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40 Years of EJ Wrap-Around: Thank You to Our Panelists & Video Recording!
Please join US in thanking Rev. William Kearney, Angella Dunston, and Danielle Koonce for their wonderful perspectives and input in commemorating 40 Years of Environmental Justice! They spoke in a panel hosted by Clean Water for North Carolina on Friday, September 30, 2022, speaking on the birth of the EJ movement in Warren County to Today & Beyond! Due to Hurricane Ian, quite a few folks missed out on our live event, but we made sure to record it to view at your convenience! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtpucMX8hCkThey spoke about the movement in Warren County and how it came to the national stage to start the EJ movement, the folks who marched and put themselves in harms way to protect the community, strong women and faith community that worked behind the scenes, and the need to keep and carry community history. KEY TAKEAWAYS As Rev. Kearney put it, we are pushing through some necessary discomforts in “Reconciling & Celebrating.” Reconciling our past Reconciling our present and Reconciling our future Danielle touched on the Power of Erasure and how local movements with national impact like that of Warren County’s 1982 protests are easily lost to history, not being taught to kids and not included in the history books. It took her until a graduate level sociology class to hear of the protests that sparked the EJ movement. This causes us to continually have to reinvent the wheel, starting over and over again. She also touched on the importance of Community Empowerment, recognizing that no one can speak out about environmental injustice like those of the OWN Community and their Lived Experience. Angella agreed and reminded us that communities CAN come together and be successful. There are many resources and organizations ready to help carry the load because it’s the Emotional, the Spiritual, and not just the Physical impacts that frontline communities carry. The central point: Community Voices need to be at the CENTER of the conversation. QUESTIONS & ANSWERS Q: What can we do? How can allies help? Angella: There are things to do everywhere! Find a cause, an issue, a problem you want to address and start working on doing that. Our host and speakers’ organizations are a great place to start! One thing you can do right now is DONATE to support our Speaker Organizations and make sure you select the Designation “40 Years of EJ.” Reach out and volunteer with their organizations. Share and amplify their stories. Clean Water for NC is collecting your donations for the benefit of Warren County Environmental Action Team, NC Environmental Justice Network, EJ Community Action Network, and the NC League of Conservation Voters. SUPPORT OUR SPEAKERS Q: How has your organization adapted over time as technology and demographics change, especially in light of Covid-19? Rev. Kearney: Adapting to this new reality of virtual meetings, but still need better broadband in many communities, especially in rural areas. Technology has allowed for us to connect and communicate when its been otherwise very difficult. Danielle: Even in light of technology, the power of knocking on people’s doors and the power of the church is still the crux of connecting and has been some of the most effective tactics. People are SO Powerful when you give them the PLATFORM to be powerful. This is a common thread not just for Black Americans but for rural Americans of all races, especially throughout the South. Angella: Yes! A lot of folks in NC, especially in rural areas, struggle to gain ACCESS to clean water & air, quality food, decent home, and broadband which also impacts quality of education and employment. Focusing on developing and improving that access will help make strides and leaps. Q: How do people live into their power, connect with local government and state office staff who will be implementing federal policy, and strengthen their capacity to participate in decision-making? Rev. Kearney: Inclusiveness! Inviting people to the table. Provide for a structure that allows people to come as themselves and be comfortable. Changing systems and changing the hearts of the people are the two main parts of it. Whether local, regional, or global, it affects everyone! Inclusiveness needs to be addressed from the Systemic Level down to the Individual Person. Angella: You need to have people who have Lived Experiences and firsthand knowledge be part of the decision-making process. Those who are sitting around the table have been part of the harm. If you have any such connections as an ally, speak out and ensure that these specific folks are included and part of the decisions. Danielle: Don’t underestimate the power of the personal and the local. You have to ask yourself “Would I want 5,000 pigs in MY backyard?” Ivanhoe’s $14.5M water infrastructure grant is a great example. It started with the community coming together, then a van-load of people showing up at their county commissioner meetings, then their commissioners setting up meetings between the community and state government officials. Start locally with your mayor, county officials, even teachers. Angella: Electing officials who care about the people in your community is important! Rev. Kearney: We have a voice, so don’t let others set the narrative about your community. For an overview of all the commemorations throughout the month of September in celebration of 40 Years of Environmental Justice, check it out HERE. SUPPORT OUR SPEAKERS ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Angella Dunston— NC League of Conservation Voters (NCLCV) Angella is a servant leader with a heart for people. Dunston has more than 20 years of experience in government relations, community engagement and policy advocacy. She has expansive skills in leadership development, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and is currently utilizing those skills to bring about effective change and improve community impact across the country. Dunston grew up in rural NC in Warren County and according to her mom, “she came out the womb fighting for the rights of other people.” She began her training as an advocate at an early age while fighting along with her family for the removal of the toxic cancerous chemical PCB which was dumped in Warren County in the early 80s. She is President and CEO of Dunston Crump Leadership Consulting, a woman-of-color-owned, for-profit organization located in North Carolina. The firm specializes in diversity, equity and inclusion, health disparities, youth leadership development, and capacity building. In her spare time, she serves on numerous boards including the NC League of Conservation Voters (NCLCV), Volunteers of America Carolina Council (VOACC), and a few nonprofits that provides support and resources for veterans. Rev. William (Bill) Kearney— Warren County Environmental Action Team (WCEAT) Bill is the coordinator of the Warren County Environmental Action Team. He is a partner in several community-engaged research partnerships and engages and consults with universities, organizations, and partnerships across the United States. His consulting company, Bill Kearney & Company, LLC, sponsors and facilitates the Warren County Environmental Action Team and the Warren County African American History Collective. Rev. Kearney serves as associate minister and health ministry coordinator at Coley Springs Missionary Baptist Church and vice president of the United Shiloh Missionary Baptist Association Church Union. Rev. Kearney is also a research associate and community outreach manager at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. He has co-authored numerous research manuscripts and articles and has co-produced various documentaries. He is also a managing partner of the PRIME Collective Consultants, LLC. Email Rev. Kearney at billkearney777@gmail.com. Danielle Koonce— Environmental Justice Community Action Network (EJCAN) Danielle is Community Organizer & Board Member of the Environmental Justice Community Action Network. As a doctoral candidate, she enjoys thinking about the connections and relationships between race and space, particularly rural spaces and how these relationships contribute foundationally to many broad themes in sociology. She is also interested in understanding contemporary Black resistance movements, particularly Black Lives Matter, and its organizational shifts and societal reach. Currently, she is doing her dissertation research on understanding how rural communities engage in Environmental Justice. Ghanja O’Flaherty— North Carolina Environmental Justice Network (NCEJN) UNABLE TO ATTEND DUE TO DEATH IN THE FAMILY. Please join us in sending loving thoughts, prayers, and loving energy for healing during this difficult time. Ghanja is the Co-Director of Infrastructure and Development at the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network. She is passionate about ensuring her people’s access to and enjoyment of the environment through equitable use and preservation of natural resources. She holds an M.S. is Environmental Sciences and Engineering from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill (UNC) and a B.Eng. in Environmental Engineering from Carleton University. Hailing from St. Kitts-Nevis, Għanja’s small island upbringing comes to bear on her understanding that cookie-cutter solutions fit cookie-cutter problems of which there are not many. She values context and the co-design and co-production of solutions. Outside of work, Għanja is likely to be found in her garden or garage, working on her next project with her dog, Cosmo.
