By Jacqueline Patterson, Director of the NAACP Climate Gap Initiative

In late October, I attended the Poisoned Communities Meeting from the Environmental Protection Agency Region 4. The event consisted of community members from the 6 states that comprise the region providing testimony on their situations; the EPA Senior Managers making statements regarding their planned responses; and the community members responding to the EPA comments with a torrent of outrage. The stories I heard were heartbreaking:

* Sheila Holt-Orstead from Dickson Tennessee shared how she became involved with environmental justice when she discovered that her father had cancer. She was subsequently diagnosed herself with Stage 2 breast cancer and learned that other family members had cancer. Investigation revealed that the Dickson County Landfill, adjacent to her family farm, had dumped waste that included tricholoroethelyne, or TCE, a cancer-causing chemical that was used as a degreaser. This substance had been seeping into ground water at levels that far exceeded EPA’s safety standards. If this wasn’t horrifying enough, she learned that letters from the state sent to white families warned them of the hazard and placed them on clean drinking water from the municipal supply and letters to black families reassured them that the water was fine and potable. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund is representing Sheila’s family in a discrimination case. Sheila’s summary statement to EPA was simple: “Do your job.”

* Atlanta-based NGO GreenLaw provided testimony on LongLeaf Energy Station, a proposed coal fired power plant slated to be built in Early, Georgia. They explained the major race disparities in power plant placement: “while pollution from power plants affects all people, 68% of African Americans live within 30 miles of a coal fired power plant.” Coal fired power plants emit particulate matter that is breathed deeply into the lungs, causing respiratory and cardiovascular problems. Asthma is tied to air pollution and African Americans in Georgia are 2-3 times more likely to suffer asthma deaths than white persons and African American children are five times more likely to die from asthma than white children. Since the EPA has delegated authority to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, GreenLaw called on the EPA to require that the Georgia EPD evaluate possible disparate impacts in issuing air quality permits.

* Ten thousand tons of coal ash travels from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Superfund site in Kingston, Tennessee to the Arrowhead Landfill in Uniontown, Alabama every day! The TVA recently announced that the plan to increase the rate of rail shipments to the landfill by over 20%! Within 5 miles of the landfill there are 1300 households comprising 3500 people, 69% of whom are African American and 32% of whom are living in poverty. According to the testimony of Reverend Murdock of  Concerned Citizens of Perry County, Alabama has no regulations governing the disposal of waste, even a hazardous substance such as coal ash. Coal ash is a known as a “Group I” carcinogen associated with increased risks of skin, lung, and bladder cancers. An analysis of an ash sample revealed high levels of arsenic, mercury, and radium which are associated with skin, lung, liver, leukemia, breast, bladder, and bone cancers with chronic ingestion or inhalation.

These stories were shocking, yet sadly not isolated incidences. To add insult to injury, the crowd seemed particularly frustrated by the reaction from the EPA official at the hearing. One audience member said that a few minutes after he started talking she zoned out as she didn’t hear anything that would respond to the dire situation being faced by her communities. Another passionately lamented her 19 year old daughter’s severely ill health and stunted development and challenged the EPA to take bold action relative to the neglect of years past. One woman, Sheila, from Dickson Tennessee stood up in anger, saying the while the official was speaking to a room of primarily African American persons his comments were about remedies/solutions for predominantly white communities in Knoxville and this follows the typical pattern of EPA support. She then declared that she was “done” and left the meeting.

The EPA official, though continuing to try to maintain a brave and stiffly smiling face, was clearly nonplussed and didn’t have a substantive response. It is unclear where this goes from here….

I do know that what I heard at the Poisoned Communities meeting has certainly stoked the fire of motivation and urgency for this critical work. I hope you will join the action! If you want to become involved by documenting your story, challenging those who perpetuate these circumstances, or speaking truth to power with policymakers who are supposed to protect communities from such exposure, please be in touch: jpatterson (at) naacpnet (dot) org.

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