Commemorating the PCB Protests

Background

Polychlorinated biphenyls, also called PCBs, are artificial chemicals that were often used for electrical equipment, along with various fluids and lubricants in mechanical devices. PCBs can be released into the environment through spills from electrical equipment or simply a lack of appropriate disposal and storage. Exposure to PCBs, especially in high amounts, can result in damage to the reproductive, immune, and endocrine systems, along with vital organs like the liver. Contact with PCBs has also been associated with birth defects and even cancer. In 1979, the US Environmental Protection Agency banned the further usage of PCBs due to the extreme health risks it poses. Although PCB levels in the environment have been decreasing after this ban, they are still found fairly ubiquitously. Everyone has likely had at least some exposure to PCBs, but they are not too harmful with minimal exposure.

PCB Landfill and Protests

In 1976, the Ward Transformer Company assigned a trucking company from New York to dispose of transformer oil that had been contaminated with PCBs. As an ill-advised disposal method, the company purchased a tank and illegally sprayed 31,000 gallons of the contaminated oil along a 240-mile stretch of roads across fourteen counties in North Carolina. It was the largest spill of PCBs in US history, laying unnoticed for four years during which it seeped into nearby soil, farmland, and natural ecosystems. The people living near that area started to exhibit a higher rate of birth defects and other health issues.

In 1979, the state government considered different locations in which a landfill could be constructed to transport the contaminated soil so that it would no longer pose a risk in the area where it was originally spilled. It was eventually decided that it could be constructed in a small, primarily African American community in Warren County. As a result, massive nonviolent protests were launched against the choice to target the community for their race and economic status. Over five hundred protestors were unfortunately arrested. While the protest did not prevent the establishment of the landfill, it did mark a spark of the national environmental justice movement to ensure that no group is put at a greater environmental disadvantage because of parts of their identity.

According to Census Data from 1980, race and ethnicity seem to be associated with the dumping of toxic waste in not just North Carolina, but across the southern half of the US. Of all the populations within four miles of multiple toxic landfills, including the one in Warren County, had an African American population at least roughly 40%. Three of the communities even had a 50% African American population. Several of these individuals also experienced a lower annual income compared to other racial groups in their neighborhood. The people in Warren County, along with other people of color in communities near hazardous waste landfills, felt that they were powerless to overthrow such unjust decisions because of their demographic and economic standing in the community.

Commemoration

A group of Warren County residents are working together to plan the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the PCB landfill protests. The team includes members of Warren County’s NAACP chapter, former congresspeople, journalists, and local residents who partook in the 30th anniversary commemoration. It also includes individuals from the University of North Carolina’s Center for the Study of the American South. The 2022 observance is planned to take place next fall, on September 17, 2022.

The protests marked the beginning of the environmental justice movement in America, and it is crucial to continue recognizing where this movement began: with the brave individuals who stood up against racial inequities in environmental decisions. The organizers of the 30th anniversary of the protests in 2012 interviewed people who experienced the protests, which allowed their stories to come into the limelight. The team organizing the 2022 commemoration also plans to interview more people involved with the protests so that their part in history can be recorded. They hope that the observance will inspire more citizens to fight for better social justice, especially in the context of the environment.

Works Cited

Illinois Department of Public Health. “Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs).” IDPH, February 2009, http://www.idph.state.il.us/envhealth/factsheets/polychlorinatedbiphenyls.htm. Accessed 24 November 2021.

Skelton, Renee, and Vernice Miller. “The Environmental Justice Movement.” NRDC, NRDC, 17 March 2016, https://www.nrdc.org/stories/environmental-justice-movement. Accessed 24 November 2021.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “Real People – Real Stories.” Exchange Project, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, September 2006, https://exchangeproject.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/18406/2018/08/Real-People-Afton-long-story-07-0426.pdf. Accessed 24 November 2021.

Weldon, Luci. “Plans underway to commemorate 40th anniversary of PCB protests.” The Warren Record, Richard Ingram, 23 November 2021, https://www.warrenrecord.com/news/article_38673100-4c63-11ec-aecc-7f2e54b616e3.html. Accessed 25 November 2021.