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Warren County commemorates 40 years of environmental justice struggle
By: Will Atwater, North Carolina Health News September 21, 2022 At around 7 a.m. last Saturday, cars began collecting in the parking lot of Coley Springs Missionary Baptist Church in rural Warren County. Across the road, the sun rose above a mixture of pines and deciduous trees that border a green field. Located somewhere in the distance, a generator’s mechanical hum was softened by early-morning bird songs. In an open field located a few hundred yards uphill and behind the church, chicken was grilling on two large grates parked next to a food truck. Bags of charcoal, needed to keep the cooking going, were being stacked. Something big was unfolding. About 50 yards beyond the food truck stood a roomy white tent that offered clues to what was unfolding. Inside the tent, people were busy, unboxing programs and covering rented tables with white tablecloths and artificial flower bouquets. Others were sorting T-shirts with “We Birthed The Movement” screen printed on them. A few were registering those who had come from near and far to participate in the day’s events. The day had started early for Bill Kearney. By 6:30 a.m. the associate minister of Coley Springs had already made two trips to the church. “I think expectations are so high for me, but I have to realize this is God’s work, and I didn’t do it,” said Kearney. “It was Him that worked through me, they called me to be a facilitator.” Kearney hurried back and forth, greeting people and directing volunteers. Eventually, he and a helper began hanging poster-sized photographs along the tent’s back wall. On display were photographs that document a tumultuous period in Warren County’s history. They harkened back to a time when community members protested. Some were arrested for doing so, some even used their bodies as human shields, trying to prevent injustice from steamrolling their community. They fought valiantly through 1982, but, ultimately, were unable to stop a toxic waste dump from being placed in Warren County later that year. The dump was created to house PCB-contaminated soil, which resulted from an illegal dumping scheme carried out by then North Carolina-based Ward Transformer Company in 1978. To avoid paying to legally dispose of the chemicals, and under the cover of darkness, people who ran the company discharged the toxic waste along roadsides, covering a 250-mile stretch across several counties. ‘We birthed a movement’ PCBs belong to a group of man-made chemicals known as chlorinated hydrocarbons and were widely used in the U.S. from 1929 until 1979, when they were banned. PCBs are considered toxic and carcinogenic. Exposure to these chemicals could result in a suppressed immune system and may cause cancer, among other negative health impacts. By the time people in the area had learned of the contamination, they had started to comprehend how very toxic the waste was. Rev. Ben Chavis speaks with two attendees of the Warren County 40th Anniversary Commemoration event. Credit: Will Atwater Although Warren County residents and supporters were unsuccessful in preventing the toxic waste landfill from being located in their community, their efforts birthed the environmental justice movement, now a worldwide phenomenon. Last Saturday, four decades later, hundreds gathered at the church for the 40th-anniversary commemoration. One of the first guests to arrive was Armenta Eaton, who came over from Franklin County. Eaton was not a Warren County resident when the protests started, but she had strong ties to the community. Her best friend, Dollie Burwell, recognized as the “mother of the movement” asked her to join the cause. “Dollie called me and said, ‘We may have to go to jail tomorrow, but I need you here in Warren County, because we’re starting to protest,’” Eaton recalls. “And I said, ‘Okay, I’ll be there, so I called my boss and I said, ‘I can’t come to work’ … He said, ‘Don’t worry about it, I’ll be there too.’ So anyway, that’s how I got involved.” Eaton said that, at the time, she worked for the civil rights organization The United Church of Christ and Rev. Leon White was her boss and the Rev. Ben Chavis, who is recognized as the “father” of the environmental justice movement, was a co-worker. ‘Hope has two daughters’ There were many highlights from Saturday’s commemoration. One memorable moment occurred during the return walk from the area where the toxic landfill was located. Burwell, a long-time activist and community leader, was given a new perspective on an issue she had struggled with for a while. Edgardo Colón-Emeric, dean of the Duke Divinity School, delivered “The Message of Hope and Commitment,” which Burwell said brought her relief. “I was gratified today to hear the reverend say, that hope has two daughters, courage and anger,” Burwell said. “Sometimes I really didn’t think anger was a good quality to have.” Reflecting on those difficult days during the protests when people’s anger reached the boiling point, she recalled that something positive happened. “The church got involved and got everybody engaged in civil disobedience,” she said. “That’s what I would say redirected people’s anger into a movement.” Protesters lie in the road in 1982 to prevent trucks carrying PCB-contaminated soil from reaching the toxic waste landfill that was located in Warren County. Credit: Jenny Lebalme Jenny Labalme was a Duke University senior in 1982 when she snapped an iconic photograph that has become one of the visual symbols of environmental justice. On the walk, she reflected on what it was like 40 years later to walk along the road where she snapped her iconic images. “Oh my gosh, it’s always the songs. I don’t know what it is about it, but when Dollie grabbed the megaphone and started chanting and singing some of the [protest] songs, it just brought me right back to where we were 40 years ago,” Labalme said. “Obviously, no one was lying down in the road today to block dump trucks, and I wasn’t photographing, but just the crowd of people … I just felt a swell of support.” Where do we go from here? Before leaving, Chavis said the environmental justice movement has become an international movement since its 1982 birth in Warren County. He also said he is pleased to see the rise of future movement leaders. “I’m most encouraged to see millions of young people throughout the world demand environmental justice, demand climate justice, the two movements are part of the same outcry for freedom, justice and equality,” he said. Bill Kearney, center, holds the megaphone while Cameron Oglesby, right, leads a chant. Credit: Will Atwater To recognize future leaders, the commemoration had a “Passing of the Torch” ceremony that recognized one of the young leaders, Cameron Oglesby, a Duke graduate student. Oglesby said, while spending time with some of the environmental justice icons during the week leading up to Saturday’s event, she realized that they did not have everything figured out when they were young. “I’m hearing that, ‘Yeah, we didn’t really know what we were doing either, but we did it and we made it happen,’” she said. “And so I see potential reflection and mirroring of that work as the next generation picks it up.” As the next generation begins to take the positions itself to take on more leadership, Warren County residents like Angella Dunston would like to support economic development coming to the area. She points to Chatham County as a place where economic development has taken off, with new industries bringing thousands of new jobs to the area. She suggested that maybe “Warren County could’ve been the Chatham County of North Carolina” had the toxic landfill not been placed there. Near the closing of the event, Bill Kearney stepped to the microphone to thank the sponsors and volunteers who helped produce the event. Before leaving the stage, he offered this thought about the future of Warren County. Read the article on North Carolina Health News Join us on Friday, September 30th for our FREE virtual panel with speakers Angella Dunston, Rev. William (Bill) Kearney, Danielle Koonce & Ghanja O'Flaherty! Visit cwfnc.org/40yearsej to learn more and register
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Viewpoints: We’re Still Waiting on Chapel Hill Coal Ash Answers
