Warren County PCB Landfill

Ethan Lee ’25

Eugenie Kim ’25

In 1982, mass protests erupted in the small and predominantly black community of Warren County, North Carolina. These protests were sparked by the state’s decision to construct a landfill within the county that would serve as a dump for 60,000 tons of soil laced with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). PCBs are artificial chemicals that have no known taste or smell. They are in commercial products like oil, transformers, and electrical equipment. These highly carcinogenic chemical compounds put anyone exposed to them at a significantly higher risk of developing cancer, as they have been shown to suppress the immune system. 

Between June and August of 1978, the Ward PCB Transformer Company dumped 31,000 gallons of PCB-contaminated oil along approximately 240 miles on the highway. Instead of recycling the oil at a facility, the company resorted to “midnight dumping” to minimize spending. The government of North Carolina sued the company for damages and won, but was responsible for cleaning up the mess. 

After weighing their options, the government decided to scoop the soil up and dump it elsewhere in North Carolina. In December of 1978, the government announced that the dump site would be in the Shocco Township of Warren County. Warren County residents were furious upon hearing this and immediately created an organization known as the Warren County Citizens Concerned About PCB, often called the Committee. 

At a public hearing on January 4, 1979, representatives from Warren County (including those from the Committee) argued, using statistics, that the state’s decision to locate the landfill in Warren County was based on racial and political grounds rather than objectivity. Warren County’s population was 64% black then, and Shocco Township was 75% black. Furthermore, Warren County was ranked 97th out of 100 North Carolina counties in per capita income.

However, state officials dismissed these accusations, saying that the site met all the environmental standards and was in a sparsely populated community. In 1982, the PCB landfill was erected in Warren County after four years of continuous fighting – involving street protests, civil disobedience, and legal action. However, within three months of the landfill’s construction, engineers maintaining the site pointed out various problems that indicated the site wasn’t suitable for dumping PCB-contaminated waste.

  Although the Warren County protests failed to prevent the landfill construction, they attracted enough attention to kickstart a nationwide environmental justice movement, which would inspire similar movements around the country. Since then, many organizations and committees have been founded to address environmental injustice in various communities worldwide.  

  To this day, underrepresented communities like Warren County have been more likely to experience harmful environmental impacts – which often translate into life-altering health issues for those living close by, such as cancer – than those of wealthier and non-minority status. Governments and companies can exploit underrepresented communities because, as their label suggests, they lack political representation and the resources to legally defend and advocate for themselves. Today, millions of environmental activists worldwide are advocating for change in their communities, just as the residents of Warren County did over forty years ago.

References

Labalme, Jenny. “From the Archives: Dumping on Warren County.” Facing South, September 30, 2022.

https://www.facingsouth.org/2022/09/archives-dumping-warren-county. 

United States Environmental Protection Agency. “Learn about Polychlorinated Biphenyls.” www.epa.gov, August 19, 2015.

https://www.epa.gov/pcbs/learn-about-polychlorinated-biphenyls. 

Wikipedia. “Warren County PCB Landfill,” May 3, 2020. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_County_PCB_Landfill.