Show Notes
Residents of Hampton Roads are demanding an end to the coal dust after decades of struggle. But the road to environmental justice is long and winding, full of setbacks and switchbacks. What does it mean to have faith that change is possible and that effort is worthwhile?
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Gentrification may be leverage needed to push environmental mitigation in neighborhoods coated in coal dust in Hampton Roads, Virginia. But changes in the neighborhood can also push residents out of their homes. And people wonder – how will the coal dust affect newcomers to the neighborhood, who may not know about the problem?
Since the earliest days of railroads in the US, Black and poor residents have covered the costs of the coal and rail industries with their health and well-being. It’s a tax they pay to wealthy fossil fuel corporations, who continue to escape accountability. This isn’t just in Hampton Roads – all along the railroad tracks, from West Virginia to Baltimore, the coal and rail industries displace costs onto neighboring residents.
There is a new study that could offer more information on the coal dust in Hampton Roads, Virginia. But will it be enough to reduce coal dust? Doubt hangs in the air. The only thing residents know for sure is they want the coal dust gone.