Landfill Issues in Escambia County, Florida: Exposing an Environmental Injustice Affecting The Living Conditions of Disenfranchised Communities A Thesis Presented to the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences And The Kugelman Honors Program Of The University of West Florida In partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation as a Kugelman Honors Scholar Connor D. Wagner April 8 th , 2016
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Landfill Issues in Escambia County, Florida:
Exposing an Environmental Injustice Affecting
The Living Conditions of Disenfranchised Communities
A Thesis
Presented to the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
And
The Kugelman Honors Program
Of
The University of West Florida
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation as a Kugelman Honors Scholar
Connor D. Wagner
April 8th, 2016
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT
WHAT IS ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE...…………………………………….........…i
HISTORY OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE MOVEMENT…………….…….iii
CASES OF DIRECT ACTION IN NORTHERN FLORIDA………….…………….....x
THE WEDGEWOOD COMMUNITY AND ROLLING HILLS LANDFILL………...xii
THE BIRTH OF JUSTICE ESCAMBIA……..……………………………………....…xiv
A TOXIC NIGHTMARE………………………………...……………………………..xv
THE VIOLATIONS PILE UP...………………………………………………………..xviii
WILL THIS TOXIC NIGHTMARE EVER END?................................................................ .xx
REFERENCES……………………………………………………………………....….xxiv
Abstract
Mainstream environmentalism has noticed a remarkable transition from wilderness
preservation and conservation to achieving wide scale environmental justice. Historically,
environmental protection came from white, middle-class males participating in nationally accredited
organizations including the Sierra Club, National Resource Defense Council, and Oceana. A shift to
women and people of color working within their local communities to address environmental issues
plaguing their communities is taking place. The shift came from inspiring individuals such as Rachel
Carson, Robert Bullard, and Lois Gibbs, to name a few, in the United States and the world who
showed us that the environment is more than just pristine forests. The environment is everywhere
that people work, live, and play.
Action in the Environmental Justice Movement comes in the shape of direct action
strategies led by local grassroots organizations and individuals. This includes protesting and
lobbying to local politicians in order to spread awareness and demand action on certain
environmental issues impacting their lives. The work in environmental justice is almost always a
long struggle and varies in impact. Many grassroots organizations have been successful utilizing
these actions, including “Help Our Polluted Environment” (HOPE) in Perry, Florida. The case in
point is the organization Communities United for Environmental Justice ( cueJustice or Justice
Escambia) founded to protect the health of people in the Wedgewood community from improperly
managed landfills that now surround their communities. Landfills in the area cause increased
hydrogen sulfide pollution, water pollution, and increased levels of heavy metals in the soil. I will be
addressing the impact of cueJustice on combating the landfills harming their community.
i
What is Environmental Justice?
The system the United States currently has in place for environmental protection stratifies
people based on race, income, and location. The dominating attitude towards modern
environmental protection advocates unequal enforcement of protection by exposing disenfranchised
communities to hazardous substances (Bryant, 1995). The system in place typically forces the
victims of the pollution to prove there is a problem before ever blaming the industries actually
responsible. Profit generated by these polluting industries takes priority over the health of the
people (Bullard, 1994). People of color take the blunt force of our current environmental protection
paradigm. African Americans, Latinos and Native Americans often experience environmental
hazards throughout their lives (Bryant, 1995). They receive little to no access to health care or any
other protective measurements to deal with these troubling conditions (Cole & Foster, 2001).
The rise of environmental justice in the United States and the improvement of media
communication has led to people becoming more aware of the issues with our current system of
environmental protection (Bryant, 1995; Dowie, 1995). With awareness comes action; grassroots
organizations around the country have risen to fight for environmental protection in their own
communities. Environmental justice is the right of all individuals, regardless of race or wealth, to be
equally protected from environmental degradation in their communities (Bullard, 1994).
