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Instead of Curbing Pollution State Lawmakers Consider Chemical Treatment

To clean up the pollution in Jordan Lake, North Carolina lawmakers have tried arguing. They’ve tried SolarBees. They’ve even tried ignoring the problem. All those tactics have failed. Now state officials are examining a potential chemical treatment for the lake — yet another experiment on a vital drinking water source for more than 350,000 people.

The lawmakers and lobbyists behind the chemical scheme are not publicly known. However, one of the state’s most powerful lobbyists, Harold Brubaker, who served 35 years in the House, including two terms as Speaker, represents SePro, a “life sciences” company that sells chemicals to kill aquatic plants in lakes and reservoirs.

SePro’s corporate headquarters are in Carmel, Ind., but it has a research and technology campus in Whitakers, N.C., and a distribution center in Rocky Mount. A review of this year’s registered lobbyists and their clients showed that SePro was the only company that specifically offered this service. Brubaker has represented them since 2016, according to state board of elections records.