The Wake Forest University Environmental and Epistemic Justice Initiative helped pay for this study. Celeste Gracia is a fellow in the school’s 2024 class.
A steady stream of 18-wheeler trucks pull into the Sampson County landfill, which is next to Snow Hill, a small historically Black neighborhood. There is lush greenery in front of the building. It looks like a big dirt hill from far away.
“Most people here call it a landfill,” said Whitney Parker, who has lived here for a long time.
The waste has a history of making the air dirty. But last year, tests by state environmental officials found harmful chemicals called PFAS in the groundwater, surface water, and leachate. Leachate is a liquid that forms when rainwater pulls chemicals out of trash. PFAS was also found in private wells close that people use to get water to drink.
The Southern Environmental Law Center announced this week that they want to make a formal deal with GFL Environmental, which owns and runs the landfill.
As part of the settlement, GFL agreed to lower the amount of PFAS that it releases into the air, set up a method to track the landfill’s gas emissions, and make a community fund for Snow Hill.
People who live in Snow Hill hope that the deal will help them get clean water and air again.
“What do you find in a dump? Death.”
Despite opposition from the neighborhood, the landfill was built in 1973. The site now covers almost 1,000 acres and takes in more than 1.8 million tons of trash every year. North Carolina’s trash comes from all over the state. It includes trash from businesses, private yards, and homes.
But court papers say the landfill has also taken ash from power plants, cleanup materials from a polluted site in Brunswick County, and sludge that was contaminated with PFAS from the Chemours chemical plant in Fayetteville.
A number of people who live in Snow Hill say that since the landfill opened, friends have died from long-term illnesses. There is no proof, but people in the area think that the waste is polluting the air and water, which is what is making them sick. The smell of the dump is also awful, according to the people who live nearby.
“It wakes you up in your sleep.” Parks told her, “You can’t go back to sleep.” “It gets in your throat, your ears, your eyes, sinus infection — you name it.”
Dr. Eddie Powell has been a doctor in Sampson County for more than 40 years. He said that most of his patients have problems with their lungs, like asthma or breathing issues.
“I had a cousin who lived in Snow Hill and he died from cancer,” he said. “I don’t have no proof because he wasn’t a patient of mine, but I would almost bet money it was because he was drinking water from that dump.”
Powell thinks of himself as a fighter from the first generation. Powell spoke out against the building of the center when it was first thought of in the 1970s. He said it was still clear that this was racist against the earth.
“Money is more important than lives here.” Powell said, “And some lives are cheaper than others.”
State officials find PFAS in waters around landfill
All sanitary dumps in North Carolina were told by the state’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) last year that they had to test their groundwater, surface water, and leachate for PFAS.
Toxic chemicals made by humans called PFAS are found in large amounts in North Carolina’s rivers. Research that has been done so far shows that PFAS can lead to kidney cancer, birth problems, and higher cholesterol.
In September 2023, the Sampson County dump had such high levels of PFAS that the DEQ chose to test wells in nearby homes. Several of those private wells were found to have PFAS in them.
Michael Scott, who is in charge of the North Carolina Division of Waste Management, said that his agency has not found a clear link between the PFAS pollution in the well water nearby and the pollution in the groundwater, surface water, and leachate from the landfill.
Scott recognized that people in the area are upset and worried.
“We hear and fully understand your worries. “PFAS… shouldn’t be in people’s water,” Scott said. “We want to figure things out.” So that people can know if these chemicals are in their well water, the first step is to test the well.
Next steps for private well contamination
DEQ has taken samples from 30 private wells that are less than 2,000 feet from the dump as of July 2024. Five of those homes are getting bottled water from the government because the PFAS levels in their wells are too high to drink.
DEQ said that if PFAS is found in a private well, people can connect to the county’s water line or have water treatment screens put in their homes as a way to clean the water. Scott said that his organization is working on these steps with people in the area. People in the area say they haven’t heard much from state officials and criticize DEQ for what they call a lack of openness.
DEQ sent a notice of legal requirement to GFL Environmental earlier this summer. GFL Environmental owns and runs the landfill. It asks GFL to “take immediate action to terminate and control the discharge, and mitigate any hazards resulting from exposure to the pollutants.”
“(GFL is) now doing additional monitoring for PFAS, especially over the next few months, as they look to determine the exact sources of PFAS at the landfill and possible remedies to address the detections of these compounds,” Scott said.
WUNC asked GFL Environmental to react several times, but they never did.
This week, a legal deal was made public.
The Southern Environmental Law Center told GFL Environmental twice this year, in February and May, that they planned to sue the company. In answer, GFL and SELC talked things over and came to an agreement that was filed this week in federal court. The deal should be approved by a federal judge next month.
SELC lawyer Maia Hutt said, “This is a really important step forward.” “This is an opportunity to stop the pollution and have some accountability and create something that works for the community going forward.”
Hutt also said that DEQ can make dumps follow plans for dealing with smells.
“To be honest, we had to come up with a plan to fill that gap,” Hutt said. “And while the monitoring program is being put in place, GFL has promised to meet with the community on a regular basis and create a way for people to file complaints.”
Whitney Parker, who lives in Snow Hill, said he’s thankful for this achievement but not sure if it will last.
“I don’t trust GFL very much.” “This has been going on for more than 30 years,” Parker said. “All of a sudden, they’re trying to be good neighbors.” So it’s hard to get excited until you know for sure that things will change.