WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — There are still plenty of questions about GenX in the area’s drinking water, but there are far more answers after WWAY, the StarNews and WHQR hosted a GenX Forum Wednesday night.
More than 400 people turned out for the two-hour event at UNCW’s Kenan Auditorium. They heard dozens of questions from a panel of 16 experts in various fields. And there were dozens more questions we didn’t have time to ask but will continue to work to get answers on.
The panel included:
Mike Brown: CFPUA Board Chair
Dr. Philip Brown: NHRMC Chief Physician Executive
Kemp Burdette: Cape Fear Riverkeeper
Larry Cahoon: UNCW professor
Natalie English: Wilmington Chamber of Commerce President and CEO
Jim Flechtner: CFPUA Executive Director
Mike Giles: NC Coastal Federation
Stan Harts: UNCW Environmental Health & Safety Director
Sheila Holman: NC Assistant Secretary of the Environment
Dr. Detlef Knappe: NC State University professor, part of team that detected GenX in the Cape Fear River
Bill Saffo: Wilmington Mayor
Phillip Tarte: New Hanover County Health Director
Woody White: New Hanover County Commission Chair
Dr. Joseph Wilde-Ramsing: Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations
Representatives from Chemours, the company that makes GenX, were invited to attend the forum, but they chose not to. We also invited the American Chemistry Council, which is a trade association that Chemours is part of. The ACC never responded to our invitation.
You can watch the entire forum via the video player above.