“Over 30,000 gallons of industrial waste containing the hazardous chemical polychlorinated biphenyl or PCB were deliberately discharged along approximately 243 miles of highway shoulders in 14 counties of North Carolina. Because of the quantity of soils involved and the distances to approved landfills, the State has decided to construct a new landfill in order to dispose of this hazardous waste.” “Let’s imagine that we live in a small town where the population is approximately 1,300. Sixty-nine percent of the residents are nonwhite, and 20 percent have incomes below the federal poverty level. The town is an economically-depressed community. The state identified a 142-acre tract of land on the east side of town resting place for the 60,000 tons of soil highly contaminated with PCBs. PCBs are a class of chemicals that have been determined to be hazardous to human health and reproduction. This PCB-contaminated soil will be placed into a hazardous waste landfill, as permitted by EPA regulations, which will not be used for the disposal of to dispose EPA eliminated the following requirements in order for the landfill to be built here: requirement for 50 feet between the landfill and groundwater, the requirement of an artificial liner, requirement of an underliner leachate collection system.”
Read above paragraph and:
Identify any community concerns that might arise due to this situation (20%).
Discuss the community that could be positively and negatively affected by the siting and construction of the PCB Landfill in the following areas (40%):
The local economy (job opportunities)
Society/Social well-being (living conditions)
Public health
Overall community infrastructure (schools, roads, emergency services, etc.)
EPA’s definition of environmental justice (EJ) as “the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.” Why should the general public be informed about local hazardous waste (HW) sites, and what should the role of government be in this process (20%)?
