The only good way to deal with Chapel Hill’s notorious coal ash pile would be to build a time machine, go back to the 1960s, and stop UNC from dumping 46,000 tons of toxic waste at 828 Martin Luther King Blvd to begin with.
But the Chapel Hill government has, unfortunately, not yet invented a time machine. They also have not decided what to do with the coal ash or the site, they don’t have a clear timeline for action, and they’re not even really sure yet what residents want.
At its meeting on Wednesday night, the town council once again weighed possible options for the site, this time with early price estimates from community sustainability manager John Richardson.
A “cap and cover” solution (which would leave most of the ash where it is) would cost a minimum of $2.9 million, said Richardson. A full removal solution (which could involve as many as 9,000 truck trips to a dump outside of Charlotte), could cost up to $25.9 million.
And there is, to be clear, currently no budget for any of that.
Richardson also mentioned that samples from around the pile remain “within acceptable levels” when tested for the gamut of toxic chemicals that make up coal ash, but that there were “higher concentrations than we would like to see” in the aquifer below the site.
After the town somehow deals with the coal ash, the council will still have to decide what to use the land for. A few council members were interested in the idea of a municipal services center, or recreation uses like tennis courts. Under the brownfields agreement that the town recently signed with the state these are among the few allowable uses; the town is not allowed to build housing.
Richardson presented some findings from ongoing community engagement, including a pie chart of responses that seemed to show that a plurality of residents approved of leaving the coal ash where it is and adding a structural cap. Richardson added that the survey was “not meant to be scientifically significant.”
Nick Torrey, a senior attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, did not appreciate that lack of scientific significance in the public engagement process. In a letter to the council, Torrey called the information “largely useless.”
“We are not told how many people responded to the survey. The survey respondents were not told about the levels of arsenic and other pollutants contaminating the site, or about their health effects. Nor … were they told about failures of capping coal ash at other sites, especially the failures of dirt covers,” wrote Torrey.
Chapel Hill resident Steve Fleck, one of three residents who showed up to provide public comment, had some more creative words about the pie chart.
“If it were a pie, I think it would be un-bakeable, and undigestible if it were managed to be baked,” said Fleck.
Fleck, Torrey, and council member Adam Searing have consistently been in favor of full removal of the coal ash. They worry about the environmental impact on the Bolin Creek (which runs past the pile) and the health of the townspeople.
Most council members, though, have indicated that they would prefer a cap and contain option, largely citing the cost and environmental justice concerns because solid waste facilities are disproportionately located in poorer and Blacker communities.
“I also am not comfortable in sending our harmful materials to another community that may not be able to protect themselves as well [as Chapel Hill]” council member Camille Berry said at a meeting earlier this spring.
That council dynamic—Searing against most of the council—reflects the factions of the 2023 election, and may foreshadow what is to come in the 2025 election.
Community engagement on the coal ash solution has ebbed and flowed over the past year. Especially with many UNC students out of town for the summer, there were no first-time commenters at this week’s meeting. The three members of the public who spoke at this week’s meeting—including Torrey and Fleck—have all been doggedly engaged throughout the entire process.
Mayor Jess Anderson pointed out that the broader public has been less engaged on the issue lately, especially with, well, all of the other things going on in the world that may cause some stress in the ultraprogressive town. And also probably because people have been hearing about this coal ash pile for more than a decade now.
“People are overwhelmed and exhausted,” Anderson said. “I often am disappointed at the number of people who are willing to come hang out with us on a given Wednesday night or Monday night.”
As the town approaches a November election with four council seats and the mayorship up for election, only one thing about the coal ash pile is certain: Residents should be skeptical of any candidate or official who claims to have a simple and easy solution.
Reach Reporter Chase Pellegrini de Paur at [email protected]. Comment on this story at [email protected].