2009

A black community is in close proximity to a proposed sewage treatment plant designed mostly to benefit other areas surrounding them. The proposed Western Wake County Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant would serve the growing needs of Apex, Cary, Morrisville and Holly Springs as well as the Wake County portion of Research Triangle Park south to the year 2030. But black residents near the site say they are bearing the burden of the towns dumping their waste on them without getting the benefit of clean water/sewer lines. Site 14 is adjacent to a black community in New Hill, an unincorporated town near the Shearon Harris nuclear power plant in western Wake County. The New Hill Historic District, on the National Register of Historic Places since 2001, includes two churches – New Hill Baptist Church, built in 1888, and New Hill First Baptist Church, built in 1910, and other buildings with Colonial Revival-style architecture. "I think they need to select another site other than site 14 because that site adjoins our property. It's pretty much in our backyard. The only thing that separates our property from that site is a little creek," said Edna Horton, a resident who has lived in New Hill for over 30 years. Horton, who uses well water, said she is concerned about wastewater contaminating the groundwater if there's a spill. Other New Hill residents, both black and white, are also concerned about the environmental impact. "We feel that if it's put here, it will affect our property value and it will affect our way of life. We feel that no matter what you do, you can't control the odor and at certain times of the year it may be unbearable," resident Johnnie Judd said. Wayne Womble, a Corvette repair shop owner in New Hill, has family that has lived in the area and has been hit by negative environmental impacts dating back to when residents were displaced by the nuclear power plant. "Along with the sewage plant that will come, there could be two 48-inch high pressure lines to power the sewage plant from Apex and Cary that again is going across our property," he said. "We're talking about 30 million gallons a day at full capacity, so a spill would be very dangerous." The site would impact 231 residents, over 75 percent African-Americans, according to the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, a Durham-based multidisciplinary group that promotes justice. "Between 80 percent to 90 percent of the people on the doorstep of the sewage treatment plant are African-American and other racial minorities," said Chris Brook, a SCSJ staff attorney. "The obvious inequity of that becomes apparent when you look at who is trying to build the sewage plant: Cary, Holly Springs, Morrisville, Apex. It basically boils down to an average of about 82 percent white towns trying to build a sewage facility in black folks' backyard." Residents have been opposing the plant since 2005 saying that it's an issue not just about race and environmental impacts, but also about those with more socioeconomic and political power stomping over the little guy. In May 2006, the New Hill Community Association sued all four towns and three mayors over violations, including open meeting laws, but the lawsuit was dismissed by a superior court judge who said they didn't have standing to bring the case to court. In Dec. 2006, the state Department of Environmental and Natural Resources said it didn't consider the towns of Cary, Apex, Morrisville or Holly Springs draft Environmental Impact Statements to be complete, accurate and adequate. Paul Barth, president of the New Hill Community Association, said one of the problems with the EIS. was Western Wake Partners diluted the number of minorities by using a large census tract that went up to Cary instead of focusing on the area right around the plant. In Jan. 2007, WWP hired an Atlanta consultant to conduct a door-to-door survey to try to mitigate the situation. The mitigation plan calls for Apex to build a collection facility next to the sewage plant and provide water and sewage to those immediately surrounding the plant, but the plan only offers water and sewage to a few residents. Also, the cost of connection will be deferred until either the property value rises 50 percent or the property is sold. While a few families support the sewage treatment plant, the vast majority still oppose the site. In Dec. 2007, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has now taken charge of the process so it complies with state and federal environmental law, did its own door-to-door visits. But their draft EIS released earlier this year was written by consultants of WWP and came to many of the same conclusions of the earlier report. A decision is expected soon. "If it's approved, our next move is to file a complaint with the federal EPA. and look at a lawsuit," Barth said. For more information, visit newhillca.org or www.scsj.org.

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Resolution to Remove Site 14 as the Preferred Site of the Western Wake Regional Wastewater Management Facility (WWRWMF) WHEREAS, the citizens of the New Hill community have formed an association to oppose the siting of the Western Wake Regional Wastewater Management Facility (WWRWMF) in the center of their community for the treatment of waste from Apex, Cary, Holly Springs, Morrisville and RTP South; and WHEREAS, the New Hill community was not adequately included in decision-making surrounding the siting of this sewage treatment plant. Decisions about the plant were made by parties outside of their community and without meaningful consultation with members of the community who would be directly impacted; and WHEREAS, the population in New Hill most directly impacted by the WWRWMF siting is disproportionately African-American, low income and elderly, meaning the burdens of a sewage treatment plant will be borne by an overwhelmingly black, impoverished, and elderly community for the benefit of overwhelmingly white communities, creating a severe case of environmental racism; and WHEREAS, the proposed site is located in the middle of the New Hill Historic District and near two historic churches, factors that were not considered in the siting process according to a member of the Cary Town Council; and WHEREAS, a final decision in regards to where millions of gallons of sewage would be discharged has not been made, nor have the environmental impacts of such a discharge been adequately considered. This failure to lay out specific plans stymies the public’s ability to comment on the proposal in a fully educated fashion, and also precludes the public from fully weighing the impacts of this proposal. WHEREAS, no decision in regards to the management of sewage sludge residue from the sewage treatment plant has been made. In particular, no final decisions have been made on how sewage sludge will be treated and where it will be applied to the land. This failure to lay out specific plans stymies the public’s ability to comment on the proposal in a fully educated fashion, and also precludes the public from fully weighing the impacts of this proposal. WHEREAS, the US Army Corp of Engineers have identified three qualified alternate sites with characteristics that are equal to or better than Site 14. Two of the three qualified sites are located on Progress Energy property which was previously condemned and taken from New Hill residents for the Shearon Harris Nuclear Plant. Progress Energy has confirmed that their property, none of which have environmental justice or human impact concerns, could be used for the siting of the WWRWMF; and NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the undersigned community members and groups express their desire for the Western Wake Partners to remove Site 14 from consideration for the WWRWMF.