By: Amanda Strawderman, Op-Ed for Chapelboro.com September 9, 2022 May 16, 2022. That was the date the Town of Chapel Hill and NC Dept of Environmental Quality held a virtual meeting to inform the public of the process of the urgent yet controversial redevelopment of the town’s property at 828 MLK Blvd. Urgent, first and foremost, because the site contains an estimated 60,000 cubic yards of coal ash made up of carcinogenic compounds and heavy metals, exposure to which is known to be harmful to human health. And even after coal ash was discovered and the Town made initial cleanup efforts, sections of this site have continued to be exposed to rain and wind, and is of concern to the community. Controversial, because the Town has proposed to build residential housing and municipal buildings atop the site without first removing all of the coal ash. Given the risks for more exposure during and after the completion of this project, people naturally have questions about how they will be protected. It’s important to note that this was not the first meeting on the topic. Members of the public have been showing up for Chapel Hill Town Council meetings and reaching out with emails and phone calls for months. After being chided by some council members for speaking out without being fully informed, folks wanted to do just that, to become better informed and give the Town the opportunity to demonstrate that they have public health and safety considerations at the forefront of this project. And so on May 16, despite allotting only 30 minutes for questions, 73 members of the public – neighbors, local and statewide coalitions of coal ash-impacted community members, health experts, clean air and water advocates – attended the meeting to voice their concerns and ask for answers. Some questions were addressed during the meeting while others would require research and consultation, but all were promised to be given written responses that would soon be posted on the Town of Chapel Hill’s website. Seventy days. That’s how long we waited for the Town and DEQ to post those responses (Note that members of the public are expected to provide comments within 30 days after notice of a draft permit for polluting facilities). And even when these replies were posted, less than half the questions were answered and many were essentially evaded, overgeneralized, or pushed to future decisions in later stages of the project. To illustrate, community members have long been asking about the potential removal methods for the coal ash at the site, and when DEQ responded, they simply stated “decisions about removal should be directed to the Town of Chapel Hill representatives.” Yet the Town had insisted they were bringing in DEQ for their expertise. When asked if DEQ’s brownfield program had previous experience with ‘mitigated coal ash on proposed housing sites’ they discussed projects at other types of sites with elevated metals, avoiding the true answer that the program has NEVER put a residential development on top of a former coal ash site. Discourse that has the public running in circles doesn’t exactly build confidence that any number of potentially negative consequences from this project have been considered. Far from trying to obstruct progress, we just want to understand the plan. Aside from the redevelopment proposal that has been put forth, what other types of clean-up and remediation options has the Town even considered or been given estimates? How would potential exposure and health risks differ between users and activities at the redeveloped site (residents/employees or long-term vs visitors or short-term)? Have they consulted the NC Department of Health and Human Services or other health researchers about potential public health impacts from these proposals? How will they ensure workers and community members will be protected during construction? How will the waste be handled, transported, and stored so that coal ash dust doesn’t escape into the air we breathe or the water we drink? How long will they monitor the local environment after the project is completed? And whichever plan they choose, how will they ensure negative impacts are not disproportionately borne by low-income or BIPOC community members? These are just some of the valid concerns that haven’t been addressed. Considering that this is only one of who knows how many undiscovered coal ash sites across the state, what is decided now doesn’t only affect the residents of Chapel Hill, the next one could be in any one of our neighborhoods. It is in everyone’s best interest to see that justice is done for our fellow Carolinians in this matter. Decide for yourself and follow the issue on the Chapel Hill website or Futureof828.org. Watch the recording of the meeting, read their responses, and participate in the upcoming meetings to ask your own questions. This project is still at the early stages, but if we don’t make sure the Town is thinking things through, then decisions will be made and they might just claim it’s too late, that too much effort has already gone into this plan, too much money has been invested, or that we should have said something sooner. It’s now September and the next Chapel Hill Town Council meeting is on the 14th. To the council and DEQ, we HAVE spoken, we’re still here, and we’re waiting for answers. Read the article on Chapelboro.com
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‘Really terrible science experiment’ leads to weeks-long spill from NC hog-waste lagoon
By Adam Wagner, Raleigh News & Observer September 6, 2022 The state inspector knew immediately there was trouble at White Oak Farms. When she visited the Wayne County farm on Feb. 3, the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality inspector saw a thick layer of hay laden with charcoal-colored foam in a ditch. That foam seemed to have oozed from under a black tarp covering a hog waste lagoon where manure was combined with unusual ingredients like liquified hog carcasses and discarded hot dogs and deli meat in a slurry to generate methane. The farm’s owners, including a former member of the National Pork Board, had not reported a spill. In a notice of violation dated Feb. 18, two weeks after the inspection, David May, a supervisor in DEQ’s Washington Regional Office, wrote that the inspector couldn’t tell how deep the foam was. But, May wrote, “the inspector stepped in that area sinking at least 4 inches on the edge.” White Oak Farms’ problems were just beginning. Four months later, on May 30, the black cover ruptured, sending an estimated three million gallons of the gelatinous gray foam across the farm and toward nearby Nahunta Swamp. By the time the spill ended weeks later, enough foam had spilled to fill more than four Olympic-sized swimming pools. At least 37,000 gallons had reached wetlands. An anaerobic digester on White Oak Farms in Fremont, N.C., tore on May 30, sending foam across the property. N.C. Department of Environmental Quality Environmental advocates learned about the spill by chance. They are outraged that it happened with minimal public notice, particularly considering that DEQ staff were monitoring the spill even as the department was finalizing a permit making it easier for anaerobic digesters to get environmental approval and easier for farmers to install them. Riverkeepers argue that DEQ’s regulation of White Oak Farms shows the department is not prepared for a potentially exponential increase of digesters on North Carolina’s hog farms. They learned about the White Oaks Farms spill on Aug. 3, more than two months after it began, when Sound Rivers’ Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop flew over the facility. Krop saw that the black bubble that was supposed to be capturing gas appeared deflated, with water pooled across its surface. Krop also noticed that there was no vegetation around the lagoon and that it looked like dirt had been moved around southeast of the digester, where the property borders Nahunta Swamp. “It just didn’t look right,” Krop said. “It didn’t look like they were functioning properly.” An anaerobic digester on White Oak Farms in Fremont, N.C., split open in late May, sending foam oozing out for at least three weeks. Shown here on August 3, the farm mixed hog waste with deli meat, hot dogs and liquified pig carcasses to generate methane in the digester. The Feb. 3 inspection focused on the covered lagoon, a system called an anaerobic digester. Farmers pump manure and other unwanted material into the lagoon, where it decomposes, releasing methane and other gases. Digesters capture those gases, particularly methane, and use them to produce electricity or purified natural gas. In recent years, agricultural groups and environmentalists have debated the use of anaerobic digesters in North Carolina. These disagreements played out first against the backdrop of the 2021 Farm Act, which ordered the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality to write a general permit allowing most future digesters to move quickly through the environmental approval process. The N.C. Pork Council and other agricultural interests argue that covering waste lagoons reduces odor and prevents emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. They also offer farmers a revenue stream. In a written statement, Roy Lee Lindsey, the Pork Council’s CEO, said, “Digesters are a safe and proven