Emily Donovan

Emily Donovan Profile Photo

Co-Founder of Clean Cape Fear

Emily is co-founder of Clean Cape Fear, a grassroots community group which formed in 2017 after learning DuPont/Chemours spent nearly 40 years releasing large quantities of PFAS into the drinking water supply used by over 300,000 NC residents and contaminated over 4,500 private wells near their Fayetteville manufacturing facility. Her work has helped elevate NC's PFAS contamination crisis to the national stage. She has testified before Congress twice regarding PFAS contamination. She created a lobby day effort in Washington, DC for local community members and participated in a Washington Post Live panel discussion with actor Mark Ruffalo and lawyer Rob Bilott. She helped organize and co-host two screenings of the movie, Dark Waters, in Wilmington and Raleigh featuring special guest, Mark Ruffalo--both events resulted in NC's Attorney General suing DuPont/Chemours for natural resource damages and NC's General Assembly filing a historic amount of PFAS bills during the 2021-2022 legislative session. Recently, she helped secure reverse osmosis filling stations for 49 public schools impacted by PFAS contamination in Brunswick and New Hanover counties. She is a member of the leadership team for the National PFAS Contamination Coalition and sits on various community advisory boards and coalitions working to address PFAS contamination. She frequents Washington, DC and Raleigh, NC pressuring lawmakers and regulators for quicker responses to our growing PFAS public health crisis.

Emily is also the Communications Coordinator at St. Andrews-Covenant Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) located in Wilmington. She is a strong public advocate for social justice issues and regularly partners with community organizations to influence public policy that adversely impacts the "least of these" [Matthew 25: 44-45]. Prior to her ministry calling, she spent nine years in marketing communications working for a Global Fortune 500 company where she regularly traveled the world implementing marketing strategies.

Creative marketing and communications leader with over 20 years experience in direct, electronic, social and channel marketing, demonstrated experience in website development and management, social media/email campaigns, domestic and international trade shows, brand building, product marketing, project management, and marketing communications. Highly organized, with the ability to manage multiple projects and meet tight deadlines; combined with a high standard of quality, exemplary communication and presentation skills.

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June 17, 2025

Potential Impacts of the Newly Proposed EPA PFAS Rule to Affected Communities with Emily Donovan

Emily Donovan of Clean Cape Fear returns to the Environmental Transformation Podcast to discuss the EPA’s rollback of PFAS drinking water rules and how it’s impacting contaminated communities like hers in North Carolina. Host Sean Grady explores the legal, regulatory, and public health stakes behind the EPA’s May 14 announcement, with Donovan providing on-the-ground insight into the movement to hold polluters accountable, protect public drinking water, and stop PFAS exposure. 📍 Chapters: 0:00...
Guest: Emily Donovan
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April 9, 2024

UN Calls Out Chemours & DuPont for Extensive PFAS Contamination in the United States

In this insightful episode of the Environmental Transformation Podcast, host Sean Grady engages in a compelling dialogue with Emily Donovan, co-founder of Clean Cape Fear, about their ongoing battle against PFAS pollution in the Cape Fear River watershed. Exploring the intricate journey from petitioning the United Nations to address human rights violations to the complex responses from major corporations like DuPont, Chemours, and Corteva, this episode sheds light on the critical environmental a...
Guest: Emily Donovan
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May 2, 2023

PFAS Contamination Update with Clean Cape Fear Co-Founder Emily Donavan

PFAS Contamination Update with Clean Cape Fear Co-Founder Emily Donavan. Learn about the recent TSCA court ruling where four community groups petitioned the US EPA to require Chemours to conduct epidemiology studies that included 54 PFAS chemicals for thousands of North Carolina residents. Her reaction to the EPA's Proposed PFAS Drinking Rule for 6 PFAS chemicals and if the EPA should establish a Class of PFAS Chemicals to account for Short Chain and Long Chain chemical variants. We also talk ab...
Guest: Emily Donovan
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Feb. 21, 2022

Clean Cape Fear Co-Founder Emily Donovan talks about their efforts to address PFAS contamination in their community.

Clean Cape Fear Co-Founder Emily Donovan talks about their efforts to address PFAS contamination in their community. We touch on recent efforts to get the US EPA to require epidemiology sampling of impacted residents and what they are doing to mitigate the exposure of over 300,000 North Carolina residents affected by PFAS contamination in municipal drinking water from the Chemours Fayetteville manufacturing facility. Learn how her work has helped elevate NC's PFAS contamination crisis to the nat...
Guest: Emily Donovan