In addition to the negative effects of a changing climate, the processes of extraction, waste disposal, and exploitation that cause climate change are problematic in themselves. These issues are especially problematic for marginalized and vulnerable communities, as they often lack the political power and representation to be adequately protected, highlighting the ways in which Climate Action must also be informed by racial and rural justice. The NC Environmental Justice Network summarizes some of these issues, based on member experience and scientific research. These provide some good examples of environmental injustice, but we must remember that many of the harms and impacts of our normal operations are externalized across the nation and across the world.

 

Pipelines: Subject to rupture, leaking, and terrorism, pipelines threaten surrounding communities. Additionally, natural resources, property values, and farmland are destroyed during the construction of pipelines. 

 

In NC, the construction of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline was proposed to be constructed along the I-95 corridor in eastern NC and the Mountain Valley Pipeline Southgate through parts of Rockingham and Alamance Counties. These pipelines cut across important water systems, putting communities’ drinking water and ecosystems at risk. The I-95 corridor is already impacted by hog waste and coal ash contamination, creating a region that is highly vulnerable to contamination and health issues. This area is also home to a large indigenous and black population and Robeson County, the most ethnically diverse, rural county in the country, sits on the pipeline route. It’s also the home of the Lumbee Tribe and the University of NC at Pembroke, a university that has historically served indigenous students.

 

Fracking: Fracking is the hydraulic fracturing of underground rock layers by a process in which water is mixed with sand and chemicals and injected at high pressure into a well for access to natural gas. Fracking has become a highly controversial issue because of poor regulations, lack of scientific research on the environmental impacts, and because of the speed at which fracking policies have been passed through legislative hands. Many communities and families in rural areas are exposed to the adverse effects of fracking; contaminated groundwater, depleted sources of freshwater, impaired air quality. Communities of color are more likely to have fracking leases in their neighborhoods, exposing them to noise pollution, constant light and social disruption, as well as water and air quality problems. 

 

Preferentially selecting communities of color and low wealth for fracking operations puts an undue burden of exposure and adverse health outcomes on vulnerable groups, prioritizing corporate profit over the health of North Carolinians. Those who benefit from fracking are very far removed from the communities of color and low wealth that will be most negatively impacted by this industry.

 

Coal Ash: Coal ash is the waste that is left when power plants and other industries burn coal. Coal ash contains toxic heavy metals like arsenic, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, lead, mercury, and selenium, among others. Coal ash is often stored near waterways like rivers, exposing groundwater and aquifers to contamination. These impoundments discharge millions of gallons of contaminated wastewater in streams and rivers. In dust form, the carcinogenic waste can also blow onto neighboring land carrying contaminants into the water table and into neighborhoods and cropfields. 

 

According to the US EPA, approximately 900 coal ash lagoons pose disproportionate threats to low income communities and communities of color in NC and throughout the US. Nearly 80,000 North Carolinians live within 2 miles of a coal ash dump. Children are more susceptible to the health impacts of coal ash, like developmental disabilities and asthma. In the US, 1.5 million children live near coal ash dumps, almost 20,000 of those children are in NC. People of color make up another 20,000 living near coal ash dumps. Across the US, 70% of all coal ash dumps are located in low-income communities, where citizens are already impacted by voting rights and a decreased access to education and healthcare.

 

Landfills: There are over 1000 landfills, active and closed, in NC. Communities situated near landfills suffer from groundwater contamination and soil contamination, even when landfills are lined. The chemicals and toxins pollute drinking water, trash trucks damage roadways, spread contaminants, and create noise pollution. Noxious odors and toxic gases, including methane and CO2, are also released by landfills. These sites also attract pests that spread infectious disease. 

 

Landfills are disproportionately located in or near low-income communities and communities of color. And while property value, political power, and health are damaged, wealth is accumulated by waste management executives.

 

CAFOs: As the second largest pork producer in the United States, the hog industry has been and is still an integral component of North Carolina’s economy. Before the industrialization of the hog industry, most North Carolina producers raised small numbers of hogs, typically fewer than 25, on diversified farms where hogs were one of several crops or products. Over the last 3 decades, however, the industry has undergone a major shift. Though the number of producers in the state has declined, the hog population has increased substantially from about 2 million in 1982 to 10 million in 2006. 

 

Hogs confined in CAFO’s (Confined Animal Feed Operations) emit toxic gases and are predominantly concentrated in low-income communities and communities of color of the state’s Eastern Coastal plain, where corporations are lured by pro-business tax incentives, lax environmental regulations, minimal oversight, and encounter little push back from community residents.These areas typically have sandy soils and shallow aquifers, making them vulnerable to flooding.  While smaller diversified farms have traditionally and sustainably used animal waste as crop fertilizer, large-scale CAFOs produce high concentrations of massive amounts of waste.

 

This waste is often stored in large pits and later sprayed on neighboring fields. The pervasive odor and airborne irritants produced by these practices causes serious problems for neighbors of confinement operations. Both the sheds and the practice of spraying concentrated waste release hazardous gases into the general environment, polluting the air, spreading odor, and causing respiratory illness. 

 

Hog waste consists of a number of chemicals that are hazardous to human health, including ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide, methane, antibiotic residues and pathogenic bacteria.  While it is hard to link any single one of these compounds to a specific disease or health concern, studies have consistently linked the mixture of compounds produced by industrial hog operations to respiratory illness and disease.

 

Stored hog waste often leaches into the groundwater, contaminating the local water supply with nitrates, disease-causing bacteria, and hormones and antibiotics from fortified feed. This is a particular concern in communities who use private wells to supply their water. Additionally, runoff from confinement facilities adds excessive amounts of ammonium, nitrates, and phosphorus to downstream bodies of water, producing algae blooms that damage coastal ecosystems and release large quantities of GHGs into the atmosphere. 

 

Overflow is also a concern, particularly in the low-lying and hurricane-prone counties of southeastern North Carolina. These concerns became a reality in 1995 when an 8 acre lagoon in Onslow County ruptured, spilling 22 million gallons of untreated waste into the New River. Other spills followed later that summer and in 1999, torrential rains from Hurricane Floyd caused a number of lagoons to overflow, creating a 350-mile dead zone awash with thousands of dead hogs and 25 million gallons of their waste.

 

Living near CAFOs affects mental as well as physical health. Neighbors to confinement operations have reported greater depression and anxiety, sleep disorders, and higher stress levels. 

 

 Proponents of the industry claim that corporate hog operations create jobs and promote local economic growth, but studies dating back to the 1940s indicate otherwise. Industrial agricultural practices such as factory farming have been linked to local and regional economic decline across the United States.