A Small Community in Richmond Co. Fights Environmental Injustice

An environmental case making its way through the North Carolina state courts now carries strong overtones of environmental justice concerns.

Richmond County in southeastern North Carolina is a majority-white county with an all-white board of county commissioners. However, the two small rural communities within Richmond of Dobbins Heights and Hamlet are majority-Black. And the Richmond County Commissioners in 2020 approved siting near those two communities a proposed CRX railroad facility for burning old railroad ties. Railroad ties are wooden timbers used to anchor the rails of the track. Ties are coated with creosote to help protect them from decay and insects. Creosote is linked to cancer and other harmful health impacts.

When Richmond County approved the CRX facility, Dobbins Heights, Hamlet, and individual citizens sued, alleging that carcinogens released by the burning ties would threaten their water supply and their health. Since then, the case has gone up to the state Supreme Court and then back down to trial court. The plaintiffs initially lost at the trial level, but the state Court of Appeals recently sent the case back to be reconsidered under standards likely to be more favorable to the challengers. 

In arguing their case, the affected communities assert that the county’s action “disproportionately impacted communities of color” with the environmental threat posed by burning ties coated with a chemical which is harmful to their health.

A Sign for State Courts

Under Trump’s orders, federal agencies and departments have removed all mention of environmental justice on their websites. The Office of Environmental Justice has been shut down, and employees have been placed on leave. The administration is trying to take back $3 billion in environmental justice grants from the Inflation Reduction Act.

Trump and his allies are exploiting the economic and political vulnerabilities of communities like those in Richmond county, opening them up to harmful and lasting pollution. The outcome of this case bears watching as a sign of how seriously our state courts could be able to address these environmental justice issues.