DURHAM, N.C. (Sept. 5, 2025 — Southern Union for Social Justice (SCSJ), the Battle Each Other Environmental Law and Policy Clinic (ELPC), and the Southern Environmental Legislation Center (SELC) sent a joint public remark letter to the N.C. Division of Water Resources, urging more powerful defenses in the National Pollutant Discharge Removal System (NPDES) allow revival for the previous Alcoa Badin Functions center.
Alcoa– originally the Aluminum Business of America– bought the community of Badin in 1916 and ran a light weight aluminum smelter there up until 2010 The smelting process created hazardous waste that was hidden in open pits on-site and throughout the close-by West Badin community. For decades, West Badin’s mainly African American locals have borne the impact of this contamination.
Since the website continues to release pollutants right into surrounding water bodies, Alcoa is called for to maintain an active NPDES authorization regulating wastewater and stormwater releases. The groups’ letter calls for essential improvements to ensure that the authorization sufficiently safeguards public health and the setting.
“The Department of Setting and Natural Resources (NC DEQ) need to strengthen the draft license with numerous crucial renovations,” the comment letter states. “Among their recommendations was the urgent call for the Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the Department of Waste Monitoring (DWM) to work together due to the fact that pollution from the facility continues to spread out right into the area and regional water bodies at an alarming rate. Planning and taking action are required to solve the recurring air pollution issue.
Check out complete remark letter below.
At the August 19, 2025, public hearing, SCSJ Environmental Justice Attorney Aiswarya Murali advised the NC DEQ to develop an openly available dashboard incorporating Resource Conservation and Healing Act (RCRA) and NPDES information. Such a device would provide West Badin households real-time warnings, plain-language support, and proven evidence that pollution is being minimized in time.
“The North Carolina Environmental Justice Network sees this level of openness as one of one of the most crucial improvements DEQ can make to recover the count on of the West Badin neighborhood as they encounter out of proportion dangers from legacy contamination,” Murali said.
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Southern Union for Social Justice, established in 2007, companions with neighborhoods of shade and financially disadvantaged areas in the South to protect and progress their political, social, and economic civil liberties through the mix of legal campaigning for, study, organizing, and communications. Learn more at southerncoalition.org and follow our service Facebook , Instagram, and LinkedIn