Coal dust complaints

Residents' complaints and terminal inspection reports serve as evidence of coal dust impacts over time and are a starting point for tracing institutional responsiveness and/or negligence.

Complaints in the Public Record

Residents and business owners have made formal complaints about coal dust in the public record to government representatives since at least the 1970s. An article in the Daily Press in 1954 describes complaints by the Garden-Shore Civic League to the City of Newport News regarding "smoke and particles" that settle in the Christopher Shores-Stuart Garden area. League members believed most of the particles to be "uncombusted coal blown from the railways' two coal dumping piers." Complaints cover a range of impacts, including health concerns, expenses for added maintenance and coal dust removal costs, and the nuisance of needing to clean the dust incessantly.

We count least 20 independent complaints by residents before City Councils in Newport News and Norfolk since 2023 and many more submitted to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VA DEQ) since the agency formed in 1990. Prior to that, there are at least three instances of formal complaints reported to the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board.

Terminal Inspections in Response to Complaints

Some coal dust complaints triggered a visit to the terminal from an inspector from the VA DEQ, with the original complaint described in the inspection report. General terminal inspection reports are also included here.

Documents

Air Pollution Control Board

• Air Pollution Control Board, meeting minutes (Mrs. Beverly Mann's comments), 1977–1987 (digitized)
• Complaint from Lambert's Point, received by the Air Pollution Control Board on June 9, 1992
• Complaint from Lambert's Point, received by the Air Pollution Control Board on January 6, 1993

Virginia Department of Environmental Quality

• Air Inspection Report in response to a resident's complaint of visible emissions in Lambert's Point, January 17, 1997
• Air Inspection Report in response to a complaint made by Mrs. Smiley in Lambert's Point on September 25, 2002
• Air Inspection Report in response to a resident's complaint in Lambert's Point, January 5, 2005
• Notice of Violation Case Closure Memorandum, June 5, 2008
• Targeting Data Long Form Inspection of Norfolk & Western Railroad, May 21, 1993
• VA DEQ Source Inspection Report Form (Lambert's Point), May 16, 1991
• VA DEQ Source Inspection Report Form (Lambert's Point), June 4 and 11 and July 9, 1991
• VA DEQ Source Inspection Report Form (Lambert's Point), July 2, 1992
• VA DEQ Source Inspection Report Form (Lambert's Point), May 13, 1993
• VA DEQ Source Inspection Report Form (Lambert's Point), October 13, 1993
• VA DEQ Source Inspection Report Form (Lambert's Point), May 27, 1994
• VA DEQ Source Inspection Report Form (Lambert's Point), July 1, 1994
• VA DEQ Source Inspection Report Form (Lambert's Point), January 24, 1995
• VA DEQ Source Inspection Report Form (Lambert's Point), November 8, 1995
• VA DEQ Source Inspection Report Form (Lambert's Point), June 24, 1996
• VA DEQ Source Inspection Report Form (Lambert's Point), August 23, 1996
• VA DEQ Source Inspection Report Form (Lambert's Point), June 16, 1997
• VA DEQ Source Inspection Report Form (Lambert's Point), December 3, 1997
• VA DEQ Source Inspection Report Form (Lambert's Point), June 14 and 15, 1999
• VA DEQ Source Inspection Report Form (Lambert's Point), May 15 and 24, 2000
• VA DEQ Source Inspection Report Form (Lambert's Point), September 17, 2006

City of Newport News

• Newport News to Analyze Smoke and Soot Nuisance in Garden-Shores Sector, Daily Press, April 4, 1954

(more coming soon)

Complaints compiled by the Repair Lab

• Repair Lab, Coal Dust in Southeast Newport News is a Nuisance and There Are Solution (Corrected), August 2024