Fayetteville Observer: “We believe Whatley has been a complete failure when it comes to defending us or calling for accountability for corporate polluters like Chemours.”

In a new op-ed in the Fayetteville Observer, the co-founders of Clean Cape Fear are slamming Michael Whatley for putting his Chemours donors ahead of North Carolina families.

Whatley took the max donation from the Chemours Company PAC – despite the company’s decades-long history of dumping PFAS, also known as forever chemicals, into the Cape Fear River in Eastern North Carolina. 

Then, Whatley repeatedly refused to answer questions about the federal government’s recent settlement with Chemours or the EPA’s decision to roll back regulations limiting PFAS in drinking water.

Más información:

Fayetteville Observer: Opinion: Chemours donations raise questions about Whatley

Emily Donovan, Jessica Cannon | August 20, 2026

• It takes just a few key strokes worth of research online to find out that U.S. Senate candidate Michael Whatley doesn’t stand with us: Chemours is one of his campaign donors. Yes, Chemours. 

• Despite all the harm they’ve done to our communities with their toxic forever chemicals, Whatley took thousands of dollars from the Chemours Company PAC — unlike Roy Cooper, who hasn’t taken a dime from them.  

• Accepting money from the corporate polluter who used our river as a sewer, contaminated our fish and turned the sea foam toxic along our favorite beaches is a clear sign Whatley does not give one whit about North Carolina families or small business owners.  

• And it goes beyond his campaign donors. His words and actions — or lack thereof — tell us everything we need to know. 

• He hasn’t said a word about the Environmental Protection Agency trying to roll back regulations limiting PFAS in drinking water or deploying Chemours scientists onto the board advising EPA about pollution controls. And it was radio silence when the federal government entered into a vastly underfunded, lopsided settlement that failed to hold Chemours accountable and did nothing for North Carolinians.  

• We believe Whatley has been a complete failure when it comes to defending us or calling for accountability for corporate polluters like Chemours.  

• And he has turned his back on our active service members in the military. Last year, he supported budget cuts that delayed the cleanup of forever chemicals at Seymour Johnson Air Force base by five years. North Carolinians can’t wait years for clean drinking water — that shouldn’t even be an option. 

• He has made it quite clear that he will be an excellent friend and ally to Chemours in the U.S. Senate. 

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