SCSJ has submitted an official response on behalf of the New Hill Community Association to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers regarding the Corps’ Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS).
The attempt to locate a wastewater treatment plant in the center of New Hill is not the first incident of environmental racism the community has experienced. New Hill is a rural, majority-minority community in Western Wake County where the Shearon Harris nuclear power plant was located. Residents have been fighting the placement of the sewage plant in their community (which will not serve local residents) since 2005, and have received the support of the NC Environmental Justice Network and the NAACP in addition to SCSJ.
SCSJ has found that:
- The selection of New HIll (“Site 14”) was reverse-engineered to avoid adequate public input and without sufficient consideration to the environmental and human impacts associated with this site.
- The selection of Site 14 will have a direct and major impact on the New Hill Historic District and minority community.
- Locating the plant in New Hill has much larger human and environmental justice impacts than other suitable alternatives.
- The FEIS does not make clear how the disposal sewage sludge, which contains “a wide range of toxic substances and chemical compounds,” will occur. The options under consideration may contaminate groundwater in New Hill or result in nearby residents unwittingly inhaling sewage sludge residue.
Please join us next Saturday, February 27 at 9:30am at Shaw University to show support for Point 10 of the HKonJ Peoples’ Agenda to “Promote Environmental Justice” at HkonJ (Historic Thousands on Jones Street).
For more information, please read our Press Release, visit our New Hill Page, or visit the home page of the New Hill Community Association.