Environmental justice also includes social equity and an end to discrimination (Bryant, 1995). The
field of environmental justice is divided into three different types of justice : Distributional,
procedural, and process justice. Distributional justice focuses on the actual placement of
environmental benefits as well as burdens including landfills by the government and polluting
industries (Hoban, 1996). The current environmental protection paradigm, instead of focusing on
pollution prevention, distributes hazardous substances to disenfranchised communities with little
ii
voice to object to the injustices (ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, 2015). Distributional justice is
the primary focus for many local grassroots organizations. Procedural Justice refers to equal
environmental protection provided by policymakers and political enforcers. This includes the
process of cleaning up environmental hazards or moving entire communities out of dangerous areas.
Finally, process justice focuses on the equal access to information and citizen involvement in our
democratic society (ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, 2015).
Mainstream environmentalism was almost entirely, if not obsessively, focused on wilderness
preservation and conservation (Dowie, 1995). Environmentalists within the modern movement
typically join nationally accredited organizations such as Sierra Club and National Resource Defense
Council (NRDC). Traditional activists are white, middle-class males with an above-average
education, personal power, and resources available to them (Bullard, 1993). Environmental justice
defines the environment in much broader terms. The environment is not just the forests we
preserve but the communities where people live, work, and play (Schweizer, 1999). Environmental
justice organizations are born on a local level in response to particular issues within a community.
These grassroots organizations are led by both women and people of color with varying levels of
income (Bullard, 1994). Environmental justice activists engage local, state and federal government
through protests, petitions, lobbying, demonstrations, and educational debates in order to have their
voice heard (Heiman, 1996b). The goal of most justice organizations is to restore participatory
democracy to the U.S. system of environmental protection (Cole & Foster, 2001).
Unfortunately, it is often the case that the government will not simply help disenfranchised
communities deal with the unfair distribution of hazardous substances in their homes, when the
government benefits from their placement in those communities (Bullard, 1993). It makes the
problem of disposing of hazardous waste in the U.S. based on race one of the most pressing
iii
concerns of the environmental justice movement (Cole & Foster, 2001). In response, minorities
have come to redefine modern environmentalism in the United States. Community health and
human rights have grown to become an integral part of modern environmentalism almost to the
point where activists do not consider themselves environmentalists (Dowie, 1995). Disenfranchised
people are speaking out, and are working to make changes in their communities through grassroots
organizations (Camacho, 1998).
History of the Environmental Justice Movement
It is difficult to pinpoint an exact beginning to the environmental justice movement. The
idea of environmental justice grew from multiple events occurring all at once, creating an
enlightenment to the issue at hand (Cole & Foster, 2001). Environmental justice started to emerge
in the 1950s, however much of it went unnoticed before the first Earth Day of April 22nd, 1970
(Bullard, 1994). The field of human welfare ecology began shortly after World War II, for the first
time considering human and environmental health as one in the same. (Bullard, 1993). The
imbalance between human and environmental health first became apparent in Rachel Carson’s book
Silent Spring (Carson, 1962; Dowie, 1995).
Marine biologist, conservationist, and writer Rachel Carson published her book Silent Spring
in June 1962 to reveal the negative impacts of DDT, or dichloro-diphenyl-trichbro-ethane (Carson,
1962). DDT was a very popular and effective insecticide recommended by agricultural companies.
DDT in its pesticide form can pollute local waterways and soil deposits (Bullard, 1994). From there
the poison makes it inside the bodies of humans and animals. DDT is a fat-soluble poison stored in
the body for years, causing cancer and genetic damage for generations (Carson, 1962). Carson
received severe backlash from pesticide companies and agricultural experts. However, her careful
preparation and research saved her reputation (Carson, 1962). Silent Spring inspired people to do
iv
something to protect their communities from environmental damage. Rachel Carson was the first
person to officially coin the term “environmentalist” in modern language (Carson, 1962; Dowie,
1995).
Many environmental justice scholars, such as Robert Bullard, believe that the environmental
justice movement officially began during the Civil Rights Movement with a riot at The Texas
Southern University in Houston in 1967 because of the death of an eight-year-old African American
girl who drowned in a local garbage dump. Martin Luther King, Jr. was originally traveling to
Houston to speak on the environmental hazards facing African American communities before he
was assassinated in Memphis on April 4, 1968. Shortly after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, many of
those civil rights activists shifted their attention to protecting minority communities from
environmental exploitation (Bullard, 1994). Civil Rights leaders had a history of performing direct
action1 to fight for what they believed in. People involved in the Civil Rights Movement
immediately recognized distributional injustices as a racial issue not solely an environmental one.
