September 22, 2012
Dr. Steve Wing, Dr. Valerie Johnson, Dr. Sacoby Wilson, and Dr. Chris Heaney served as panelists in a North Carolina Title VI & Environmental Justice Interagency & Community Workshop titled, “Scientific Data Collection to Support Legal Compliance & Enforcement,” held at North Carolina Central University in Durham, N.C.
September 12, 2013
The Concerned Citizens of West Badin Community formed to formalize decades of organizing against the hazardous impacts of the Alcoa aluminum smelting facility.[1]
[1] https://ncejn.wordpress.com/2013/09/18/ncejn-congratulates-the-concerned-citizens-of-west-badin-community/
October 2013
At NCEJN’s 15th Summit at the Franklinton Center, Gary Grant gives a raffle prize to a Bennett College student as Steve Wing and Cynthia Brown look on.
June 16, 2014
June 16, 2014: The Royal Oak Concerned Citizens Association successfully blocked Brunswick County’s plan to expand its landfill, located in the majority African American Royal Oak community.[1]
2014
500+ North Carolina community members filed lawsuits against Smithfield Foods for damages to their property, health, and wellbeing caused industrial hog operations [1]
October 2016
Over twenty community members traveled to Washington, D.C. to speak with EPA and other governmental officials about the discriminatory impacts of hog CAFOs on Black communities in southeastern North Carolina.[1] They carried with them a petition signed by 95,000 people that demanded that EPA Office of Civil Rights investigators travel to southeastern North Carolina to witness these hazards themselves.[2]
[1] Haddix, Elizabeth. Interview by Emma Jo Donnelly. North Carolina Environmental Justice Network Internal Archive. Zoom: August 23, 2024.
Mid-November 2016
Directly motivated by the October petition and in-person organizing efforts, EPA Office of Civil Rights investigators traveled to southeastern North Carolina to research the impacts of living near industrial hog operations.[1]
January 12, 2017
In a nationally unprecedented move, the External Civil Rights Compliance Office of the EPA issued a formal letter of concern to what is now the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) about the Title VI Civil Rights complaint made by NCEJN, REACH, the Waterkeeper Alliance, and Earthjustice regarding the permitting of hog CAFOs in Black communities.
2017
The North Carolina General Assembly amended the Right to Farm Law to limit the damages that could be awarded in nuisance lawsuits to losses in property value.[1]
April 10, 2017
Naeema Muhammad, co-director of NCEJN and an opponent to HB 467, a bill that limits liability in nuisance cases, attended the floor debate in Raleigh, N.C.
May 3, 2018
NCEJN, REACH, and Waterkeeper Alliance agreed to a settlement with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) on the Title VI complaint the groups had filed with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2014.
May 2018
The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) created the Environmental Justice & Equity Board. Naeema Muhammad was among the environmental justice leaders appointed to the board.
June 15, 2018
The Farm Act of 2018 amended the Right to Farm Law to severely limit agricultural and forestry nuisance lawsuits by 1) restricting these lawsuits to plaintiffs owning property within half a mile from the operation and 2) requiring that property owners file within one year of the opening or major changes of operation. The passage of this law followed soon after community members received multi-million dollar verdicts in their lawsuits against Murphy-Brown of Smithfield Foods.
August 3, 2018
A jury awarded North Carolina community members $473.5 million in their lawsuit against Smithfield. However, due to the recent amendment of the Right to Farm Law, the U.S. District Court in Raleigh lowered the amount to around $98 million.[2] Even so, Smithfield appealed this nuisance award.
Early August 2018
Northampton County Citizens Against Coal Ash successfully pushed their county planning board to deny rezoning for a coal ash landfill. Over 300 community members attended that meeting to protest the landfill.
September 14, 2018
Hurricane Florence made landfall in North Carolina, devastating the southeastern part of the state with floods and hog waste overflow crises.[1]
February 13, 2019
February 13, 2019: Energy Justice NC: End the Duke Monopoly campaign publicly launched. Bobby Jones of the Down East Coal Ash Coalition made the announcement.
October 31, 2019
The North Carolina Senate unanimously passed SB559, a win for Energy Justice NC organizers as that bill excluded Duke Energy’s ratemaking provision.
