Waste has impact

 

CORRECTION: Due to a reporting error, Wednesday's article "Waste has impact" incorrectly states that residents signed a complaint of environmental racism on Jan. 8. That was the date the request was processed, not the date the complaint was signed. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.

Gertrude Nunn is tired of fighting with her next-door neighbor.

When the county landfill moved into her Rogers-Eubanks Road neighborhood in 1972, a dead odor started to soak up the peace of nighttime walks. Buzzards began to feast on the trash and then crowd the tops of houses and power lines.

Nunn and other residents in the historically black, low-income neighborhood feel their quality of life has been so altered by the landfill's presence that it constitutes environmental racism.

"We had meetings here. We had everything, but nobody listened," Nunn said.

As the landfill reaches capacity, county officials are deciding on criteria for siting a waste-transfer station to replace it. Residents are attending the meetings, pushing for their neighborhood to be left off the list of possible sites.

"It's like a little ant trying to beat a big hill," said Sam Rogers, 70, who is descended from the family after whom the road is named.

"We didn't have any success, so what can you do?"

The landfill has changed government hands, from Chapel Hill and Carrboro to Orange County.

Since county officials took charge in 2000, they have helped some residents pay to tap on to water lines, which many couldn't otherwise afford.

A solid waste advisory board was formed with other local governments. One of the seats is designated for a resident of the neighborhood.

The community lacks public sewer lines, water lines, street lights and fire and emergency services.

Buses run through Rogers Road but don't stop, said the Rev. Robert Campbell, who has been an active voice in the community.

"It's clearly an example to me of environmental injustice," said Flora Lu, an assistant professor of anthropology at UNC.

"How is it that these folks in Rogers Road don't have the basic amenities and then are asked to bear the burden of our wasteful lifestyle?"

Environmental racism

Fourteen residents signed an environmental racism complaint on Jan. 8 that is going through a review by the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Civil Rights to determine whether it meets the EPA's requirements.

If accepted, the case will be investigated.

"It's like they want to dump all their garbage in our neighborhood," resident Carl Purefoy said. "You don't find that . going on in the wealthy upscale neighborhoods."

County officials and complainants haven't heard of progress because the OCR doesn't discuss ongoing investigations, EPA press officer Shakeba Carter-Jenkins said in an e-mail. But they will be notified when the investigation is complete.

A 2007 Toxic Waste and Race study by the Justice and Witness Ministries of the United Church of Christ confirmed reports that minority communities are disproportionately faced with waste facilities.

But Jacobs said that environmental racism is perhaps not the best explanation for the situation.

"I think it's an argument that can be made," he said. "I think it tends to lump 35 years of varying government operations into one basket without really taking into account that a lot's changed since the county took over."

But in the end, trash must go somewhere - if not in the Rogers Road community then in someone else's backyard.

"Wherever we put it, that neighborhood's going to feel like it's unfair," Jacobs said.

It would be less costly to continue waste operations on Eubanks Road, said Paul Spire, solid waste operations manager.

But it would mean that a community which has borne a burden more than 35 years would continue to host it indefinitely.

More than an eyesore

Rogers recalls when the creeks were nice and the cow pastures were green. His mother and grandmother grew vegetables.

"There's nothing anymore," he said.

It wasn't supposed to be this way.

Residents said Howard Lee, Chapel Hill mayor in 1972, promised the landfill would be closed within 10 years and converted into a park.

Thirty-five years later, Lee said he doesn't recall ever making the commitment.

"We did not make any promises," he said. "These were thoughts I conveyed in my speeches."

It was simply the best plot of land available, he said.

"There was some opposition to it," Lee said. "I spent a considerable amount of time visiting residents and telling them it wouldn't affect their property values."

But Purefoy, who lives on Purefoy Drive off Rogers Road, looks up at the green house on the corner and sees that the top is lined with buzzards.

"And that's disgusting," he said. "And you hate to have your friends come out to visit you with that."

Mondays and Wednesdays, more than 250 tons of trash are trucked to the landfill, Spire said. On other days, the average is 170 tons.

"We've tried to get better patrolling of speed limits, to have garbage trucks routed off Rogers Road," Board of County Commissioners Chairman Barry Jacobs said.

"We've had mixed success."

Nunn said life hasn't been easy.

"A lot of people say, 'Well, how did you survive?' Well, I had no choice," Nunn said.

"And I didn't want to just move away. . All of that is heritage land lost."

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.