Following criticism, Chemours no longer listed as a top responsible company in Newsweek

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - The company that has been found to be largely responsible for polluting the Cape Fear River with the forever chemical known as GenX has been quietly removed from the list of most responsible companies in the country following an outcry from folks across Southeastern N.C.

Chemours, a spinoff company from DuPont, was named as one of the top 500 responsible companies in the United States of America by Newsweek Magazine, but that designation did not sit well with people in the region.

It’s not clear when the award was given to Chemours, however, it was not until after the company made a tweet about the award, which the City of Wilmington responded to, that people started voicing their concerns.

Then, Kenneth Waldroup, Executive Director of Cape Fear Public Utility Authority sent a letter to Newsweek’s Global Editor encouraging them to rethink placing Chemours on the list.

After the story made the news on Friday, the company stayed on the list over the weekend, but by Monday afternoon, the name Chemours could no longer be found on the list.

“In this case Newsweek had made an error in identifying Chemours as a responsible company; we wanted to bring that error to their attention and we are very grateful that they recognized the information we shared with them and corrected the record,” Waldroup said.

Despite the fact that Chemours has been ordered to reduce GenX pollution into the Cape Fear River, Waldroup said there are still steps he would like to see the company take.

“We think that there is a lot of opportunity for Chemours to step forward and further reduce pollution upstream but just as importantly they need to make our community whole for the investments we’re making now to remove the pollution that is in the system and will not come out for many years,” he said.

Newsweek did not respond to CFPUA or WECT’s requests for comment on the matter.