technology that provide significant environmental benefits. While this situation was unfortunate, it is an isolated incident and should not discourage us from continuing to pursue renewable natural gas projects in North Carolina.” Environmental groups argue that digesters effectively lock in what they call a primitive waste management system in which hog manure and urine are washed into lagoons before being sprayed across nearby fields. The White Oak Farms spill demonstrates the risks digesters pose, said Blakely Hildebrand, a senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center. “It goes to show that these digester systems aren’t the environmental, climate silver bullet that the hog industry has painted them to be,” Hildebrand said. DEQ issued the general permit on June 30 — a week after inspectors concluded the White Oaks spill was continuing. As they finalized the permit, DEQ officials never revealed publicly that staff had been monitoring an active digester spill. That general permit would not have covered White Oak Farms’ digester. It only covers systems that process hog manure and urine, said Anna Gurney, a DEQ spokeswoman, not those that add other things into the slurry like White Oak Farms’ liquid pig carcasses, cast-off hot dogs and deli meat. Despite the digester debate, almost nobody knew a North Carolina hog operation was already operating by adding hogs and meat products to the manure under its black plastic balloon. “We have never heard of this before. We started asking around and nobody else in the environmental advocate world that we’re in has heard of this, either,” Jill Howell, the Pamlico-Tar riverkeeper, told The News & Observer. Howell continued, “It just all seems very strange and like one really terrible science experiment.” A N.C. Department of Environmental Quality inspector holds a handful of the foam that spilled May 30 from an anaerobic digester on White Oak Farms in Fremont, N.C. The farm was mixing hog manure, slurry made from dead hogs and cast-off deli meat in the digester to generate methane. ‘THIS IS THE ULTIMATE RECYCLING’ Deborah and Todd Ballance started hog farming in 1990, first as contract growers. When Coharie Hog Farm folded in 2009, the Ballances bought the pigs on their farm and went independent. “Since the farm was built by my husband’s grandfather our family has always strived to look to the future in order to do what is best for our family, our animals, our community, and our environment,” Deborah Ballance wrote in an email to The News & Observer. “We believe strongly in being sustainable and that is why we covered our lagoon and captured the methane for electricity.” The N.C. Pork Report, a N.C. Pork Council trade publication, profiled the Ballance family in 2017, shortly after then-U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue named Deborah Ballance to the National Pork Board. The story says Deborah and Todd met in first grade and farm land passed down by Todd’s grandfather. It also discusses the possibilities their efforts to turn manure into energy offer. Deborah Ballance told the Pork Report, “I think we basically reinvent ourselves every three years. You need to keep your ear to the ground and see what you need to be doing next or thinking about next, and that’s what we try to do.” The Ballance family had long been exploring how to generate revenue from hog waste, according to decades of permitting documents reviewed by The News & Observer. In 1997, White Oak Farms sought and received a permit for a two-lagoon system that it said would help lower nitrogen levels before the waste was sprayed over nearby fields. The farm planned to keep hog manure from reaching the lagoon and spread it on a field. Evaluations were underway, the permit said, of compacting solid waste and using it as animal feed. A 1997 application said, “White Oak Farms is very confident that the waste will become suitable animal feed. When it is converted to animal feed it will no longer be land applied.” In 2002, the farm said the manure capture system hadn’t worked as advertised and the equipment used to move liquid between lagoons had proven noisy and expensive to operate. At that point, the farm was permitted to have 5,500 sows. They wanted more hogs, but were limited by a moratorium on new or expanded hog operations the N.C. General Assembly made permanent in 2007 — a moratorium rooted in The News & Observer’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “Boss Hog” series that showed how a lack of regulation around the industry was leading to environmental threats near some farms. Another 2007 bill offered a solution. The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard supported renewable energy in North Carolina. It also required that 0.2% of the state’s energy come from swine waste by 2018. In 2013, White Oaks Farms asked DEQ: Could it add 60,000 hogs as long as it added an anaerobic digester, controlling odor, groundwater contamination and other environmental impacts? “Despite a moratorium in place in North Carolina on new hog farm construction, we found the ideal way to expand with finishing floors. We could build a methane digester and sell power to the power company,” the Ballance family wrote in a 2017 USDA loan application. Electricity generated by White Oak Farms could power about 3,000 homes on Duke Energy’s grid, according to the application. “We will take our hog waste and mortality and use it as fuel! This is the ultimate recycling,” the Ballances wrote. DEQ approved the permit in October 2013. In later permits, the regulatory agency would require the Ballances to expand in phases, starting with 15,000 hogs Hildebrand questions DEQ’s approval, pointing to a rule that any waste management system for a new or expanded hog farm must have a synthetic liner preventing contaminants from seeping into soil or groundwater. The permit approved by DEQ in 2013 and again in 2017 says the 8.75-million gallon anaerobic digester is “earthen-lined.” “It’s a very prescriptive standard,” Hildebrand said. “These performance standards aren’t vague.” The digester started operating in April 2019. Randy Wheeless, a Duke Energy spokesman, said the utility has bought power from White Oak Farms since 2019. Over that period, it has averaged enough electricity to power about 400 homes. Energy generated by hog waste, Wheeless said, is more expensive than energy from solar farms or natural gas. Wheeless said, “It’s a premium product because there’s just not that many facilities in a position to do that, and you still have a law in place in the state that says utilities shall buy or secure that type of power.” CHANGING SOURCES In 2020, DEQ approved an updated permit limiting what could go into the digester each day. The farm could add swine waste, up to 20,000 pounds of food waste like hot dogs or deli meat from Smithfield’s Kinston plant, and 210,000 pounds of dead pigs. With that approval, the farm started adding the dead pigs in July 2020. They later reported the pigs caused significantly higher methane production. Around the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic was impacting the farm’s operation. Despite having permission to add as many as 15,000 hogs, the farm instead found itself operating with 100 sows at most. That impacted the digester, too. In a year-end report, the Ballances wrote, “With swine production and processing decreasing industrywide, the facility has experienced a temporary change from a manure dominated digester feed source to primarily a food waste and mortality source.” In other words, the farm was putting more dead pigs and cast-off meat into the digester than hog waste, despite its permit explicitly stating that manure should be the main additive. The trend continued throughout 2021, with the number of hogs dwindling from 81 to 50. Still, the digester was operating well on mostly dead pigs and unwanted meat. In 2021’s year-end report, the Ballance family wrote, “From an energy production standpoint, the facility experienced its best period to date.” The farm submitted that report on Jan. 31, 2022. Three days later, the DEQ inspector found signs of the digester’s unreported spill. During a February inspection, a N.C. Department of Environmental Quality inspector found signs that a discharge of foam from an anaerobic digester on White Oak Farms had not been reported. Those signs included foam on top of the digester. N.C. Department of Environmental Quality THE SPILL The bubble burst in the middle of the night. White Oak Farms’ digester ruptured around 3 a.m. on May 30, according to a press release the farm sent to local newspapers. Later, the farm would write that “an unexpectedly severe digester foaming event” started with a fissure on the northern face of the black plastic covering. That’s also where the DEQ inspector identified the previous, unreported spill during her