4-dioxane is a clear industrial liquid used as a solvent and sometimes created as a byproduct of manufacturing PET plastics — the kind used in plastic bottles and polyester.
1,4-dioxane is carcinogenic and long-term exposure can also damage the liver and kidneys.
For at least ten years, NC families have been exposed to high concentrations of 1,4-dioxane. The city of Asheboro’s wastewater treatment plant has discharged 1,4-dioxane into Hasketts Creek, which flows into the Deep and Cape Fear Rivers — threatening the drinking water of up to 900,000 North Carolinians in communities including Sanford, Fayetteville, Wilmington, Pittsboro, Holly Springs, and Fuquay-Varina.
Conventional drinking water treatment systems do not remove 1,4-dioxane from water.
North Carolina has some of the worst 1,4-dioxane pollution in the nation. North Carolinians may be exposed to concentrations more than double the national average.
Where is the pollution coming from?The Asheboro Waste Water Treatment Plant accepts industrial waste from StarPet, a large industrial facility that manufactures PET polymers used in plastic bottles and polyester. Cities of Greensboro and Burlington have also released high discharges of 1,4-dioxane.
What has been done about Asheboro’s pollution so far?The state tried to end Asheboro’s 1,4-dioxane discharges, but the city sued. The EPA supported the state’s action in 2024 and just recently a court ruled in favor of the state. However, Asheboro has appealed and for now the issue remains unresolved.
About PFAS
PFAS — per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — are a large group of human-made chemicals that have been used in industrial and consumer products since the 1940s. They are found in nonstick cookware, water-resistant clothing, firefighting foam, and food packaging. PFAS are known as “forever chemicals” because they do not break down easily in the environment or the human body.
Exposure to PFAS has been linked to serious health effects, including:
- Cancer, including kidney and testicular cancer
- Thyroid disease and hormone disruption
- Immune system damage, including reduced vaccine effectiveness
- High cholesterol and cardiovascular disease
- Developmental harm in children and infants
North Carolina has been at the center of the national PFAS crisis. In 2019, Haw River Assembly worked with Southern Environmental Law Center to file a Notice of Intent to the City of Burlington for PFAS discharges into the Haw exceeding 33,000 ppt. The Chemours chemical plant along the Cape Fear River has discharged PFAS into the river, which supplies drinking water to hundreds of thousands of residents in the Wilmington area and beyond.
As more testing has been done across the state, we have found PFAS at dangerous levels in multiple drinking water systems. Despite years of community response, advocacy, and legal action, more than 3.5 million North Carolinians drink water with unsafe levels of PFAS.
Through litigation to hold polluting industries accountable, we have seen that wastewater treatment plants CAN reduce their PFAS and 1,4-dioxane levels in their discharges by using their pretreatment authority. These rules allow the industries to continue, or even increase, these toxic discharges without consequence.
