"For seven years N.C. activists overcame political and scientific hurdles to convince the EPA to enact PFAS regulations in drinking water. Now they’re confronting a Trump administration intent on quashing their success."
"OAK ISLAND, N.C. — Emily Donovan stood before 100 people in the pews at Ocean View United Methodist Church in a small seaside town in Brunswick County, North Carolina. It was May, the start of beach season. She had invited a scientist to speak about the astronomical levels of PFAS—nicknamed “forever chemicals”—that had been detected in sea foam four miles away.
But before she began her presentation, Donovan, a co-founder of Clean Cape Fear, had to deliver some bad news. That morning, Lee Zeldin, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator appointed by President Donald Trump, had announced his intention to rescind drinking water regulations for several types of PFAS compounds.
The rollbacks included GenX, one of dozens that have contaminated the region’s drinking water and have been linked to disorders of the liver, kidneys and the immune system, as well as low birth weight and cancer.
Donovan felt devastated and enraged."
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