WAYNESVILLE, N.C. - The New Year will bring a small silver lining to the cloud of acid rain that's been falling for years on western North Carolina.

The state has settled its seven-year lawsuit against the Tennessee Valley Authority for air pollution from the agency's coal-fired power plants. Now, the North Carolina Energy Office, the agency dispersing the funds, is meeting with western North Carolina communities to determine how to spend the $11 million settlement that has been awarded to the state.

In addition to the settlement money, says Seth Effron, communications director for the Energy Office, residents will see reduced pollution.

"The TVA is going to embark on cleaning up these facilities and making sure that there is a reduction in the kinds of coal-burning-related pollution."

Western North Carolina will see a little more than $2 million a year for the next five years as a result of the settlement, Effron says. The money could go toward job creation in energy-related fields and finding ways to become more energy efficient.

At meetings held this month, the Energy Office invited community members to offer suggestions for how they'd like to see the money spent. Effron says they heard several examples of how mountain communities already are finding innovative ways to conserve energy.

"People are saying, 'These are the things going on that are helping our communities, and let's look at ways to do even more of these kinds of things.' "

One example, he says, was from Cherokee County, where the school district used more than $800,000 in energy savings to avoid staffing cutbacks and keep 15 teachers in the classroom.


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Residents of East Palestine, Ohio, say they continue to live with health problems, including rashes, nosebleeds and respiratory issues following last year's massive train derailment and chemical spill.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, 177 tons of solid waste of solid waste and 68 million gallons of water have been transported out of East Palestine for disposal.

Jess Conard, Appalachia director for the advocacy group Beyond Plastics, said vinyl chloride is a key ingredient in making PVC plastic. She argued the disaster highlighted the need to reduce production of industrial plastic and better regulate all stages of the plastic life cycle. She added residents still do not have the resources needed to stay safe.

"We are also in desperate need of residential indoor and outdoor air monitoring and air assessments for our homes," Conard contended. "There are residents within the past month that have reported detections of vinyl chloride outside of their home."

Norfolk Southern recently agreed to a $600 million settlement in an attempt to resolve a string of lawsuits involving thousands of people.

If it gets approval from all parties, it would resolve all class-action claims by people and businesses who were within a 20-mile radius of the derailment site, and personal injury claims within 10 miles. In a statement on the company's website, the company stressed the settlement does not constitute any admission of liability, wrongdoing or fault.

Conard pointed out the settlement will not prevent another train-related environmental disaster from happening. She noted the amount of money in the proposed settlement will hardly leave a dent in the pockets of a company whose profits topped $8 billion last year.

"If the court accepts this settlement, it sets the precedent that there is a corporate price tag for poisoning communities," Conard asserted. "The court must uphold justice for the people."

Congress has stalled on passage of legislation to boost regulations around inspections and fines for railroad companies violating safety standards. Earlier this month, the Biden administration passed a new rule requiring freight operators to have at least two people on board, in an attempt to increase safety.

Chemical plants in West Virginia and other states will be required to curb emissions of toxic, cancer causing pollutants - such as ethylene oxide, chloroprene and other chemicals - under a new Environmental Protection Agency rule.

Hundreds of facilities, most located near low-income or communities of color, will also have to collect air pollution data and submit it to the EPA.

The data will also be made available to communities, which Jeremy Symons - a senior advisor with the Environmental Protection Network - said is an important tool for transparency and environmental justice.

"Not only will this action by EPA reduce these dangerous toxic air pollutants by 96%," said Symons, "but they're also going to require chemical plants to install fenceline air-pollution monitors."

Research has shown that long-term exposure to ethylene oxide and chloroprene can increase the risk of certain types of cancer, such as lymphoma, leukemia, breast cancer and liver cancer.

Children are particularly at risk.

The Biden administration says the rule will slash more than 6,200 tons of toxic air pollution each year in affected regions.

Symons, a former EPA advisor, said the rules come after years of work by local community members and environmental organizations that have sounded the alarm on the impact of deadly air pollution.

"There's been especially high cancer rates in these communities," said Symons. "So it's really significant that EPA has taken action and gone into the communities that have not been protected as much as they should be in the past."

A handful of companies in West Virginia - including Chemours, Koppers and Altivia - will have to comply with the new rules.

Investigative reporting published in 2021 by Mountain State Spotlight and ProPublica have revealed how toxic chemical pollution has harmed the state's majority Black communities.

People working for environmental justice are rallying today at the downtown Pittsburgh headquarters of U.S. Steel, voicing their concerns to company shareholders about creating a healthier future in the Monongahela Valley region.

Japan's Nippon Steel is buying U.S. Steel for more than $14 billion.

Duquesne Mayor Nickole Nesby, an environmental-justice organizer with the group 412Justice, said the asthma rate in the Mon Valley is four to five times higher than the national average. She pointed out they're being left out of important conversations about the sale and are urging better health protections.

"We are actually gathering to demand a seat at the table," she said. "We -- the communities which have been impacted by the pollutants for decades -- have not had a seat at the table. Our voice needs to be heard."

U.S. Steel has had a presence in the Mon Valley since 1901 and currently employs more than 3,000 workers. Nesby said the sale isn't supposed to affect local employment, as U.S. Steel has said it will keep the contract as it currently exists.

U.S. Steel's Mon Valley Works, which includes the Clairton Coke Works, is the biggest coke plant in the country.

NaTisha Washington, communications manager for the Breathe Project, said the plants have a long history of breaking air-quality rules and facing complaints. She added that the plants keep getting fined for exceeding pollution limits - and even have trouble getting new permits.

"There is no transparency with the communities about these air quality days being bad," she said. "No protections, no resources like air filters, or anything that's supporting residents that are affected by these bad-air days."

Washington added that money is being put into a clean-air fund and a Community Benefit Trust. But there has been no visible improvement to community health so far. She noted many Mon Valley residents are feeling the impacts of either poor air or water quality.