Civil Rights participants also had experience in the political fields that was useful for many people
who were unfamiliar with the political process (Cole & Foster, 2001).
Before the environmental justice movement, there were two separate movements that would
eventually unite to form the concept of environmental justice: The Grassroots Anti-Toxic
Movement and the Multiracial Environmental Movement both started in the late 1970s (Gibbs,
1998). The Anti-Toxic Movement consisted of mostly white mothers in poor socioeconomic
conditions with little education and activist experience. Anti-Toxic organizations grew from
communities becoming more aware of the dangers of chemicals such as DDT in pesticides and
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) traced in electrical equipment (Cole & Foster, 2001). Members of
1 Direct action is used by groups in social movements to highlight a problem that goes against their ideals. Direct action
is typically non-violent and includes sit-ins, strikes, blockades, picketing, and rallying (Heiman, 1996b).
v
the Anti-Toxic Movement were more focused on procedural justice and the economic analyses of
regulating hazardous chemicals (ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, 2015). They proposed new
innovated techniques and clean-up strategies (Bullard, 1994). One of the most impacting examples
of the Anti-Toxic Movement was the Love Canal crisis in Niagara Falls, New York.
The Love Canal Homeowners Association (LCHA), led by Lois Gibbs, became one of the
most successful, single issue organizations of its time. Before becoming a suburban community,
Love Canal was a hazardous waste site. In 1953, Love Canal was filled in and construction began
directly on top of site. Love Canal contained dangerous amounts of carcinogens including benzene,
and dioxin. Miscarriages, birth defects, high cancer rates, and weakened immune systems became
the norm for the community (Gibbs, 1998). Children often complained about their feet burning in
their yards. Outside cats and dogs were reported losing their fur (Dowie, 1995). Lois Gibbs became
aware of these problems and started LCHA in 1978 against the Occidental Petroleum Corporation.
After a long struggle, Love Canal became the first official superfund2 site in the United States and
President James (Jimmy) Carter declared a state of emergency in the area. All families were
evacuated from Love Canal by 1981 and eventually reimbursed for their households. It was one of
the first successes of any grassroots environmental organization. It showed the world how local
people can come together and gain power (Gibbs, 1998). Although Love Canal became the first
superfund site, it was certainly not the last; in 1980 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
announced that approximately 30,000 superfund sites like Love Canal existed around the country
where waste was improperly disposed of (Bullard, 1993). It was discussed later in 1982 by Lois
Gibbs and William Sanjour, branch chief of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Hazardous
2 Superfund sites are contaminated locations that require long-term removal of hazardous pollutants and restoration to
be deemed safe again. The EPA has been assigned the task of identifying these locations (Gibbs, 1998).
vi
Wastes Management Division that all of these waste sites will eventually leak (Bullard, 1994). The
results of the Love Canal crisis sparked grassroots organizations around the nation to rise up.
The Multiracial Environmental Movement rose directly from the Civil Rights Movement and
focused its attention on racism and discrimination (Bullard, 1993). The movement began with
increased research in order to prove a connection between race and environmental harm. The
United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice conducted the first study to determine the
relationship between hazardous waste sites and colored communities after being established in 1963
(Camacho, 1998). Robert Bullard, heralded as the father of environmental justice, discovered a
disproportionate level of waste facilities in minority communities in Houston (Cole & Foster, 2001).
In 1979, Bullard assisted his wife in a class action lawsuit against Northwood Manor and the unfair
placement of a municipal landfill (Bullard, 1994). Bullard reported that waste facilities and
incinerators have been in black communities in Houston since the 1920s (Cole & Foster, 2001).
