Warren County PCB Landfill Struggle Photo Essay

 

Photo 1 - Warren County youth protesters in 1982, seen on the cover of the Dumping in Dixie book, placed their bodies in harms way of the dump trucks loaded with PCB-contaminated soil. More than 500 protesters were arrested.

 

Photo 2 - Warren County's 20,000 residents lived in the shadow of the PCB landfill for two decades. The county is one of six majority black counties in Eastern North Carolina. Warren County had the second lowest per capita income of the 100 counties in the state in 2001.

Photo 3 - Afton was a typical rural hamlet before the PCB landfill controversy thrust it into the national limelight. No hospital exists in Warren County. Afton residents must travel more than 15 miles to the nearest hospital, located in an adjacent county.

 

Photo 4 - The North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources contracted with Shaw E & I, Inc. to detoxify 81,500 tons of PCB-laced soil at the landfill site. Soil containing small amounts of PCBs is still buried deep in the landfill pit.

 

Photo 5 - The PCB landfill mound can be seen through the metal chain link fence that surrounds the site. PCBs are highly mobile. They often do not stay on site within landfill property boundaries or fence line.

 

Photo 6 - Grading dozers and heavy equipment were still found at the landfill site as late as December 25, Christmas Day, 2003.