Wilmington, Delaware-based The Chemours Co., a Fortune 500 chemistry company with operations in Bladen County, is facing public scrutiny, legal actions by the state and a handful of lawsuits over its emissions of GenX into the Cape Fear-area environment.
But as a major employer and taxbase generator for Bladen County, economic developers are watching the status of the company and its GenX situation in the state.
“It’s not like we feel there is an immediate concern because we feel the company and the state are working toward a viable solution … that allows them to grow responsibly in our community with the appropriate process and facilities to handle the emissions,” said Chuck Heustess, executive director of Bladen County Economic Development Commission.
“But you know, of course, there is a concern that it could go wrong in some way,” he added.
Chemours operates on the 2,150- acre Fayetteville Works site in Bladen County near the Cumberland County border. The site, which is owned by Chemours, also holds operations for DuPont and Kuraray America Inc., Heustess said.
Chemours is the largest employer at the site, he said. According to Chemours officials, the company employs about 300 people at the Fayetteville Works site.
The average wage at Chemours, a 2015 spinoff of DuPont, is about $70,000 annually, company officials said.
In addition, there are about 230 contractors between all three companies at the Fayetteville Works site, with an average wage of just over $30,000, Heustess said. Chemours officials said it has about 100 contractors there.
“They are very good-paying jobs,” Heustess said. “It’s really a regional site … All three companies draw their employment from the three-county region of Bladen, Cumberland and Robeson.”
Fayetteville Works is one of the largest sites for the county in terms of tax base, second to a Smithfield Foods packaging plant, which employs 5,000 people and is in the process of hiring 300 additional workers and implementing a $115 million-dollar expansion, he said.
Chemours’ tax value is $80 million, more than half the $123 million total tax value of the entire site, which generates more than $1 million in revenue for the county annually, Heustess said. And Chemours is set to add to the county’s tax base with its own expansion. In response to a state notice of intent to modify the company’s air quality permit, Chemours said that it plans to invest more than $100 million in its Fayetteville Works facility in a long-term plan to reduce emissions of GenX and other related compounds.
“They anticipate the investment being completed before the end of 2019. Hopefully, that investment will be all capitalized next year,” Heustess said.
He said county officials went on a tour and were updated on the construction project in late August. Chemours officials said about 200 construction jobs will be generated from the project.
“When they get finished, this will be a world-class facility on reducing wastewater and air emissions. It’ll be a model for other manufacturers to be able to come and see,” Heustess said. “Our two biggest taxpayers are both in the middle of large investments. Between the two of them, it’s going to be well over $200 million of investment.”
Heustess said prospective companies looking at the area have not told him they are having second thoughts because of the GenX topic.
“We’re actually about as busy as we have been in 20 years,” he said. “We’re watching the situation and balancing obviously first the health of our citizens and the safety of the water supply, and secondly is the jobs and the economic impact.”