February inspection. A “thick foam” made of hog matter, liquid and gases gurgled out of the digester. According to the farm’s accounts, the foam ran across a field and reached a forest that contains wetlands. The farm maintains none of the foam reached Nahunta Swamp on its southern boundary. DEQ staff conducted several inspections over the ensuing weeks. On June 3, they saw foam on nearby surface water, possibly including Nahunta Swamp. That foam was cleaned up when staff returned on June 7. The spill was still active on June 23, according to a notice of violation DEQ issued in July. That notice said DEQ staff had detected “objectionable” odors and air quality and saw foam coming out of concrete structures on the digester’s western edge. The covering on a Wayne County lagoon broke open in late May, sending more than four swimming pools’ of foam across White Oak Farms in Fremont. The damaged anaerobic digester is shown here on August 3. Samantha Krop Sound Rivers What caused the spill is not immediately clear, and the Ballance family did not directly answer an emailed question about why the digester failed. But an N.C. State professor who studies anaerobic digesters said the dead hogs and cast-off meat could have played a role. Adding materials containing fat, oil and grease to anaerobic digesters can significantly heighten biogas production, Mahmoud Sharara wrote in an email to The News & Observer. But at the same time, long chain fatty acids within the so-called FOG material can cause a layer of foam and crust to develop on top of the slurry. Sharara, an agricultural and biological engineering professor, does not have first-hand knowledge of the White Oak Farms facility. It is possible, Sharara added, that the higher levels of gas could have been incompatible with existing infrastructure like the generator or motor that processed the gas. Pressure could have built up underneath the cover, he wrote, ultimately causing the rupture and allowing the foam to spill out. In response to The News & Observer, the Ballance family wrote, “As soon as our cover tore and leaked foam, we called the Department of Environmental Quality and began immediate cleanup. We have repaired our cover and complied with every requirement and suggestion made by DEQ. We will continue to consult with our engineer and scientific consultants to perfect our unique operation.” As of June 13, there were no hogs on White Oak Farms. LINGERING QUESTIONS After learning of the spill via Krop’s flight, riverkeepers dug into the permit record. They were alarmed that they hadn’t heard of the spill before and that the public notice requirements allowed White Oak Farms to report the spill without specific details. “There was no reference to what was in the wastewater foam, there was no acknowledgment that it was swine waste or dead hogs or food waste product,” Howell said. “It’s like a bare, bare bones public notice.” North Carolina laws require any facility that spills more than 15,000 gallons of animal waste into the state’s surface waters or wetlands to issue a press release in both the county where the spill happened and the county immediately downstream. That press release needs to say where and when the spill happened, how much waste was discharged, how long the spill went on and what the facility is doing to prevent further spills. Hildebrand, of the Southern Environmental Law Center, said White Oak Farms followed the law, but that the law or DEQ should require information about a spill to be spread futher than a public notice in a local newspaper’s classified section. “Especially in this day and age. I think the law could be better, the requirements could and should be better around public notification,” Hildebrand said, adding that DEQ is able to issue public notification itself or require operators that have spills to issue more widespread notification. Advocates also wonder whether DEQ can adequately regulate digesters, particularly considering Dominion Energy and Smithfield’s joint $500 million Align RNG initiative that is already forging ahead in Duplin and Sampson counties. With more digesters appearing likely to come online in the coming years, Howell and other advocates are concerned that DEQ field staff have not been specifically trained to inspect them. Gurney, the DEQ spokesman, said the Division of Water Resources “will conduct additional training for regional inspectors as needed as facilities are covered by the Digester General Permit.” The department’s field staff noted violations at White Oak Farms and issued notices of violation, including the one in February, but Howell argues that wasn’t enough to convince the farm to correct the problems. “DEQ’s enforcement was insufficient in all of this,” Howell said. On July 5, DEQ issued another notice of violation against White Oak Farms. The department said the Ballance family’s improper operation of the digester had resulted in the spill and impacts on nearby surface waters and wetlands. The state agency said the farm had failed to update its permit to account for operating without hogs for months and had on multiple occasions accepted more than 20,000 pounds of food waste on a given day, exceeding the amounts allowed in its permit. It noted that ammonia levels in wells between the digester and Nahunta Swamp were more than 12 times higher than the allowable concentration. In response to DEQ, the Ballance family said they stopped adding new material to the digester “at least three weeks” before the spill happened. The Ballance family also mentioned its plans to build another digester. Ideally, they wrote, the manure and meat products that had spilled from the old digester could be pumped into the new one to “seed the digestion process.” The new digester would have a synthetic liner to protect groundwater, as well as a berm on its southern side to contain any future spills. Read the article at News & Observer
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Consumer Confidence Reports: Opportunities and Challenges for Small NC Water Systems
Read the Report! Where does my drinking water come from? Is my water safe to drink? How is my water being treated? If you've ever found yourself asking these common drinking water questions, you're not alone! Drinking water customers have the right to know what is in the water they are consuming and where this water comes from. This founding principle spurred the passage of the federal Consumer Confidence Report (CCR) rule in the 1996 amendment to the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). Consumer Confidence Reports, or annual Water Quality Reports, provide consumers with an annual snapshot of the quality of their drinking water, while also providing important information on health risks, treatment methods and other educational materials. Overall, your utility's Annual Water Quality Reports are meant to help you make informed decisions about the water you drink! But what happens when your drinking water provider lacks the capacity or know-how to produce effective, meaningful water quality reports for their customers? Our new report seeks to explore the challenges and opportunities that small NC water systems face when publishing their annual Consumer Confidence Reports. Read the Report! With the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) currently in the process of revising the CCR rules, we hope our findings provide a unique insight into not only how the NC Department of Environmental Quality (NC DEQ) can better assist small, struggling water systems, but how the new federal rules can also be accommodating to the tens of thousands of smaller drinking water providers across the nation. While our main focus is to provide recommendations to NC DEQ and EPA about helpful tools and resources that can assist small utilities with publishing effective CCRs, the general public may also find this report helpful in: ...understanding their rights as a drinking water customer under the federal SDWA ...how they can access their annual water quality reports ...how the EPA is working to ensure the new rules reflect a greater focus on equity and inclusion for the diverse populations of drinking water customers in the United States Our new report, "Consumer Confidence Reports: Challenges and Opportunities for Small NC Water Systems" is just one of many resources Clean Water for NC has published to help community members become better informed about the quality of their drinking water. Check out our resources list below for more tips and tricks to becoming an informed drinking water expert! YouTube Video: Understanding Your Drinking Water Utility's Consumer Confidence Report Fact Sheet: Annual Water Quality Reports Brochure: Types of Water Systems in North Carolina
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No Sacrifice Zones: Appalachian Resistance comes to DC September 8th!
