Coal Dust Kills
Developed by Repair Lab Practitioners in Residence, Lathaniel Kirts and Malcolm Jones, Coal Dust Kills is a campaign focused on driving policy change and community-supported solutions to coal dust mitigation in Southeast Newport News and Lambert's Point. As part of Coal Dust Kills, the Repair Lab and partners, especially Yugonda Sample-Jones of EmPower All, have been involved in a range of activities to advocate for new local and state policies around coal dust mitigation.
The Repair Lab team has interviewed current and former Hampton Roads residents affected by coal dust pollution, installed a PM2.5 and PM10 community air monitoring network in Southeast Newport News and Lambert's Point known as the VOICES Network, released the report, "Coal Dust in Southeast Newport News Is a Nuisance and There Are Solutions," held community meetings, launched Voices in the Dust, and is currently focused on collecting dust samples to characterize its trace metals composition and produce evidence that coal dust is present inside residents' homes.
Repair Lab Multimedia Producer Adrian Wood produced and released Crosswinds, a five-episode podcast connecting listeners to the coal dust problem through fact-based reporting, emotive scenes, and interviews with residents, weaving together audio documentary, journalism, and sound art methods. The podcast begins by rooting listeners in the lifelong friendship of the PIRs. Crosswinds explores the mixed blessings of recent development in both Southeast Newport News and Lambert's Point and how gentrification has the potential to influence the coal dust issue. Listeners are transported along the train tracks built by convict laborers, connecting the mountains of West Virginia to the coal export terminals in Curtis Bay and Hampton Roads, following the coal dust into the air, homes, and lungs of residents. Crosswinds surveys the science of airborne coal dust and the burden of proof placed on communities to demonstrate harm for protection through the regulatory and political process. Finally, Crosswinds features a sermon by Kirts, a pastor in Southeast Newport News, asking what it takes to keep going in the long struggle for justice.