Uniontown March: Our People Are Under Attack

People from across the South came to stand with Black Belt Citizens in their struggle for health and justice. This march, in Uniontown Alabama on July 3, 2015, was co-sponsored by Black Belt Citizens and the Southern Movement Assembly. Why were people marching? Read the following to see why.

Here's the background information:

Uniontown – This Is What A Sacrifice Zone Looks Like

Uniontown, Alabama is a predominantly-Black rural town with a rich history rooted in Civil Rights and Black Liberation. Home of Coretta Scott-King and other prominent figures, Uniontown was, in its heyday, a booming Black mecca where some say five-thousand Black folks could be seen out on any given Friday. After the flight of people and industries, Uniontown today is on many frontlines of struggle, fighting poverty, racism and environmental violence.

Southeastern Cheese: Southeastern Cheese LLC. is a private-owned cheese plant that takes up residence in Uniontown. The company is known both for the stench of rotting cheese waste that hangs over the town, and it’s dumping of waste water into the local watershed. Recently, Southeastern Cheese was allowed to discharge 50,000 gallons of super-concentrated waste water to nearby Cottonwood Creek with permission from the ADEM (Alabama Department of Environmental Management). The murky waste contains more than 11,000 mg/L BOD and damaging ammonia levels that have repeatedly contaminated the water of the state. This situation has continued unabated for years with no ADEM enforcement, despite repeated speak-outs from Uniontown citizens and the Black Warrior Riverkeeper, an organization protecting the interests of citizens of the Black Warrior River watershed. ADEM had the nerve to draft an errant order in December 2014, six months after the “one-time” 50,000 gallon unpermitted release. BBCFHJ (Blackbelt Citizens for Health and Justice) commented on the draft order, pointing out that unpermitted releases were a regular occurrence; ADEM never responded and still has not taken regulatory action to alleviate continued contamination. The stench of rotting cheese waste is nauseating, and it hangs over the town; the waste-water leaves the creek murky and unsafe. ADEMs’ failed enforcement policies are hurting the community.

Uniontown WWTP: Uniontown’s sewage system continues to have unpermitted sewage discharges every day. Because the sewage system is so overburdened with processing waste from the huge catfish ponds that sit nearby, thousands of gallons of under-treated (and at times completely raw) sewage flood into nearby creeks and streams. BBCFHJ tried to prevent the misuse of $4.8 million in federal grants that were intended to fix the issue, but their pleas were ignored by ADEM. The money was wasted, and there is still no plan to protect streams and public health from the constant release of pathogens. ADEM has let the situation continue for decades.

Arrowhead Landfill: The largest transfer of coal ash in history brought 4 million tons of coal ash waste into Uniontown, with political promises of increased income to better the community. A result of a disaster in Kingston, Tennessee where an impoundment pond broke and spilled one billion gallons of wet ash slurry into nearby rivers and streams, the coal ash is known to be directly related to causing multiple types of cancer, kidney disease, neurological diseases, skin rashes and premature death. It contains some of the earth’s deadliest toxins, including arsenic, lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium and selenium. The ADEM received millions of dollars for this shameful transfer of waste into the community by way of Tennessee. Folks still don’t know how the city or the county spent the money, capital made on the backs of its Uniontown citizens; no one will give them any answers. To make matters worse, landfill owners of Green Group Holdings (an Atlanta-based company) are planning to haul even more coal ash into Uniontown. Illegal discharges and storm water runoff continue to carry coal ash pollution into Uniontown waters, and the landfill odor along with a slew of health issues makes life miserable for its citizens.

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