Duke Law Clinic to Begin Water and Soil Testing at Former Alcoa Plant
Duke Endowment grant provides funding in decades-old case
Some plant workers developed serious health issues such as cancer and asbestosis. Residents also became alarmed that the hazardous waste was making its way into nearby Badin Lake, part of the Yadkin River and Little Mountain Creek, which flows into Lake Tillery, the drinking water supply for Montgomery County.
More than a decade ago, Duke University’s legal clinic was asked by the Yadkin Riverkeeper to get the state to require Alcoa to clean up the mess. “And we‘re still trying to get them to do that,” said Ryke Longest, director of the Environmental Law and Policy Clinic and a clinical professor of law.
There have been numerous reasons for the delay, including disputes between state and federal agencies over who would exercise oversight to the cleanup. In addition, a lack of state funding and prioritization of other projects by the state’s Hazardous Waste Section further delayed oversight, said Longest.
“We heard from residents over and over again that they had witnessed waste activity, and they thought it was hazardous waste, and wanted to know about it and wanted to have it tested,” he said.
Although Alcoa has reported results of testing done by consultants it hired, community members say such self-investigation is like the fox guarding the hen house.
Students to Begin Testing
This is about to change thanks to a grant from the Duke Endowment, which is providing up to $150,000 in funding, and project management support from Duke’s Office of the Vice President for Research.
The funding will allow Duke students in the Environmental Law and Policy Clinic to test for contamination. The clinic gives students such as Mark Lamendola experience in handling legal and environmental matters.
Lamendola became involved with the clinic through the Nicholas School of the Environment, where he is earning his master’s in environmental management.
“I had always been interested in the intersection of environment law and policy and so the clinic was sort of a natural step for me,” Lamendola said.
He and fellow student Jason Atwood have spent hundreds of hours poring over public records and court documents relating to Alcoa and the residents’ attempts to get the company to take responsibility for the contamination they claim was left behind.
Before graduating from the law school this year, Atwood reflected on how the next group of clinic students will become involved in the case and the advice he had imparted to them.
“This case is different from other cases that the clinic has done because of how long it’s gone on, how many people have been involved and the complexity of it,” Atwood said. “It was a good chance to try to make things a bit simpler for everybody involved.”
Mapping Their Strategy
Nancy Lauer, a lecturing fellow and staff scientist at the law clinic, said they consulted with residents about where the dumping took place, and where they noticed health-related problems and other areas of concern. From there, they created a map for their sampling plan.
“Over the next six months or so, we will go out with the residents to these different sites, collect samples, and run them at the commercial labs. If we find contamination or anything of concern, we will report that to either the state or federal government and push for further investigations of those areas to work toward getting them cleaned up,” Lauer said.
Lamendola, who will be part of the testing this summer, says he’s surprised by how many students have come before him.
“It’s funny, I came in January and I'm, like, I'm gonna be able to solve this case on day one,” he chuckled. “So often we sit in classes and talk about environmental justice. But in practice, I think it’s eye-opening just how long this case has been going on.”
Yadkin Riverkeeper Edgar Miller has been working with the law clinic since he became the organization's executive director in 2018. He took on the role as Riverkeeper in 2021.
A Riverkeeper’s responsibility is to be the eyes and ears of the river, said Miller. “We also respond to what we view as threats to water quality and the health of the river and the broader watershed system,” Miller said.
Miller’s predecessor brought Duke’s Legal Clinic in to assist.
“The clinic has played a critical role in assessing some of the legal and regulatory issues we are confronting and what I consider to be a unique and unusual situation, where you have a former manufacturing site that isn’t producing anything except for pollution.”
Edgar Miller, Yadkin Riverkeeper
“Ryke (Longest) and his team have been instrumental in keeping this issue in front of state regulators,” Miller said. “The clinic has played a critical role in assessing some of the legal and regulatory issues we are confronting and what I consider to be a unique and unusual situation, where you have a former manufacturing site that isn’t producing anything except for pollution.”
Miller said the Alcoa facility sits in the heart of the watershed, and many don’t realize that Badin Lake is part of the Yadkin River. “This facility has the potential to leach contamination in the Yadkin Pee Dee River system for years, potentially negatively impacting generations downstream to come,” he said.
The Yadkin River stretches 215 miles from Blowing Rock to its confluence with the Uwharrie River, where it becomes the Pee Dee.
Miller hopes that the grant will bring additional attention to the problem.
“This grant is huge. Not only has it elevated our technical capacity and support but most importantly … it has provided some resources and focus for the community organizing,” he said.