In recent years, there has been a lot of conversation about the coal industry. More specifically, how to bring jobs back in a dying industry. Donald Trump has spent the last two years telling folks that he would be a champion of coal and bring tens of thousands of mining jobs back to the US. This hasn’t happened yet (just like everything else he’s promised) but it keeps coal in the conversation about jobs and the economy.
What isn’t widely being talked about is how coal shipping impacts communities. For residents of the towns that coal is transported through, there are dangerous consequences to their health and well-being. But rail and coal companies don’t care and they are hoping we don’t find out. According to Mother Jones, Norfolk Southern ships coal across the state of Virginia, spanning across 2,000 miles. The coal’s destination is Lambert Point, a predominately black and low-income area in Norfolk. In one year, Lambert Point can see up to 48 million tons of coal.
The company boasts that it has created 44 jobs in the state in 2016 and has donated $22 million to various charities over the last five years. But for residents in the surrounding neighborhoods, these contributions are less important than the coal dust that comes off the rail cars and has coated their community for as long as anyone can remember. [...]
When coal is being transported, hazardous particles of dust routinely fly off the rail cars into the surrounding communities. The Sierra Club reports that those who are exposed are vulnerable to increased rates of childhood bronchitis, asthma, pneumonia, emphysema, heart disease, and reduced lung capacity. They also note that coal cars release 90,000 pounds of coal dust into nearby Virginia towns and cities every year.
For decades residents of Lambert Point simply thought nothing of the coal dust. They assumed it was normal and had no idea that it was essentially poisoning them. Though the company was first founded in 1885 it did not receive any kind of regulation until 1992. That means that nearly 100 years went by before anyone cared that coal might be effecting the residents of the town. Even so, it’s clear that big business and profit are valued more than poor, black folk so no one seemed to bat an eye. In fact, the company itself did its own reporting and claimed that coal dust was not harmful to anyone’s respiratory health.
“I thought it was just normal pollution,” Anita Newsome says. “We weren’t aware of what we were breathing in.” Coal dust contains mercury, arsenic, lead and other toxic metals. [...]
“We have met a lot more people who have been diagnosed with asthma,” Anita Newsome says about her community. “They’re getting their medical records and having a lot of ‘Aha!’ moments.” [...]
Even if community residents see a connection between poor respiratory health and the coal dust, others don’t. In 2015, Norfolk Southern conducted its own public health study in response to complaints about the coal dust and concluded that the levels of coal dust were not hazardous to the health of Lambert’s Point residents. The Virginia Department of Environmental Equality agreed, setting the stage for advocates to mount a campaign to persuade them otherwise.
Enter in the New Virginia Majority. They are a grassroots organization trying to organize communities and fight for racial and social justice. They have been working with the Lambert’s Point community to raise awareness of the impact of coal dust on health and life expectancy. But they face an uphill battle. Companies like Norfolk Southern have routinely pushed back on any kind of regulation that might require them to do anything that would impact their profits—health and wellness of townspeople be damned.
Industries have their reasons for not covering their coal cars. In 1991, state lawmakers considered a law that would force Norfolk Southern to cover their rail cars. The company pushed back, arguing that it would be cost prohibitive. According to the Sierra Club, the cost of covering the rail cars is less than one percent of the company’s annual income.
With all that we know about science, technology and medicine, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that years of breathing in coal dust would have a detrimental impact on one’s health. Still, lawmakers refuse to hold companies accountable for their actions and generations of poor and communities of color suffer. With an Environmental Protection Agency under Trump, run by Scott Pruitt who actually hates the environment and loves big business, it’s a near impossibility that the people of Lambert’s Point will see justice anytime soon. It’s circumstances like this, the willful poisoning and disregard for human life, that remind us how much structures in America are only looking out for the rich.