A new 14-point report commissioned by Gov. Roy Cooper aims to advance environmental justice in North Carolina and ensure state agencies incorporate environmental justice in future decision-making processes near vulnerable communities that have suffered the effects of pollution in the past.
Cooper announced the release of the Governor’s Environmental Justice Advisory Council report, a result of the restart of a state Environmental Justice and Equity Advisory Board in October 2023 by Executive Order No. 292.
“North Carolinians have disproportionately experienced environmental pollution from animal waste, industrial facilities, landfills and coal ash among others,” the report states. “These legacy pollutants have caused adverse health impacts for generations due to contaminated air and drinking water in nearby communities.”
The 68-page document describes a whole-of-government approach to codifying and institutionalizing the environmental justice movement that began in Warren County more than 40 years ago.
In 1982, Warren County, a predominantly African American community in north-central North Carolina on the border with Virginia, was chosen as the site for a hazardous waste landfill near the county seat of Warrenton.
At the time, 64% of the county’s population was Black and it ranked 97th in per-capita income out of North Carolina’s 100 counties, the report explains. The unincorporated Shocco Township, the designated landfill site, was 75% Black.
The landfill would accept 400,000 cubic yards of soil contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs), highly toxic cancer-causing chemicals. As a result, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the community organized a protest against the state’s decision to locate the landfill in Warren County. The protest was ultimately unsuccessful but sparked the beginning of the national Environmental Justice movement.
“As the birthplace of the environmental justice movement, North Carolina is working to level the playing field for impacted communities and preserve and protect our natural lands and resources,” Cooper said. “This report provides important recommendations that will help identify and address environmental justice challenges across our state.”
Aside from 14 recommendations on how state government agencies should incorporate environmental justice into their policy and decision-making, the report also includes more than 40 recommendations from the Council’s Environmental Justice Hub and Mapping Tool, Cumulative Impacts, Community Engagement, and Training subcommittees.
Cooper’s executive order directed Cabinet agencies to incorporate environmental justice considerations into their policies and programs to the extent permitted by law. It also encouraged state agencies to use the statewide environmental justice mapping tool and engage directly with affected communities like those in Wayne, Halifax, and Stanley counties.
“When implemented, our recommendations constitute an evidenced-based and data-driven roadmap for achieving Environmental Justice in our state,” said Jim Johnson, EJ Advisory Council Co-Chair and Director of the Urban Investment Strategies Center at the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise.
“We want to ensure that North Carolina is a safe, healthy, and resilient place to live, work, play, and do business for all North Carolinians and support state agencies’ engagement in this work.”
