RALEIGH, N.C (April 29, 2025) — Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ) filed a motion today on behalf of the NAACP New Hanover County Branch objecting to an attempt by Chemours and DuPont to hide potentially hundreds of documents showing their release of harmful substances into the Cape Fear River.
Chemours made the motion to seal documents as part of its lawsuit with local water utilities and governments in the federal District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, including the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority (CFPUA), Lower Cape Fear Water & Sewer Authority, Brunswick County, and the Town of Wrightsville Beach.
The documents they’re trying to keep secret are expected to show proof that, for decades, their chemical plant has been dumping Gen-X and other harmful chemicals, known as PFAS, into the Cape Fear River. Most of the water that CFPUA cleans and supplies to people in Wilmington and New Hanover County comes from the river.
The motion for the New Hanover NAACP to intervene states that the documents Chemours wants to conceal are protected by the first amendment and that the company has failed to meet any burden required to withhold them from the public.
“There is no question that there has been widespread PFAS contamination of the Cape Fear River Basin,” the motion states. “Ongoing testing continues to find an expanding field of affected drinking supply wells, but the full scope of the contamination is as yet unknown. At the very least, the public has a right to know what the Companies know about the harm their communities are suffering.
“The public has a right to the information to enable them to make informed decisions about their homes, drinking water use, and health care. That information is particularly essential in light of the Companies’ plans to expand operations at the Fayetteville Works facility.”
Read the full motion to intervene here.
All 430 members of the NAACP New Hanover County Branch are directly affected by the companies’ discharge of pollutants into the Cape Fear River Basin, according to the court documents. They consume, bathe in, and cook with the water contaminated by Chemours and DuPont’s PFAS, it states.
“The people of New Hanover County have been kept in the dark for too long,” said LeRon T. Montgomery, President of the NAACP New Hanover County Branch. “We have a right to know what dangers have been allowed into our water and our lives. Our fight is about protecting our community’s health today and for generations to come, and that starts with transparency.”
“Our communities have a right to see the information that Chemours and DuPont want to keep hidden,” said Anne Harvey, Chief Counsel for Environmental Justice at SCSJ. “For too long, families in Wilmington and New Hanover County have carried the burden of corporate pollution without knowing the full truth. We’re fighting to make sure they get the information they need and deserve.”
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Southern Coalition for Social Justice, founded in 2007, partners with communities of color and economically disadvantaged communities in the South to defend and advance their political, social, and economic rights through the combination of legal advocacy, research, organizing, and communications. Learn more at southerncoalition.org and follow our work on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.