Comments for EPA EJ Listening Session

I regret that I will not be fully present for tonight’s EPA EJ Listening Session hosted by the Dan Riverkeeper at the Carolina Marina. Fortunately the format is both virtual and in-person, so I am submitting these comments to the EPA and pointing them to links of a lot of great stories we have shared over the years.

In 2016, Walnut Cove Public Library hosted the US Civil Rights Commission on Coal Ash. A lot of powerful testimony was shared as part of that hearing. I encourage the EPA to read back through those stories. Even though the NC DEQ decided to clean up the coal ash in 2019, it is a lengthy clean up process and does not change much for the citizens. People are still sick and dying at a disturbing rate. We are unsure when the general health of the community will improve, if ever. (See information below)

In 2019, we collected a series of stories from citizens at the NC DEQ Hearing as part of their public comment period for Duke’s desire to cap the coal ash in place. We set up a photography booth and recorded audio stories from the participants. We then edited the stories into a pdf document that was submit to the state as part of the public comments. This project is known as The Faces of Belews Creek and is on display as part of a current installation about coal ash in Belews Creek and The Lilies Project.

Duke Energy is providing household water filters for homes within a certain perimeter around the coal ash pond. Some homes were unfairly excluded. Duke continues to maintain the filters. However the citizens statewide have a general distrust of Duke Energy being on their property and the standards to which the water is being held. No new water infrastructure was developed as a result of the well contamination. However, there is still an option to build a water intake facility upstream from Duke Energy on the Dan River. Water pipes were placed to the double bridges on Hwy 311 years ago. That infrastructure development would provide the impacted community with clean water, not contaminated, yet filtered water maintained by someone they distrust.

Some of the citizens are upset that with the settlement with the state, land owners were never compensated for the loss of their property value. There is no clear legal means by which they can pursue environmental justice for not only their health, but also fiscal losses by being neighbors to Duke Energy. The Warren Family, included in the At What Cost video, are one of the families who believe their land values have declined.

Most recently, citizens are upset that the Stokes County School Board has determined that Pine Hall Elementary School in Duke’s district is the first on the slate to be closed, as the over-all county population continues to decline. The school is the first to be closed, yet houses the county’s largest employer. Schools are central to a rural community’s livelihood. Families believe it will be unfair to be bused to schools in other areas. Stokes County demographics are predominantly white at 93.4% in the Pine Hall zip code, the number drops to 86.6%. Neighboring Walnut Cove is 86.0% white. It is disheartening that the highest level of minority citizens in the county are the first to lose their school. However that is in essence an example of environmental injustice and the burdens placed on communities by polluting businesses that make communities undesirable. The estimated population has dropped after the 2014 Dan River Spill and only slightly increased in 2018. Prior to the 2014, very few people knew what coal ash was. We began organizing in Belews Creek in late 2012/early 2013 with Appalachian Voices.

Finally, the loss of Danielle Bailey-Lash, my childhood friend, who lives through this project as my muse, is featured as part of “Under the Skin” by Linda Villarosa. I first became aware of coal ash when Danielle was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2010. Many people in my home church was dying of brain tumors and cancers. They were choosing to recreate at Belews Lake. When I became aware of how horrific it was for the neighbors living next to the power plant, I began supporting their stories above all others, including Danielle’s. Our friendship is featured in Chapter 5 called “Where You Lives Matters,” as it looks at the intricacies of environmental racism. Linda and I discuss the book and the loss of Danielle in this online interview prior as part of the book tour here and here.

One of the greatest gifts to come out of this EJ Listening Session would be if Belews Lake itself was cleaned up through remediation, so that we no longer have to worry about our loved ones who continue to recreate there despite our pleas to not spend time at Belews Lake. Perhaps using oysters for remediation, like projects seen in Beuafort, NC. A clean lake would be a huge gift to the community and could lead eventually to the end of the harms we’ve all felt over living for decades in communities of cancer.

US Commission on Civil Rights

2015-17 NAACP NC Commission: Oral histories conducted for civil rights investigation, archives for HKonJ, Moral Mondays, Poor People’s Campaign

  • US Commission on Civil Rights 2016 Hearing held in Walnut Cove, NC: Examining Health and Environmental Issues Related to Coal Ash Disposal in North Carolina.

  • Assisted Southeast Regional director in gathering community testimony for public comment, and commissioning broad range of panelists’ testimonies.