The 1982 Warren County, North Carolina, protest revealed the severity of unfair landfill
distribution in disenfranchised, minority communities. Warren County, one of the poorest and
ethnically diverse counties in North Carolina, was a burial site for over 30,000 cubic yards of soil
contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) (Bullard, 1994). In addition, oil laced with PCB
was purposely poured onto roadways in Warren County in order to avoid paying for its disposal
(Cole & Foster, 2001). In 1982, a massive group of protestors came together to oppose the
dumping of six thousand truckloads of PCB-soil into a local landfill. The authorities arrested over
500 people, and the soil was still disposed of in Warren County (Bryant, 1995; Camacho, 1998). It
was the first time people ever went to prison opposing a toxic waste landfill (Bullard, 1994).
Founder of the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice Reverend Chavis
coined the term “environmental racism” in his 1987 report Toxic Wastes and Race in the United
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States (Bullard, 1994). It brought to light the realization that the government and polluting
industries deliberately sacrificed the health and environment of colored communities (Bryant, 1995).
Local grassroots organizations began establishing in disenfranchised communities to literally save
themselves from environmental contamination. The Multiracial Movement gave people of color
the courage to lead themselves and speak out against those in power (Bullard, 1993).
Environmental Justice in the 1990s began to receive national and global recognition through
a number of noteworthy events emphasizing the need to end discrimination in order to create a
sustainable world (Bryant, 1995; Dowie, 1995). Robert Bullard finished his book Dumping in Dixie
in 1990 and was considered the first textbook on environmental justice (Bryant, 1995; Bullard,
1994). From October 24th to 27th, 1991 in Washington, D.C. 300 people of color from around the
nation met at the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit. It is here they
created the 17 Principles of Environmental Justice (The Principles, 1991). The principles officially
defined environmental justice to the rest of the world. For instance, the second principle:
“Demands that public policy be based on mutual respect and justice for all peoples, free from any
form of discrimination or bias, (The Principles, 1991)” states that discrimination does still exist,
despite wanting to believe it ended with the Civil Rights Movement. In addition, according to
principle four:
“Environmental Justice: calls for universal protection from nuclear testing, extraction,
production, and disposal of toxic/hazardous wastes and poisons and nuclear testing that
threaten the fundamental right to clean air, land, water and food (The Principles, 1991).”
The summit officially declares what environmental justice advocates have been studying for decades;
that the government and polluting industries intentionally dispose of hazardous waste in
communities of color (Bullard, 1994; Cole & Foster, 2001).
The environmental justice movement has improved the lives of people of color and low
socioeconomic positions since the first Earth Day of 1970 (Bullard, 1993). Support for national
environmental organizations had been declining since the 1980s as people began settling their own
community’s environmental problems in different ways (Dowie, 1995). Environmental justice
activists have halted the construction of hundreds of incinerators, and thousands of landfills have
been closed or prevented (Gibbs, 1998). Despite these successes, there is still much that needs to be
done. White communities are continuously cleaned up at least 20% sooner than minority
communities. In addition, penalties for polluting a white community are typically 500% more severe
than poisoning disenfranchised areas (Cole & Foster, 2001). Many environmental justice activists
mistrust the government and accuse the government and polluting industries of environmental
racism (Bullard, 1994). It is often difficult for disenfranchised communities to address these
environmental injustices when there are other social woes to deal with such as low paying jobs, poor
education, lack of health care, transportation, and poverty (Bullard, 1993). Many times the
government likes to consider environmental problems such as landfill pollution as separate from
these other social issues. However, in reality, environmental justice is a holistic science
interconnected with social justice (Cole & Foster, 2001).
Even today the government and polluting industries refute that environmental racism exists.
People claim that what environmental activists see as racism is simple economics and market
efficiency (Heiman, 1996a). The government sometimes argues that people can move whenever
they want, and the victims of environmental pollution are willingly remaining in these areas
(Camacho, 1998). In actuality, the wealthy who can afford to move will leave a community once
dissatisfied with landfills and hazardous waste. Landfills decrease the value of land in the area, and
the value of homes soon follow. Eventually, the houses are worth less than their original marking
price and people can no longer sell their homes to abandon the community (Cole & Foster, 2001).
x
In addition, many polluting companies victimize disenfranchised community members with
economic blackmail. Workers are forced to decide between being unemployed and unable to
provide for their families, and putting the health of themselves and their family at severe risk
(Bryant, 1995).