In order to pass the Inflation Reduction Act, Senators Manchin and Schumer made a deal which introduces a separate piece of legislation that would fast-track permit approvals for fossil fuel projects in September. While no one has seen the official legislation, the leaked one-page summary of the deal limits foundational environmental protections, endangers public health, fast-tracks fossil fuels, and pushes approval for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, and a draft legislation text even bears the watermark from the American Petroleum Institute. This side deal has been written by and for the fossil fuel industry, and further causes concerns for frontline communities. The summary document released by Manchin’s office would introduce a wide range of changes to the time tables of the decisions made by regulatory agencies reviewing energy projects under the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Water Act and other authorities These changes include, among other revisions: Reinstating limitations on state authority under the Clean Water Act that were made during the Trump administration Requiring federal agencies to concurrently review the different authorizations and permits for a project, and limiting NEPA review to two years for major projects and one year for smaller projects Creating loopholes for certain projects to avoid NEPA review altogether Establishing an avenue for the Secretary of Energy to make a determination whether an energy project is in the national interest, as opposed to the Secretary of State. These measures would put a great deal of strain on federal agencies and courts, and possibly force these institutions to take information presented by the companies requesting permits at face value instead of having the ability to do their own due diligence. Appalachia, and all other sacrifice zones at risk due to this potential legislation, refuse to be sacrificed for political purposes. We must protect the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Clean Water Act (CWA), tribal sovereignty and frontline communities having a say. Clean Water for NC joined with 650 groups in a letter to reject Machin’s side deal which fast tracks MVP and limits important environmental protections for energy projects. Ways YOU can take action: Sign this petition opposing this side deal: Appalachian Voices Petition Send a letter to your representative: https://tinyurl.com/blockthedeal Attend the September 8th Rally!
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40 Years of Environmental Justice: 2022 September Events
“40 Years of Environmental Justice: Birth in Warren County to Today & Beyond” Hosted by Clean Water for NC with Panelists: Angella Dunston, Rev. William (Bill) Kearney, Danielle Koonce & Ghanja O'Flaherty Friday, September 30, 2022 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm (EST) EVENT IS SOLD OUT! You can still watch the video, get a wrap-around overview, and more at: cwfnc.org/40-years-ej-resources/ FREE webinar to wrap up the September commemorations of the 40th Anniversary of Warren County Protests. This event will look at the birthing the EJ movement, where we are today, and the future. Our guest speakers have decades of direct experience in the EJ movement and will share their experiences, lessons learned, and what work still remains for the future of EJ in Warren County, North Carolina, and Beyond. Please visit our Eventbrite page for more details and to donate to support speaker organizations! About Our Webinar and More on LOTS of Events Throughout September! This year commemorates the 40th Anniversary of the birth of the Environmental Justice (EJ) movement! The terms “environmental racism” and “environmental justice” were coined during the 1982 protests in Warren County, NC, when a grassroots effort worked to block a cancer-causing PCB-laced landfill in the Afton community of Warren County with a supermajority of African-American residents. The proposed landfill was announced in 1978 and after four years of mounting scientific and legal challenges, the courts nonetheless allowed the applicable permits. In 1982, residents protested for seven weeks and many participated in civil disobedience to block the trucks from bringing the toxic waste, leading to over 500 arrests, and so a movement was officially born. The state still dumped the PCBs and a long history ensued. For the month of September, several organizations have pulled together in hosting events and education to commemorate this momentous event that catapulted a movement and has carried through to our work today. The main event is hosted by Warren County Environmental Action Team the weekend of September 17th & 18th in Warrenton, and Clean Water for North Carolina is offering a wrap-around finale on September 30th. Support Continuing EJ Efforts! See below the flyer for details and links for each of these events and more! Support Continuing EJ Efforts! Wed. 9/14 @ 1-2pm “The Birth of a Movement: A 40th Anniversary Retrospective” Webinar with Dollie Burwell, the Rev. Dr. Benjamin Chavis, Jr., and the Rev. William Kearney Hosted by United Church of Christ Location: Online/Virtual only (see link below) Description: This September will mark the 40th anniversary of the Warren County protests that would ripple outward around the world with far reaching impacts that continue until today. A wealth of insight and inspiration is to be found in this critical moment of history during which leaders grounded in their faith played an integral and significant role. In this webinar, we will hear from three persons who were an important part of the protests: Dollie Burwell, the Rev. Dr. Benjamin Chavis, Jr., and the Rev. William Kearney. NOTE: Even if you cannot make the webinar at its scheduled time, still sign-up, and they will send you a link to a recording of it. For more information and to register, visit UCC’s Event page Thur. 9/15 @ 1:30pm “We Birthed the Movement: The Warren County PCB Landfill Protests, 1978-1982” Art Exhibit Hosted by UNC Chapel Hill Wilson Library Location: UNC Chapel Hill Wilson Library Description: This exhibition is open July 25-December 22, 2022, showcasing four years of how a group of concerned citizens in Afton (Warren County) responded to the state’s plan to build a toxic landfill laced with cancer-causing PCBs in their community, mounting legal and scientific challenges to what they deemed an act of “toxic aggression.” It was curated in collaboration with protest participants, eyewitnesses, and those who continue to organize for justice in Warren County. The exhibit centers their voices and stories in the retelling. For more information, visit: UNC’s Exhibit Page Thur. 9/15 @ 5:30-7pm “Environmental Justice: Past, Present and Future” Conversation with Rev. Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. and Catherine Coleman Flowers Hosted by Duke University Location: Duke University Chapel & Online Description: Rev. Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. in conversation with Catherine Coleman Flowers. The Robert R. Wilson Distinguished Lecture will feature the Rev. Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., who is credited for coining the term "environmental racism," which he declared from his prison cell after being arrested during the protests. Chavis will discuss the past, present and future of environmental justice with Catherine Coleman Flowers, activist and recent McArthur Genius Grant awardee. For more information and to register, visit Duke’s event page Sat 9/17 @ 8am-2pm “We Birthed the Movement: 40 Years of Environmental Justice” A 40th Anniversary Commemoration Hosted by Warren County Environmental Action Team & Coley Springs Missionary Baptist Church Location: Coley Springs Missionary Baptist Church, 244 Parktown Road, Warrenton, NC 27589 Description: A day of commemoration and celebration of the fact that Warren County birthed the EJ movement - acknowledging our legacy as we form partnerships to move forward toward equity and justice. Schedule: 8:00-8:45am Registration/Check-in 8:45-9:30am Ceremony: Passing of the Torch 9:30-11:30am Commemorative March, Prayer of Reconciliation, Music, and Activities 11:30am-2pm Catered lunch Program/Rally For more information, visit WCEAT’s Facebook page Sun 9/18 @ 2-4pm Community Healing Worship Service Hosted by Coley Springs Missionary Baptist Church Location: Coley Springs Missionary Baptist Church, 244 Parktown Road, Warrenton, NC 27589 Description: The African American church (Coley Springs Missionary Baptist) has historically been on the frontline in our fight for social and now environmental justice - the community healing worship service will again center our faith communities in Warren County and beyond fight for justice. For more information, visit WCEAT’s Facebook page Tue 9/20 @ 