Administrative Law Judge van der Vaart strips North Carolina of a key tool used to limit toxic chemicals, threatening nearly 1M people

Lawsuit filed by Asheboro, Greensboro, and Reidsville dismantles DEQ’s ability to control 1,4-dioxane and other toxic chemical pollution

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Chief Administrative Law Judge van der Vaart today issued a ruling that sabotages the state’s ability to protect North Carolina families from toxic chemicals, including 1,4-dioxane, in their drinking water sources. The cities of Asheboro, Greensboro, and Reidsville filed the lawsuit attacking limits on 1,4-dioxane, a cancer-causing chemical, in Asheboro’s pollution of downstream drinking water sources. 1,4-Dioxane is not removed by conventional water treatment. 

A map available here illustrates the communities affected by the three cities’ 1,4-dioxane pollution and threatened by the court’s decision. They include downstream Pittsboro, Chatham County, Sanford, Fayetteville, Wilmington, Brunswick County, and Pender County, as well as Holly Springs, Fuquay-Varina, and other communities that have arranged to buy drinking water from Sanford. Greensboro itself receives some drinking water from Randleman Lake, a waterbody downstream of other 1,4-dioxane sources.   

“The law not only allows DEQ to protect our families from toxic 1,4-dioxane in our drinking water—it requires it. Asheboro, Greensboro, and Reidsville have banded together to sabotage drinking water protections for families throughout North Carolina, including laws that help stop PFAS and other toxic chemical pollution,” said Kelly Moser, senior attorney and leader of the Water Program at the Southern Environmental Law Center. “Instead of using the power cities have to control pollution coming from their industries, Reidsville, Asheboro, and Greensboro have chosen to attack the laws that protect our basic right to clean drinking water, and now Administrative Law Judge van der Vaart has sided with them.”  

In August 2023, DEQ issued a permit to Asheboro that limited the amount of 1,4-dioxane the city could release into the Deep River and downstream drinking water sources. Chief Administrative Law Judge Donald van der Vaart’s decision overturns this permit leaving more than 1 million North Carolinians potentially exposed to the toxic chemical.  

With this decision, it is even more important that the Environmental Management Commission stop stonewalling the state’s adoption of water quality standards for 1,4-dioxane and other toxic chemicals. The EMC’s delays and recent state legislative actions impair North Carolina’s ability to protect drinking water sources and communities, SELC recently warned EPA. 

In 2015, Asheboro, Greensboro, and Reidsville were identified as leading sources of 1,4-dioxane in North Carolina. Asheboro, Greensboro, and Reidsville’s 1,4-dioxane pollution comes from industrial customers that pay the cities to send waste into the sewer systems. Because the cities’ wastewater plants do not remove the toxic chemical, they release their industrial customers’ 1,4-dioxane directly into the Haw and Deep Rivers, contaminating downstream drinking water supplies. The cities have the authority and obligation under the Clean Water Act and state water quality laws to stop their industries from sending 1,4-dioxane pollution to their sewer systems. 

The downstream city of Fayetteville, the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority—which serves the city of Wilmington and surrounding communities–-and Brunswick County had joined the lawsuit to defend the state’s ability to keep 1,4-dioxane out of the drinking water for people in their communities.  

1,4-Dioxane is a manmade chemical that is harmful to people and has been linked to cancers and liver and kidney damage at extremely low levels.