Cases of Direct Action in Northern Florida
Grassroots organizations today work to expose and combat environmental injustices
occurring throughout the United States. Often times these organizations were created in the late
20th to early 21st century with the improvement of mass communication to unite people against
unfair environmental treatment that began decades earlier (Dowie, 1995). This is such the case with
the organization Help Our Polluted Environment (HOPE) established by Joy Towels Ezell in her
community of Perry, FL (Ezell, 2016). In 1954 the Proctor & Gamble pulp plant in Perry spilled
industrial sewage into the adjacent Fenholloway River. The Fenholloway has maintained a brownish
sewage color and been the site of numerous mass fish killings since then (Averhart, 2015). Joy Ezell
recognized the atrocious condition of the river at an early age and decided to do something about it.
She was originally disliked for combating a major employer in the community, sometimes being
called out as a “radical liberal environmental terrorist” (Ezell, 2016). People began understanding
her concerns when dioxins were discovered in the river in the early 1980s, and in 1986 traces of
Agent Orange3 were measured in the Fenholloway (Averhart, 2015). HOPE was officially
established in 1989 with the help of at least 30 concerned community members to stop water
pollution by trying to find those who could help them (Ezell, 2016).
3 Agent Orange is a powerful herbicide utilized by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War to destroy crops and trees
(Averhart, 2015)
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At the highlight of activity HOPE used postage cards, podcasts, and community meetings to
rally and relay information to over 60 members. Eventually, HOPE transitioned into email and
Social Media to reach a broader audience (Ezell, 2016). HOPE put serious pressure on government
officials to clean up the Fenholloway River, and they had many successes despite the river still
containing pollutants. The people and the state are more aware of the problem, and Ezell believes
that this will cause positive changes (Ezell, 2016). Joy Ezell has lent her voice to grassroots
organizations in Escambia County located in Pensacola, FL in order to face the impact of big
companies improperly placing and managing landfills in disenfranchised communities.
Pensacola, Florida has numerous landfills and superfund sites dotting the area. Many of
these landfills are unlined, meaning it is possible for hazardous pollutants to seep into local sources
of water and soil (Rabb, 2015a). In addition, cleanup of toxic sites statistically begins 12-42% later
in Pensacola in minority communities than white sites (Heiman, 1996b). The Escambia Wood
Trading Company in Escambia County is an example of one of those such superfund sites. The
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) excavated soil from the Escambia Wood Trading
Company, dating back to the mid-20th century, in 1991. The EPA dug up over 344,250 tons of soil
without recognizing the harmful volumes of dioxin within the ground (CATE, 2013). In addition,
the EPA soon estimated that over 145,000 cubic feet of this toxic waste was still underneath the
homes of the adjacent Escambia community (CATE, 2013). Long-term adverse health became
apparent to people breathing in particulate matter containing dioxin blowing from the superfund site
(Horning, 1999). Margaret Williams, shortly after the EPA exposed the toxic soil, founded Citizens
Against Toxic Exposure (Horning, 1999) in order to save the community from the Escambia Wood
Treating Company superfund site soon nicknamed Mt. Dioxin appropriately (Averhart, 2015).
CATE demanded the immediate relocation of all citizens to a safe and clean environment away from
Mt. Dioxin while the site was remediated (Horning, 1999). From 1993 to 2013, the third largest
xii
permanent relocation of U.S. families as a result of superfunds occurred in Escambia County with
over 358 families relocating out of their poisoned homes (CATE, 2013). Escambia County is
plagued by toxic material being stored improperly within waste sites where industrial profit comes
before human health (Horning, 1999). The Wedgewood community, also in Escambia County,
shows the recent creation of a grassroots organization who is, through countless successes and
struggles, still fighting for environmental justice against landfills to include the Rolling Hills
Construction and Demolition Debris (C&DD) Facility (Morton, 2014).
The Wedgewood Community and Rolling Hills Landfill
The historic community of Wedgewood is considered one of the first black, middle-class
neighborhoods in Pensacola and the United States. Wedgewood was a place for financially stable
African Americans to move to in order to escape rundown complexes in the mid-20th century during
times of segregation (Outzen, 2014a). The Rolling Hills C&D Facility, located at 6990 Rolling Hills
Road, Pensacola, FL 32505, is a 39.4 acre disposal area surrounded by approximately 2,872 people
within a mile of the facility (Health Consultation, 2015). To make matters worse, Rolling Hills is just
one of seven C&D Facilities or borrow pits operating within the Wedgewood area (Savage, 2014).
