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The following ar;cle appeared in the Faye@eville Observer in April of <br />2021 and highlights the racial inequity of waste disposal <br />Landfill toxic to Sampson County Residents <br />By Danielle Koonce Danielle Koonce, a na;ve of neighboring <br />Roseboro pursuing a doctorate in sociology at the University of <br />Maryland, is researching how the landfill in Snow Hill has frayed the <br />social networks of a once vibrant center of rural Black life and <br />con;nues to reach its “tentacles” into other areas of the county. <br />“Over a month ago, I had the opportunity to help collect water <br />samples throughout Sampson County through a project coordinated <br />by the Environmental Jus;ce Community Ac;on Network and <br />researchers from Appalachian State. We visited 61 homes <br />throughout Sampson County, so I had the opportunity to hear from a <br />variety of people about life in their neck of the woods. One issue <br />reverberated throughout these predominantly Black communi;es: <br />the damage and loss of quality life that has been caused by the <br />Sampson County Landfill. <br />The Sampson County landfill has been toxic to the communi;es that <br />reside near it. We heard story a‘er story of the terrible gaseous <br />smell that emanates from the landfill and seeps into the homes of <br />the residents that live nearby — and even several miles away. We <br />learned that the landfill receives trash from around the state, from <br />as far away as New York City, and even trash that comes in on ship- <br />barges through Wilmington. <br />The residents we talked to were worried. Although many of the <br />residents that live near the landfill are on county water, some are <br />not — which means their wells could be exposed to toxins leaching <br />from the landfill. “Today, the landfill con;nues to expand and grow, <br />and with it grow the impacts to a growing number of surrounding <br />communi;es. Adding to it are industrial hog and poultry opera;ons <br />and other sources of pollu;on that cumula;vely cause great harm to <br />public health and dispropor;onately harm low income communi;es <br />and Black and Indigenous communi;es.” <br />15.Please describe any ways in <br />which low-income or <br />marginalized communi-es/ <br />households were engaged in <br />the crea-on of this project <br />proposal: <br />Research was done to determine the effect of the landfill on the <br />low-income, dispropor-onately minority and marginalized <br />communi-es that are located near the Sampson County landfill (see <br />ar-cle above by local researcher Danielle Koonce who worked with <br />researchers form the Environmental Jus-ce Community Ac-on <br />Network and Appalachian State University). <br /> Page of 12 22 <br />DocuSign Envelope ID: 9FB641C3-C7F6-4609-BE4A-71829032AD83