Sierra Club Virginia Chapter
Overview
The Sierra Club Virginia Chapter is a non-profit advocacy organization in Virginia.
Sierra Club Virginia Chapter: "We connect people with nature and advocate at every level of government to ensure that clean air, safe water, and healthy neighborhoods are not negotiable—they're guaranteed. We're committed to meeting big challenges with bold, solutions, rejecting the politics of the status quo, and building a just, sustainable future together."[1]
The Sierra Club Virginia Chapter has been involved in advocacy against coal dust pollution for decades, especially in Lambert's Point, Norfolk and in partnership with New Virginia Majority, but also in collaboration with the Southeast CARE Coalition and Repair Lab in Southeast Newport News. The Sierra Club Virginia Chapter is involved in a broad range of environmental issues in the state, including climate change and data centers.
Cover the Coal
In 2015, the Sierra Club Virginia Chapter released a report it commissioned analyzing dust samples from five homes in Lambert's Point. The samples contained 20–70% coal-like particles, providing evidence that coal dust was a major source of pollution in the neighborhood.[2]
In 2017, Lambert's Point residents, the Sierra Club Virginia Chapter, and New Virginia Majority publicly called for Norfolk Southern to cover coal-filled railcars to reduce coal dust pollution.[3] Norfolk Southern has refused, despite multiple letters from New Virginia Majority and a pressure campaign focused on Norfolk Southern CEO James Squires, arguing it is too expensive and that coal dust is not a problem. According to the Sierra Club, the estimated costs of covering the cars would equal just 1% of Norfolk Southern's $11 billion gross annual revenue.[4]
Tracy Williams: "We’re not asking Norfolk Southern to leave. They've been there 30 or 40 years, the community was built around them. But we are asking them to cover their cars, and that seems like a small price to pay."
Virginia Council on Environmental Justice (VACEJ)
In 2015, the Sierra Club Virginia Chapter joined the Southeast CARE Coalition, New Virginia Majority, Appalachian Voices, Virginia Interfaith Power and Light, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions, Mothers Out Front, Moms Clean Air Force, Virginia Conservation Network, Virginia Organizing, and employees at the University of Richmond partnered to form the Virginia Environmental Justice Collaborative (VEJC) with the goals of coordinating and bolstering environmental justice efforts across Virginia.
In 2017, VEJC submitted a formal proposal for a state-level environmental justice advisory body as part of the public comment period for Executive Order (EO) 57. The VEJC was successful, and their proposal led to the creation of the Governor's Environmental Justice Advisory Council, through Executive Order 73 by Governor Terry McAuliffe, now known as the Virginia Council on Environmental Justice (VACEJ). The VEJC's proposal highlighted the work of the Southeast CARE Coalition and the issue of coal dust pollution in Southeast Newport News specifically.[5]
EPA Petition
In 2023, the Sierra Club, with support from the Sierra Club Virginia Chapter, and New Virginia Majority joined a petition to the EPA submitted by Public Justice and Appalachian Mountain Advocates. The petition requested new rulemaking to establish a U.S.-wide NPDES permit "regulating the discharge of coal and other coal-related pollutants to navigable waters from uncovered railcars."[6]
The petition followed a decision by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board (STB) in 2020 that uncovered railcars, including those carrying coal, could not be regulated on a state-by-state basis under the NPDES program, as railroads cross state lines.[7]
The petition included testimony from residents and other experts, research,[8][9][10] and photographic evidence that coal from uncovered railcars was being lifted into air through turbulent air movement generated by the train vibrations during travel, even when coal loads were sprayed with chemical sealants, and that airborne coal deposited in waterways near train tracks and under bridges.[6] The argument was that coal dust deposited into waters and reduced water quality.
The petition mentions coal dust pollution in Lambert's Point although not Southeast Newport News.
Sierra Club Attorney Aaron Isherwood: "Our petition asks for coal to be treated like so many other goods that are required to be covered as they travel across the country, over rivers, and through communities. The EPA should take action and issue a national pollution discharge elimination system permit that requires coal cars to be covered. Covers would also help keep coal dust from blowing into the air in places all around the country where coal trains pass through residential communities—places where residents are currently forced to breathe dirty air because the coal trains are uncovered."[11]
Documents
Media
- Neighbors Complain of Coal Dust, Danville Register and Bee, April 25, 2015
- Barksdale, How a Devastating Air Pollution Problem Created a Black Activist-Led Movement in a Virginia Town, Vice, October 11, 2017
- Geiling, 'This is a matter of life and death': A Virginia community choking on coal dust pleads for help, Think Progress, March 15, 2018
- Harrison, 'We need serious help': Lambert's Point Community Says Coal Dust Is Endangering Their Lives, 13 News Now, November 6, 2023
- Gaffney, Coal Dust Is Blowin’ in the Wind: That Black Stuff Spilling off Railcars Is a Threat to Public Health and Waterways across the United States, Sierra, September 26, 2023
Other Documents
- Establishment of an Advisory Council on Environmental Justice, Virginia Governor's Office, Executive Order 73, 2017
- Petition For Rulemaking: To Establish Nationwide National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit for Uncovered Railcars Transporting Coal Pursuant to 33 U.S.C. § 1342(A), 2023
References
- ↑ Sierra Club Virginia Chapter, Undated.
- ↑ Neighbors Complain of Coal Dust, Danville Register and Bee, April 25, 2015.
- ↑ Barksdale, How a Devastating Air Pollution Problem Created a Black Activist-Led Movement in a Virginia Town, Vice, October 11, 2017.
- ↑ Geiling, 'This is a matter of life and death': A Virginia community choking on coal dust pleads for help, Think Progress, March 15, 2018.
- ↑ Carbon Reduction Strategies and Environmental Justice in Virginia, Virginia Environmental Justice Collaborative, EO 57 Working Group Meeting, February 28, 2017.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Petition For Rulemaking: To Establish Nationwide National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit for Uncovered Railcars Transporting Coal Pursuant to 33 U.S.C. § 1342(A), 2023.
- ↑ Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act of 1995, House Resolution 2539, December 18, 1995.
- ↑ Ferreira et al., Full-Scale Measurements for Evaluation of Coal Dust Release from Train Wagons with Two Different Shelter Covers, Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, 91, 10, 1271–1283, 2003.
- ↑ Jaffe et al., Diesel Particulate Matter and Coal Dust from Trains in the Columbia River Gorge, Washington State, USA, Atmospheric Pollution Research, 6, 946–952, 2015.
- ↑ Lazo et al., Community Perceptions, Environmental Impacts, and Energy Policy: Rail Shipment of Coal, Energy Policy, 24, 531–540, 1996.
- ↑ Gaffney, Coal Dust Is Blowin’ in the Wind: That Black Stuff Spilling off Railcars Is a Threat to Public Health and Waterways across the United States, Sierra, September 26, 2023.