Rolling Hills officially began operating as a C&D Facility on August 16, 2007 when South
Palafox Properties, LLC took ownership of the land (Final Order, 2015). It began as a shallow
borrow pit that was to be later constructed into a segregated golf course (Horning, 2016a). Borrow
pits are areas where substrate such as soil is removed in order to build elsewhere (Rabb, 2015b).
Rolling Hills was originally responsible for providing much of the dirt that constructed Wedgewood
decades before (Horning, 2016a). County commissioners including Marie K. Young, the
commissioner for the communities in the area, in the mid-2000s voted to make the surrounding
areas of Wedgewood commercial property much to the dismay of community members who wanted
xiii
localized shops (Horning, 2016a). Young and the others planned on building a four-lane Longleaf-
Pinestead connector road through the Rolling Hills property (Rabb, 2015b). South Palafox
Properties wanted in on the potential to sell Rolling Hills to the county when the connector road
came through, and purchased it from Gulf Coast Grading and Paving (Outzen, 2014a). Other
landfills began springing up in Wedgewood after Hurricane Ivan, a category 5 hurricane, on
September 16, 2004. Wedgewood became a dumping ground for garbage and debris, and eventually
the 7 active waste sites were formed that exist today (Coleman, n.d.).
South Palafox Properties purchased a landfill without truly knowing how to properly operate
and maintain them (Rabb, 2015b). South Palafox Properties early on accepted large amounts of
drywall debris following the demolition of the Wedgewood middle school due to asbestos (Horning,
2016a). This would lead to high hydrogen sulfide (H2S) levels in the area (Health Consultation,
2015). In 2010, tar balls and mats from the disastrous BP oil spill were unlawfully deposited in the
Rolling Hills and the nearby site Longleaf Waste Management site (Coleman, n.d.). Longleaf was
supposed to store BP oil waste for no more than 24 hours, however the hazardous waste remained
exposed in the landfill for years (Savage, 2014). The Department of Environmental Protection
(DEP) recognized the improper maintenance of Rolling Hills and filed a consent order on March 7th,
2011 regarding multiple violations including unauthorized Class I-II4 waste, high air emissions, lack
of weekly cover, improper working conditions, landfill height, and landfill slope greater than one-
third. Unfortunately, these same unbacked threats were delivered to Rolling Hills by the DEP again
on August 15th, September 29th, September 30th, and October 11th of 2011 (Outzen, 2014a). A
Notice of Violation was filed on February 11th, 2012 and a 120 day Remedial Action Plan was
4 Class I waste is potentially dangerous to human health. It often includes electrical equipment, or contaminated natural
products such as soil containing PCB. Class II waste include medical waste, food waste, plastic materials and most waste
you would expect in a landfill (Final Order, 2015).
xiv
developed later in July 2013 (Outzen, 2014a). It was clear by 2014 neither issue was to be
readdressed (Outzen, 2014a). Wedgewood’s community could not handle much more when on
April 29th-30th, 2014 the 100-year storm5 caused a flash flood in Pensacola that broke the poorly
established berm surrounding Rolling Hills (Savage, 2014). This resulted in contaminated water
leaking into adjacent homes and ultimately into Pensacola Bay (Coleman, n.d.). Rolling Hills
accepted more flooded Chinese drywall6 further increasing the production of H2S from the facility
(Health Consultation, 2015).
