Rogers Rd. residents protest waste
By: Catarina Saraiva, Assistant City Editor
Issue date: 2/6/08 Section: City
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The board, which re-opened the search for a site in November after community allegations of environmental racism, heard comments from four members of the Rogers-Eubanks Coalition to End Environmental Racism, which represents a predominantly low-income and black neighborhood bordering the Orange County Landfill.
"This board of county commissioners has a chance to redeem itself and set Orange County on a new and honorable path," said Yonni Chapman, a member of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and CEER.
The board decided in March to seal the Orange County Landfill and place a new waste-transfer station on top of the site - something Chapman called "a grotesque perpetuation of environmental racism."
The Environmental Protection Agency notified the commissioners on Jan. 16 that they had been accused of violating civil rights.
The Rev. Robert Campbell, co-chairman of CEER, stated that in its 35-year lifetime, the landfill has contaminated the community's water and air quality and brought swarms of "buzzards."
"Forty-five miles an hour and garbage trucks are doing 65," Campbell said regarding what he called unsafe roadways.
Resident Neloa Jones showed the board two maps drawn by UNC graduate student Chris Heaney, which show the concentration of Chapel Hill's black population, the total parcel value of Chapel Hill land and the location of the Orange Water and Sewer Authority's sewer and water mains.
"I think these maps go far to show some of the injustices and some of the impacts of the solid-waste facility as well as some of the neglects," Jones said.
"So many people think that the water mains are throughout the community. That is not true."
Heaney said much of the community still is forced to use well water, which has been contaminated by organic materials and metals, both of which exceed state quality standards, according to a 2005 report from the Orange County Regional Landfill North Facility.
With the opening of Morris Grove Elementary slated for next fall, building a waste-transfer site on top of the current landfill would bring "buzzards" even to the playground, Campbell said.
Board Chairman Barry Jacobs declined to respond to the four speakers, stating that the board's lawyer had advised against public comment on the issue because of Campbell's filing of an administrative complaint of civil rights violations with the EPA.
Written on behalf of the Rogers-Eubanks community, Campbell's complaint accused the commissioners and eight other local and state organizations of discrimination in dealing with the landfill.
The landfill was placed next to neighborhood in 1972 with an unofficial promise by then-Mayor Howard Lee that no other landfills would be constructed in the area.
"Today I am withholding final judgment," Chapman said, noting the commissioners' decision to re-open the search.
"Take the Rogers and Eubanks neighborhoods off the table - 35 years is enough."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
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