Brunswick Environmental Action Team
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Emily Donovan via ActionNetwork.org <info@email.actionnetwork.org>
Date: Mon, Jul 19, 2021 at 9:08 AM
Subject: URGENT: Action needed on PFAS in NC
Hello Friends!
We need you to ACT right now on PFAS contamination in North Carolina. Please sign-up to give virtual public comments this Tuesday, July 20th at 6:00pm. NC DEQ is holding a virtual public hearing on proposed new surface water quality standards. Click here to register.
These proposed standards were recommended by the Environmental Management Commission (EMC). This triennial review only happens once every three years and the EMC did not include PFAS/GenX!! By the way, the EMC is made up of 15 members, including 9 appointed by the Governor, 3 by the Senate Pro Tempore, and 3 by the Speaker of the House.
We have already paid the ultimate price. We were poisoned by PFAS for decades. Our blood was contaminated without our consent. It's time NC DEQ puts OUR needs first.
We cannot wait another three years for action on PFAS. We deserve surface water quality standards ASAP and DEQ has the power to correct this oversight.
Use this link to register:
https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx...
Surface water quality standards are used to protect our rivers, lakes and streams. Over 1.5 million North Carolinians rely on the Cape Fear River as their primary source of drinking water.
Multiple studies confirm NC has some of the worst PFAS pollution in the nation. DEQ must create surface water quality standards for PFAS so the burden to remove these “forever chemicals” from drinking water sources falls on the polluters—not innocent ratepayers.
A growing body of research suggests these “forever chemicals” are toxic at trace amounts and have lasting health impacts. Many North Carolinians have been chronically exposure to large quantities of PFAS for decades.
PFAS exposures are associated with immune suppression, developmental effects during pregnancy or breastfeeding, thyroid problems, increases in cholesterol levels which leads to stroke or heart attacks, and a number of cancers—including thyroid, kidney, bladder and testicular cancers.
We need you to make your voices heard! When you give your public comments tell DEQ why this matters to you. Explain how PFAS contamination has personally impacted your lives.
Demand DEQ do the following:
Immediately adopt a surface water quality standard for PFAS as a class at a health protective level of 1 ppt for the sum total concentration of all PFAS.
Establishing a 1 ppt surface water quality standard for the sum total of all PFAS will stop the spread of newly released PFAS at the source--instead of placing the burden on drinking water utilities. It will also protect our natural wildlife and aquatic life from unnecessary PFAS contamination. This health protective level is supported by multiple research studies.
You have until noon on Tuesday, July 20th to sign-up to speak. Please show up and bring your friends. Can we count on you to get three friends to join you? Click here to register to speak.
Thank you so much for helping us remove PFAS from our air, soil, water and food supply.
Sincerely,
Emily Donovan & your Clean Cape Fear leadership team
for 2021. For the Zoom link, please go to:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81477228617
Get More Information about BEAT Calendar Events by clicking on the event date and scrolling up or down. Additional information about the event such as time, location/address and description of the event (and other links) are provided in this event calendar when possible.
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE BEAT LETTER OF SUPPORT FOR the Brunswick County NAACP’s proposed Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Multi-Use Greenway/Blueway Trail, Brunswick County, North Carolina
FYI: An Informative PDF about PFAS as it Relates to Brunswick County in 2020 - by Eugene Rozenbaoum of LG Chem
Speaking to Brunswick County Commissioners to
Express Opposition to Offshore Drilling on February 19, 2018
At 6:00 p.m. the meeting of the Brunswick County Commissioners commenced, and 30 minutes were allowed for public comments. All of the comments addressed offshore drilling. Six speakers (all members of BEAT) expressed opposition to offshore drilling, and four speakers expressed support. (Parenthetical note: Once again, the BEAT members provided issue-oriented comments. Unfortunately, all four of the pro-drilling speakers engaged in name-calling and insulting drilling opponents. One pro-driller stated that those opposed to drilling were committing "political extortion" by showing up en masse to the meeting.")
The pro-drillers shared a variety of reasons for their support including the importance of energy independence, the safety of offshore drilling, and not allowing the "ultra-leftist environmental movement" to get its way. One speaker stated that God would not have placed oil and gas deep under the ocean unless he meant for us to use it. She also proclaimed that all of the commissioners had a duty to support offshore drilling because it is in the Republican Party platform. The final pro-drilling speaker was an oil lobbyist recruited by pro-drillers for the occasion.
Those opposed to offshore drilling discussed the fact that Carteret County and Brunswick County appear to be the only coastal communities along the East Coast not to oppose drilling and that every municipality in Brunswick County that has considered the issue has voted its concerns or outright opposition; that offshore drilling still carries significant risks to the environment, coastal economies, tourism, and fishing; that seismic blasting does do harm to marine life at all stages; and that we need to emphasize pursuit of renewable energy sources. In contrast to the speaker who believed her religion compelled seismic blasting and offshore drilling, Pete Key shared how his religious beliefs led him to protect the natural environment and to oppose drilling.
For more information about the meeting, please click on the button to see Brian Slattery's review in the Brunswick Beacon.