Advocates say the state is allowing environmental harm in low-income, minority counties

The state is failing low-income communities with large African-American and Native American populations by allowing polluting industries to concentrate in their counties, a group of residents said Wednesday as they demanded that an environmental justice advisory board do more to advocate for them.

Michael Regan, secretary of the state Department of Environmental Quality, set up the Environmental Justice and Equity Advisory Board last year. The board has had a low profile even as the state deals with environmental issues that residents say heap harm on economically disadvantaged counties.

Opponents of Enviva, a company that produces wood pellets by the ton for export, the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline, coal ash disposal sites, and industrial agriculture said the DEQ is watching out for industries and not the people who live near those operations.

This year, DEQ issued permits to allow for a new Enviva plant in Richmond County and for expansions at Sampson and Northampton county plants. Last year, DEQ issued a crucial permit to allow the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a 600-mile natural gas line planned to run from West Virginia and through eight counties in North Carolina. Environmental groups want DEQ to revoke the pipeline permit.

The meeting attendees applauded and cheered after the advisory board unanimously adopted “a statement of concern” about the pipeline offered by board member Rodney S. Sadler Jr., an associate professor at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Charlotte.

Lawsuits have stalled pipeline construction, but its owners are confident it will be built. In a press release last month, Dominion Energy said the pipeline is needed to ease natural gas shortages. “The economic vitality, environmental health and energy security of our region depend on it,” the press release said.

'Tell DEQ that they have failed us'

At a news conference after the meeting, William Barber III, an advisory board member who works with The Climate Reality Project and North Carolina Poor People’s Campaign, said DEQ should be required to consider the cumulative impacts of “extractive industries” before granting permits, and should start with the wood pellet industry.

Belinda Joyner, a Northampton County resident, told the advisory board that it wasn’t by accident that Enviva, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline route, and a hog farm ended up a few miles from one another in the economically distressed county that is majority African-American.

“Go back and tell DEQ that they have failed us as people, as a community,” Joyner told the advisory board. “We need somebody who’s going to be there for us and not against us.”

“They had three different hearings in three different counties,” Joyner said. “It’s amazing how we got the same result in all three counties.”

A group called Clean Air Carolina threatened to sue DEQ, alleging violations of the Clean Air Act in its handling of Enviva. To settle the complaint, Enviva agreed to add more controls to greatly reduce the release of pollutants at its pellet plants as it expands.

Wood pellet maker responds

In an emailed statement, Enviva said the company “operates in accordance with very strict federal and state laws and regulations. We recently sought and received permits to voluntarily add state of the art environmental control technology that will make our plants some of the most controlled in the world – these controls will exceed the requirements of the Clean Air Act.”

“In North Carolina alone, this year we received three air permits, each of which includes rigorous analysis of issues such as public health, community support and environmental justice. The environmental justice reports prepared by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality were exhaustive – each ranging from 100-200 pages – and ultimately contributed to the approval of our permits,” Enviva wrote.

“We take our responsibility to be a good corporate citizen, neighbor, and environmental steward very seriously. We are proud to be a part of the communities in which we operate. We will continue to provide good paying jobs and to be a good neighbor by having a positive impact on our environment and working to ensure healthy, well-managed forests continue to grow and thrive.”

Laura Leonard, a DEQ spokeswoman who was at the meeting, said the agency is “doing everything it can to listen to the people and follow the regulations and statutes that have been commissioned to us.”

After the meeting ended, advisory board Chairman James Johnson Jr., a professor at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler School of Business, said the board will be more responsive to residents’ concerns.

“We have to be more purposeful and intentional in responding to the issues that are raised, fully recognizing that we are an advisory board to the secretary,” he said.

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This story was originally published November 20, 2019 at 7:06 PM.