The Birth of Justice Escambia
By June 25, 2014 Rolling Hills was over 130 feet high and riddled with violations (Outzen,
2014a). Social justice educator and environmental activist Dr. Gloria Horning met with concerned
community member LaFanette Soles Woods to discuss what needed to be done. Dr. Horning,
LaFanette Soles Woods, and two other members of the community started a Facebook group called
Justice Escambia during the summer of 2014 in Lafanette’s living room (Woods, 2016). Justice
Escambia or Communities United in Environmental Justice (cueJustice) was designed to be a
centralized source for knowledge in the Wedgewood community (Woods, 2016). Woods explained
that when she was born in Pensacola in 1958 the Wedgewood area was considered a nice place to
live. Woods left for Bethune Cookman University and later the Air Force in 1978. It was when she
returned to Wedgewood to retire in 1995 when she discovered the strong odor and landfill s
surrounding the community (Woods, 2016). Woods became inspired to help her community when
she was introduced to the Escambia County Commission meetings by her mother who went to
request something be done about Rolling Hills. Woods does not consider herself an
5 100-year storms or floods are rainfall totals that have a 1 in 100 chance of occurring in any year (Savage, 2014). 6 Chinese drywall is an environmentally hazardous drywall containing numerous chemicals. It is defective drywall
manufactured in China and brought to the United States (Horning, 2016a).
xv
environmentalist like many people in the environmental justice movement; she is just a neighbor
who wants positive change in her community. She “wants to speak for those who cannot or are
afraid to speak” (Woods, 2016).
Support for Justice Escambia grew quickly in 2014 with the help of active members like Dr.
Horning and Woods. The Facebook group grew to approximately 200 concerned individuals of
Escambia Country and surrounding areas (Morton, 2014; Coleman, n.d.). Justice Escambia follows
the same bottom up model of other grassroots organizations, emphasizing the power in the average
to force change in larger states of government (Schweizer, 1999). Grassroots organizations strive
for source reduction, a “right to know”, and a “right to inspect” (Bullard, 1994). “Source reduction”
is the reduction or complete removal or hazardous waste. In this case, Justice Escambia’s primary
motivation is to get rid of the landfills surrounding the Wedgewood, Olive Heights, and Rolling
Hills communities for the wellbeing of future generations (Woods, 2016; Morton, 2014). Justice
Escambia fights to know how the dump is impacting their health, and how they can be warned
when pollution levels are exceptionally high (Horning, 2016a). Finally, the community has a right to
have facilities like Rolling Hills landfill properly inspected and reported on (Horning, 2016a).
Members of the Wedgewood communities speak through many mediums to get their voice heard.
Beyond the Facebook page, Justice Escambia has done interviews around the United States, online
podcasts, radio talks, and television news stories (Woods, 2016). They also regularly travel to
downtown Pensacola for County Commission meetings where all members are asked to wear bright
orange to stand out (Outzen, 2014a).
A Toxic Nightmare
Often times the potential dangers of landfills is uncertain or debated because landfills emit
pollutants over a long period of time. It is difficult to define a single landfill as point source
xvi
pollution7 (Coleman, n.d.). Operators of Rolling Hills, however, have placed themselves in a
situation where it is obvious that Rolling Hills is responsible for Wedgewood’s woes. Rolling Hills
landfill has left much of their ground up garbage unaccounted for onsite. The debris is left
uncovered, resulting in increased water infiltration and H2S emissions (Health Consultation, 2015).
H2S is a flammable, colorless gas that is easily recognizable by its iconic “rotten egg” smell. The gas
is most often caused by natural sources. However, H2S can be produced from demolition debris
present in anaerobic conditions within landfills (Health Consultation, 2015). H2S is considered a
nuisance gas, which defined by the Office of Environmental Enforcement is:
“Anything which annoys or disturbs one in the free use, possession or enjoyment of his/her
property, or which renders its ordinary use or occupation uncomfortable, or anything which is
detrimental to health or threatens danger to persons or property within the county (Final
Order, 2015).”
Toxic odor is the most apparent effect of H2S. According to the Florida Department of Health
(FDOH), low concentrations of H2S can cause irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat. It can even
cause mild headaches or trouble breathing in asthmatic or sickly individuals (Health Consultation,
2015). Loss of consciousness, nerve damage in nose, difficulty breathing, and fluid in lungs are all
possible side effects when exposed to volumes of H2S greater than 100,000 parts per billion (ppb)
(Health Consultation, 2015).
