To protect drinking water, North Carolina officials are taking a step that could shut down Chemours’s fluoroether and fluoropolymer manufacturing plant outside Fayetteville.
为了保护饮用水，北卡来罗纳州官员正在采取措施，有可能关闭费耶特维尔郊区科慕的氟醚和氟聚合物的生产工厂。
（有可能关闭！！！这动作可大了）
The state formally warned Chemours on April 6 that in 60 days, it will prohibit the plant from emitting to the atmosphere hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid (HFPO-DA) and two related fluoroethers that hydrolyze into HFPO-DA. One of those chemicals is GenX, a surfactant used as a polymerization aid to manufacture fluoropolymers. Fluoropolymers are used as membranes in fuel cells and to produce chlorine and sodium hydroxide.
该州在4月6日正式警告科慕，在60天内将禁止该工厂排放六氟环氧丙烷二聚体的酸（HFPO-DA）及相关的两个可以水解为HFPO-DA的氟醚。
（F叫兽半年来国内首个持续报道该事件，有兴趣的可以看链接）
The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) says it will modify the company’s air pollution permit to bar emission of the fluoroethers unless Chemours demonstrates that its emissions do not end up tainting groundwater with HFPO-DA. Toxicity of this and other fluoroethers are unclear, but some studies suggest they could be hazardous to human health.
北卡莱罗纳州环境质量局称将更改科慕的空气排放许可以阻止氟醚的排放，除非科慕证明排放HFPO-DA不会污染地下水。HFPO-DA和其它两个氟醚的毒性还不确定，但研究显示它们有可能对人有害。
“The incessant fouling of the state’s natural resources by Chemours cannot be sustained under law,” DEQ Director Michael A. Abraczinskas says in the warning letter to the company.
“根据法律，科慕公司持续污染本州的自然资源不能持续下去”DEQ局长
Michael A. Abraczinskas 在给该公司的警告信中写到。
Earlier this year, North Carolina regulators directed the company to curb air releases of the fluoroethers while investigations continued. Now, state regulators say they’ve confirmed a causal link between the fluoroether emissions from the plant and HFPO-DA pollution in groundwater up to 11 km from the plant in the reverse direction of groundwater flow.
今年早些时候，北卡莱罗纳州临管人员在调查进行时曾让公司控制向空气中排放氟醚。现在他们已确认氟醚排放和离工厂11公里的上游地下水受HFPO-DA染污的因果关系。
Prohibiting the emissions could force Chemours to stop production of fluoroethers at the facility unless it is able to capture or otherwise control their release into the air.
禁止排放可能强制科慕氟醚装置的停产，除非该公司能够回收或控制他们不向空气中排放。
The company did not respond to C&EN’s request for comment.
该公司没有回应C&EN（美国化学会志旗下的chemical and engineering news化学与化工新闻杂志）的置评要求。
Meanwhile, DEQ says the air releases of HFPO-DA and related compounds are greater than Chemours previously reported. Based on measurements taken in January by a Chemours-paid contractor, the agency calculates that the plant could release more than 1,225 kg of GenX-related fluoroethers into the air each year. That’s more than 3.7 times the yearly emissions of these substances that Chemours reported to the state in October, the agency says.
同时，DEQ官员称排放的HFPO-DA及相关的化合物要多于科慕早先汇报的量。基于科慕公司请的一个机构在1月份测量的结果，科慕公司每年向空中排放1225公斤的GenX及氟醚。这个数值要比去年10月份科慕向政府汇报的年排放量的3.7倍还多。
