Chemours Asked to Test Water for Teflon Agent by "Concerned" EPA

Regulator’s letter seeks well tests near West Virginia plant
DuPont spinoff’s GenX chemical also an issue in North Carolina

Bridges spanning across the Ohio River are seen between West Virginia and Ohio in Parkersburg, West Virginia on Oct. 27, 2017. — Bridges spanning across the Ohio River are seen between West Virginia and Ohio in Parkersburg, West Virginia on Oct. 27, 2017.
Photographer: Ivan Couronne/AFP/Getty Images

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By Tiffany Kary and Jack Kaskey

January 25, 2018 at 5:22 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Chemours Co. has been asked by federal regulators to test public and private drinking water supplies in West Virginia and Ohio for a chemical it uses to make products including Teflon.

A Jan. 11 letter from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, seen by Bloomberg News, asks for the tests to begin no later than March 31 because the agency is "concerned" that water sources may be contaminated with a chemical known as GenX. The tests will be conducted in communities on both sides of the Ohio River near Chemours’s Parkersburg, West Virginia, plant, also known as Washington Works.