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Safe Housing for Chapel Hill

Everyone Deserves a Safe Place to Live

Chapel Hill Proposes to Build 275 Units of Housing on a 60,000 Ton Coal Ash Waste Dump at 828 Martin Luther King Blvd.

What Is Coal Ash & Why is it the New Asbestos?

· Every year, power companies with coal-fired power plants, like Duke Energy, produce 140 million tons of coal ash—the residue left over after burning coal

· Contents: EPA say there are 35 toxic metals in coal ash, including arsenic, lead, mercury, and radium, each of which can cause cancer, organ failure, and death; no safe level of arsenic, mercury or lead for children

· Chapel Hill consultants, Hart & Hickman failed to do this health research, leaving the Council in the dark

What the Top Coal Ash Scientists Say

· Dr. Avner Vengosh, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University: It is not responsible for the town to build on this site without knowledge of the risks. Town officials are in total darkness about those risks.

· Dr. Julia Kravchenko, Duke School of Medicine: Coal ash can impact human health at every stage of use—from the initial mining of coal to the post-combustion disposal of coal ash. (2018 article)

· Dr. Kristina Zierold, University of Alabama Environmental Health: Proximity to coal ash can result in higher rates of premature mortality…. respiratory disease and lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, poorer child health, and higher infant mortality

Why would the Mayor and Town Council deliberately put the health and safety of children and families at risk? Why would they want to create an environmental justice issue??

What Do We Want?

· We are not opposed to housing at 828—just to putting people in housing built on it

· For the state Dept. of Environmental Quality to deny the Town’s application for a Brownfield agreement that protects the town and developer, Belmont Sayre, of any liability if someone were to become ill or die

· For the Town Council to commit $2.5-5 million to remove all the coal ash to a lined landfill

CONTACT: Dr. Edward Marshall, edward.marshall@duke.edu, (919)265-9616