5pm-8pm Downtown Warrenton & Warren County Jail Museum EJ Tour Hosted by Warren County Environmental Action Team Location: Meet @ 200 block of East Macon Street, Warrenton, NC 27589 Description: This will be a grand tour that is broken down into three 1-hour sessions scheduled as follows: 5-6pm: Guided tour of downtown Warrenton 6-7pm: Session w politicians, music, general information about EJ movement 7-8pm: Historical Jail Museum The final session will include remarks from folks who participated in the protest and the jailer who was present when protestors were arrested. It will also include an update on future plans for the jail. For more information, visit WCEAT’s Facebook page Sat. 9/24 @ 6:30-9pm Fourth Annual Freedom Fund Banquet with Dr. Timothy B. Tyson Hosted by Warren Co. NAACP in collaboration with Warren County Environmental Action Team Update: Changed from in-person to livestream Description: A wonderful in-person program was planned this year with the theme “Back Together Again.” But the pandemic is not over and cases continue to spike in Warren County. In an effort to keep everyone safe, a memorable virtual event is being planned that will feature live and recorded performances. The banquet will be livestreamed from Warren County Community Center. We will celebrate: 1) being “Back Together Again” virtually and 2) the collaborative efforts of Warren County NAACP and those who sparked the Warren County Environmental Justice Movement 40 years ago. A commemorative edition program book will give special recognition to the unsung warriors of the Warren County Environmental Justice Movement in 1982. For more information and how to purchase tickets to the livestreamed event, visit: Warren County NAACP’s Facebook page Fri. 9/30 @ 12pm “40 Years of Environmental Justice: Birth in Warren County to Today & Beyond” Webinar Panelists: Angella Dunston, Rev. William (Bill) Kearney, Danielle Koonce & Ghanja O'Flaherty Hosted by Clean Water for North Carolina Location: FREE Online/Virtual only (see link below) Description: A FREE webinar commemorating the 40th Anniversary of Warren County Protests: birthing the EJ movement, where we are today, and the future. To register, visit our Eventbrite page Support Continuing EJ Efforts! Select the “40th Anniversary of EJ” designation for proceeds to benefit speaker organizations who participate in Clean Water for NC's September 30th Webinar
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EJ Index- Cumulative Impacts & Health Burdens for EJ Communities
Cumulative Impacts Cumulative impacts are incremental and combined effects from pollution sources, that while individually might be minor, collectively have much greater health and environmental impacts. Contaminants can find their way into our homes and bodies through the air, water, soil, and even our food! According to a 2018 Duke University study, the health risks associated with exposure to industrial swine operations over time include: asthma, kidney disease, sepsis- bacterial infections of the blood, low birth weight, and infant mortality. Moreover, a Johns Hopkins DNA sequencing study released in 2021 suggests that antibiotic resistant bacterial strains are spreading from pigs to community members - an emerging health crisis! Such health risks are compounded for communities that are also home to “deemed permitted” poultry facilities which occur in locations and concentrations unknown to DEQ. Similar to industrial hog farms, poultry operations' health risks include blue-baby syndrome, colorectal cancer, thyroid disease, neural tube defects, spontaneous abortions and prematurity, rashes, stomach illnesses, respiratory problems like asthma and pneumonia, and neurological issues. These negative health impacts are compounded when other industries are nearby like wood pellet plants, coal ash reprocessing plants, oil and gas pipelines, and more. Currently, water and air permits for polluters in North Carolina are considered based on the individual permit, not how its emissions or discharges from the proposed activities may contribute to the load cumulatively with other polluting sources. For example, if the maximum contaminant level for Pollutant X is 100 parts per billion (ppb), that means that the highest allowable discharge that is considered safe for the community is 100ppb. However, permits are being granted where each facility will be allowed to pollute 100ppb a piece. As other polluters also apply for permits, they are also allowed 100ppb. If 10 polluters receive permits to emit or discharge 100ppb each, they end up dumping a collective 1,000ppb on the community even though the maximum contaminant level of what is considered “safe” is only 100ppb. Rather than allocating various industries a slice of the pollutant pie, they’re all just being allotted whole pies each! And all of this is at the expense of the neighboring communities and environment. Adding insult to injury, the communities facing these cumulative impacts in highest concentrations are also disproportionately low-income, BIPOC (black, indigenous, or people of color), and/or have pre-existing health vulnerabilities. A newly released data tool may prove helpful in identifying and understanding the ramifications of these cumulative and disproportionate impacts on health. Introducing the Environmental Justice Index The Environmental Justice Index (EJI) was released on August 10, 2022, as part of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Diseases Registry and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The index aggregates data from several sources to rank the cumulative impacts of environmental injustice on health for every census tract, measuring the environmental burden on health/equity and identifying those areas most at risk for health impacts. EJI defines census tract as “the smallest subdivisions of land for which demographic and health data are consistently available. Each census tract is part of a particular county and is home to an average of 4,000 people.” Data comes from the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of particular interest about the EJI, is that it provides a single score for each community down to the census tract to help identify which communities are most impacted and at risk from environmental burdens. The rankings are based on breakouts of (1) Social Vulnerability such as socioeconomic status, household characteristics, and housing type; (2) Environmental Burden such as air pollution, potentially hazardous & toxic sites, built environment, transportation infrastructure, and water pollution; and (3) Health Vulnerability such as pre-existing chronic disease burden. It’s further broken down in the image below. You can click the image to access the original pdf from CDC with more detail and in accessible text format. So, Now What? While many NC communities already know these impacts, living them everyday, our state lawmakers and regulatory agencies regularly claim that data is insufficient to legislate or fund certain initiatives, such as requiring consideration of EJ, cumulative, or disparate impacts in environmental permitting. Of course, a tool is only as good as the data it uses, so we will continue pushing for continued and expanding environmental monitoring and analyses by industry, regulators, academics, and the nonprofit sector. Clean Water for NC will continue and grow its own environmental monitoring and analyses efforts as well as fighting for actual tracking of all polluting facilities, given that most Factory Farm sites are not accounted for by the NC Department of Environmental Quality. This EJI tool, combined with environmental monitoring data and several other data tools, provides the very justification our legislators and regulators claim they need and it is high time our state’s decision-makers take heed! We will continue diving deeper into this tool and make recommendations where applicable for continued improvement. If you have questions about the air and water impacts on your community’s health, want to share your experience, or just plain want to connect with others who may be experiencing similar issues, start connecting on Storybank or reach out to us at info@cwfnc.org. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry. 2022 Environmental Justice Index. Accessed August 12, 2022. https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/placeandhealth/eji/index.html For more information about other helpful data and mapping tools, visit our Community Tools page. We offer this resource page for publicly available search tools and mapping applications like EPA’s EJScreen Map, DEQ’s Community Mapping System, and more. We also provide how-to-videos, guides, fact sheets, and more. Our team is currently reviewing the EJI Tool and we may add it to our resource page soon. Stay tuned!
