EiJ Global Record: Eastern North Carolina, USA
The eastern Piedmont and southeastern lowlands of North Carolina are the “birthplace” of the environmental justice movement (EJ) in the United States.
The eastern Piedmont and southeastern lowlands of North Carolina are the “birthplace” of the environmental justice movement (EJ) in the United States.
in March of 2016, environmental officials had finally decided to remove over a century worth of toxins and waste from the lower 8 miles of the Passaic River. This part of the river was known as the most dangerously tainted portion of the river.
The Department of Criminal Justice played a large part in indicting a contractor for illegally abandoning medical waste. If not for their investigation, this issue would not have been resolved.
one of the main issues that presents itself when hurricanes do occur is that the drainage systems become very clogged and end up flooding the streets. In response to this, on July 1, "new state permits went into effect for the 25 municipalities, sewage treatment plants, and sewage authorities that manage systems with CSOs. In addition to the steps these entities already have taken to control overflows, they now must develop comprehensive Long-Term Control Plans." (paragraph 5) If everything is able to function properly, we will be able to unclog the drainage systems allowing for the roads to not flood and people to move around if need be.
there are some pollutants that affect the community and in other places:
There was no precatuions taken regarding the waste in the Passaic River. Many of the locals knew it for its murky waters after years of industrial toxin buildup.
nothing was really done to prevent anything from happening. The river was known for its dirty and polluted waters which occured due to years of industrial toxin buildup in the waters.
For hurricane Irene, city and state governments had shelters built and prepared for the event, but the best solution was for complete evacuation, as the storm was predicted to be too strong. The precautions did not work fully because there were some casualties and injuries
In this case, the source of resillience would be the federal authorities as they were the ones that launched the investigation to acquire the knowledge to discover and pass judgement on the guilty party.
one of the main vulnerabilities is that there is a large amounts of sewage and trash polluting the water and it gets sucked into the overflow system that are used to prevent flooding. this further pollutes the surrounding are and further poisons the environment.