While the owners of Rolling Hills C&D claim their landfill is not responsible for the odors
and it is likely the nearby wetland or an Emerald Coast Utilities Authority (ECUA) sewer pipe,
FDOH links the landfill in a completed exposure pathway (Final Order 2015, Health Consultation,
7 According to the EPA, point source pollution is a single, identifiable source where pollutants are expelled (Health
Consultation, 2015).
xvii
2015). The Rolling Hills landfill is the source of the H2S pollution and the environmental medium
is air. Those exposed are the people near the community center or in adjacent neighborhoods who
are inhaling the pollutant (Health Consultation, 2015). To prove this, the FDOH installed a Jerome
® 651 Hydrogen Sulfide Monitor next to the Wedgewood Community Center that records all
amounts of H2S at least 3ppb on September 4 th, 2014 (Health Consultation, 2015). A second
monitor was then placed in the backyard of Annie McWilliams who lives next to the landfill on
August 11th, 2015 (Nickinson, 2015). Wedgewood has exceeded the minimum odor threshold of
10ppb almost every day since the monitors were installed (Final Order, 2015). The minimum risk
level (MRL) of 70ppb for H2S, established by the Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry
(ATSDR), has been surpassed multiple times. On February 12, 2015, H2S levels were at least triple
the MRL for three consecutive days (Final Order, 2015). Due to the hard work of Justice
Escambia, four monitors were installed and showed that H2S levels near Rolling Hills were a public
health hazard, especially from July 21st to December 31, 2014 (Health Consultation, 2015).
Another nuisance from landfills like Rolling Hills is dust or particulate matter (PM). These
are microscopic solids that stick to liquid droplets present in the air (Health Consultation, 2015).
Trucks and bulldozers too large for the streets of Wedgewood run through the community all times
of the day kicking up PM (Savage, 2014). PM can cause coughing, chest pain, fatigue and wheezing
within the short term of inhaling it. Long term effects include bronchitis, asthma attacks, and
respiratory infection (Health Consultation, 2015). Too make matters worse, water monitoring wells
have discovered concerning amounts of iron, copper, lead and mercury in surface water
surrounding Rolling Hills (Morton, 2014). With all of these injustices, it is no surprise that Rolling
Hills would be noticed again by governing agencies. Rolling Hills once again received another
Notice of Violation for six different violations to include odor, particulate matter, and water
pollutants on June 17, 2014 (Outzen, 2014a).
xviii
The Violations Pile Up
In response to these activities Justice Escambia contacted the County Commission and
managed to set up a tour of Rolling Hills using their perceived right to inspect (Coleman, n.d.).
Escambia County Commissioner Lumon May, State Representative Mike Hill, and County
Administrator Jack Brown visited Wedgewood on July 22nd, 2014. They traveled around to local
landfills, borrow pits, and trash disposal facilities (Johnson, 2014). The very same day, the FDOH
sent out an air quality health alert informing the community H2S levels were over 340ppb (Health
Consultation, 2015). The County Commission recommended that all individuals either stay indoors
or temporarily leave Wedgewood. Summer camps such as Escambia County Play, Learn, Grow
were relocated out of the Wedgewood Community Center for the children’s safety until the alert
was dropped on August 5 th, 2014 (Johnson, 2014). This was considered one of the peak moments
for Justice Escambia when awareness for the injustices in Wedgewood became more than apparent.
Shortly after the tour, Lumon May said that an anonymous 93-year-old resident of Wedgewood
approached him crying and said:
“I’ve been fighting these dumps for 50 years. I couldn’t get Willie Junior to do anything. I
couldn’t get Marie Young to do anything. You are the first one who really cared. Now I can
die knowing that someone cares about Wedgewood (Outzen, 2014b)."
An official Notice of Revocation was issued against Rolling Hills on July 31 st, 2014 for eight
noteworthy counts of violation (Notice of Revocation, 2014). Count I is “Violations of Surface
Water Quality Standards” due to noticeably high levels of iron in neighboring bodies of water
(Notice of Revocation, 2014). Count II is a “Failure to Implement a Remedial Action Plan” within
120 days of being informed to do so (Notice of Revocation, 2014). Counts III and IV are failures
to provide financial assurances for both the facility and corrective actions respectively (Notice of