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Promoting Viable, Equitable Drinking Water & Sewer Infrastructure for NC Communities
Over the next 20 years, North Carolina water and wastewater infrastructure needs are estimated to range from $17B to $26B. The State Water Infrastructure Authority’s (SWIA) Master Plan outlines where investments need to be made to ensure a viable future for NC’s nearly 1,800 public water utilities. Facts, figures, and historical notes culminate to make the following clear: intentional, forward-thinking investments are key to achieving viable, self-sustaining systems. Not surprisingly, many of our state’s smaller, more rural towns and municipalities face the greatest challenges when investing in and maintaining their drinking water systems and wastewater facilities. Declining rural populations and the outmigration of businesses reduce a town’s ratepayer base. Many small systems - those serving less than 10K customers – were created when there was more public funding available than there is today. And during those formative days, local water boards did not charge high enough rates to set aside for long-term repair and maintenance needs. Utilities facing these and other obstacles are deemed "at risk" or “distressed units” - unable to meet their financial, organizational, and/or operational present and future needs. The federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) provides not only much-needed economic relief for individuals and small business owners, but also throws a lifeline to states struggling to provide necessary funding for public water and sewer infrastructure projects. Of the $8.6 billion NC is slated to receive in ARPA funding, the NC General Assembly appropriated $1.69B directly for drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater projects. Over $350 million is set aside specifically for “distressed” utilities. While the ARPA federal assistance is essentially “free money” for NC water and wastewater systems to make needed infrastructure investments, Clean Water for NC (CWFNC) staff understands that many small government units may not have the staffing or technical capacity needed to navigate the application process. Since February 2022, CWFNC's Water Justice Program Director, Rachel Velez, has been speaking directly with local governments about this unprecedented injection of federal funds for our state's most rural and underserved municipalities. Assistance provided includes sharing information about the types of projects eligible for funding, how to navigate the application process, where to attend Application Training sessions hosted by Division of Water Infrastructure (DWI), and how to work directly with DWI staff on a one-on-one basis to complete the application. With the Fall 2022 funding round just opening up, we continue on our mission of speaking with each of the 94 "distressed" local government units to ensure they have every opportunity possible to submit competitive proposals and secure much needed drinking water and sewer infrastructure for their communities.
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NC hog farm buyout failure leaves vulnerable communities at risk
By: Makaelah Walters, Facing South July 21, 2022 Back in May, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) called on the Republican-controlled state legislature to include $18 million in the new state budget to fund the state’s Swine Floodplain Buyout Program. Created in 1999 in response to devastating floods from Hurricane Floyd that sent enormous amounts of hog farm pollution into communities and waterways, the program buys out owners of farms in low-lying areas prone to flooding. But the budget passed by the legislature — and signed into law by Cooper on July 1 — does not include funding for the program. "This is one of many examples of this industry wielding political power at the legislature," said Brooks Pearson, legislative counsel at the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) in Chapel Hill. The nonprofit law firm has long fought to protect communities from hog farm pollution. The hog industry has been a mighty political force in North Carolina for decades now. Since 2000, hog farmers and other meat industry interests have contributed more than $5.6 million to North Carolina state candidates, as Vox recently reported. In addition, several legislators themselves are farmers who champion the industry’s interests. The buyout program's funds have also been used to close hog farms' notoriously smelly "lagoons" — massive, open pits used store animal waste, including feces, urine, and blood. When lagoons get full, the contents are typically sprayed onto nearby fields, risking runoff into waterways while making life miserable for nearby residents. And while the lagoons pose a particular risk during hurricane season, they can overflow at any time due to lack of maintenance coupled with weak regulatory oversight. In December 2020, for example, a lagoon failure at DC Mills Farm in Eastern North Carolina’s Jones County spilled 1 million gallons of hog waste into a tributary of the Trent River. The farm raised pigs for Smithfield Foods, a Virginia-based food-processing company that's owned by the Chinese conglomerate WH Group. The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) had previously cited DC Mills Farm twice for lagoons being over capacity. "It's not necessarily a matter of if there will be another devastating hurricane in Eastern North Carolina," Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Jill Howell told Facing South. "We see climate change manifesting in smaller ways. When three or four inches of rain is dumped all at once — and that's not an event here in Eastern North Carolina, it happens all the time — it causes serious localized flooding." For a time, environmental advocates were encouraged by farmers’ interest in the Swine Floodplain Buyout. In all, the state has spent nearly $19 million to halt operations on 43 swine farms. But in 2007 — the same year the legislature made its 1997 moratorium on swine farms permanent — it stopped funding the program. More than 100 farmers who applied were sent away empty-handed. "There are very few things that environmental advocates and operators at CAFOs agree on, but it feels like a swine buyout may be one of them," Howell said. Though the state's hog farms remained under scrutiny after a series of hurricanes and lagoon breaches, the buyout program did not resume until 2018, when Hurricane Florence sent animal waste from 46 lagoons flowing into communities and waterways. Twenty-three farmers applied for the last round of buyout funding, but there was only enough money to close three to five facilities, according to the state Soil and Water Conservation Division. The number of farmers volunteering for the program consistently outpaced the funding, leaving the communities most impacted by the industry vulnerable to disaster. "Every time this program gets funded, there are more applications than there is money to cover it," Pearson said. "The wall we typically hit is Steve Troxler." Troxler, North Carolina’s elected Republican agriculture commissioner, campaigned on making agriculture a $100 billion industry in the state. At the same time, his campaign is heavily supported by agricultural interests, with the North Carolina Pork Council and Smithfield Foods among his top donors, according to FollowTheMoney.org. Given current political realities, Pearson thinks any policy proposal that reduces the number of hogs in North Carolina likely isn’t going to fly. The entire legislature is up for election this year, but it will be elected using GOP-drawn maps favorable to the GOP. For Republicans to retake the supermajority and override Cooper's veto, they need to gain three seats in the state House and two in the Senate. Meanwhile, new pressure is building to keep hog waste lagoons in operation thanks to the state’s energy companies. In 2020, Smithfield Foods and Virginia-based Dominion Energy proposed the largest swine waste-to-energy project in North Carolina. The $500 million project would involve capping waste lagoons to collect methane gas, which would then be processed and transported via pipeline and sold to Piedmont Natural Gas. "It's the poster child for greenwashing," said Blakely Hildebrand, a senior attorney with SELC. "Industry is holding up biogas as this silver bullet to the climate crisis for the agricultural industry. And it is far far from that." As powerful industries team up to continue polluting, the resulting pain is disproportionately borne by residents of North Carolina’s environmental justice communities. A growing body of public health research shows that people who live closer to industrial animal operations get sick more often, stay sick longer, and die more often than people who live further away. And census data shows between a quarter to a third of residents of the state’s major pork-producing counties are Black and around a quarter of are Latinx. In Robeson County, home to both hog and poultry farms, nearly 42% of residents are Native American and 23% are Black. Despite the environmental health risks, the DEQ issued permits to four farms to begin biogas operations at the beginning of this year — a move that many advocates saw as environmental racism. "There’s lots of talk about how covering lagoons will be good for odors and for flooding related things," said Howell. "But what nobody talks about is how building out natural gas infrastructure does nothing to reduce the number of open air lagoons in Eastern North Carolina." Read the article on Facing South
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