Durham Dispatch

On June 17, the Durham City Council voted to approve $28 million in raises for the fiscal year starting July 1, 2024. Full-time General Step Plan workers will receive an average raise of $8,136 - some more, some less. Workers with more years of service will receive a higher wage increase, some totaling over $15,000. This huge investment in wage increases would have never happened without the collective action of many Durham city workers over the last year, starting in spring 2023, including a six-day stand down by Solid Waste workers, and many rallies throughout 2024. While the minimum wage starting July 1, 2024 will be $19.58, all current city employees will be making a minimum of around $22 per hour. Many of the senior experienced workers in sanitation and public works will receive $12,000-14,000 raises annually. We are also strongly positioned going into next year's budget cycle to win even more structural changes to the pay plan design, including awarding low-wage workers the same annual increase as high-wage earners, as well as amendments to the city's Universal Living Wage ordinance. The city manager's budget included raises for the police, who account for 17 percent of the city workforce, that would be over 30 percent of the total amount spent on raises. Workers in Solid Waste and Public Works in the General Step Plan represent 42 percent of the total work force, but will only receive 34 percent of the salary increase. Management and Professional Staff in the Open Range pay scale continue to get more than front line workers. In early January, we had a difficult meeting with Mayor Leonardo Williams and Mayor Pro Tempore Mark Anthony Middleton. They denied the need for workers to make $25 per hour. When asked about city workers not being able to afford to live in Durham, Mayor Williams stated, "I never promised that city workers would be able to live in the city. It is out of my control." Union leaders met with Javiera Caballero and Carl Rist on January 9, where they vaguely committed to support us, but stated they wanted to wait until the Compensation Study was completed before making commitments. UE150 also met with DeDreana Freeman, Nate Baker and Chelsea Cook on January 23, where they firmly pledged support for our demands, but wanted to gather more information. In our second round of meetings with all of them, we felt that Williams, Middleton and city manager Page were blocking any ability to change the "pay plan design", but wanted to just move the current structure up by "market rates". This limited our ability to change the minimum wage or make the steps more fair. In the second meeting with Cabellero, she stated support for the idea of reclassifying solid waste workers, however she hinted at the need to get HR involved. She also refused to support the $25 per hour demand, stating she needed a "system". When asked about the Universal Living Wage ordinance language they ignored HUD housing data for 2024, she stated it could be looked at "next year" as this was a pay plan design change, and they were not considering plan design changes this year. In our final meeting with Freeman, Cook and Baker on May 13, they pledged to help find the $300,000 needed to reclassify solid waste, but we didn't find the 4th vote. We must continue our fight into the next budget cycle and hold City Council accountable to make the Pay Plan Design changes next year, as they suggested this year. Real lasting systemic change takes time to build. Through this process hundreds of city workers took action, spoke out for the first time, attended their first council meeting, and more. Many joined the union. Let's stay the course, build the union and we shall overcome! This article was published first by UE Local 150.

On Wednesday, June 12, more than 100 workers at the Corning Inc. manufacturing plant in Tarboro, North Carolina voted in a federal labor board election on whether to join the United Steelworkers. The union vote in Tarboro comes as part of a broader push by the USW to organize workers at multiple non-union plants that Corning operates across North Carolina. Corning manufactures, among other items, materials used in fiber optic cable and in solar panel installations. The company is currently experiencing a boom in demand, in part as a result of a federally-subsidized buildout of high-speed internet infrastructure, as well as an expansion of solar energy production. The company operates seven plants across North Carolina. Only one of these facilities is unionized. Workers at the company’s plant in Wilmington are proud members of USW Local 1025. Southern Workers Assembly (SWA) applauds the efforts of workers at the Corning facility in Tarboro to organize a union. We offer our solidarity during their upcoming union election. We hope this will be the first of many worker victories at non-union Corning facilities in this state. The working class of the South must build union power in order to win a better life for our class and advance the interests of workers everywhere. The South is currently experiencing a surge of capital investment in many segments of the manufacturing industry. Workers in this sector are strategically positioned to lead the way in the fight in opposition to exploitation by employers and the efforts of the ruling class to divide working people and pit us against one another. It is in the interest of the entire working class when workers — including our courageous siblings at Corning in Tarboro and beyond — stand up and fight for justice, dignity, and a better life for working people. Victory to Corning workers in North Carolina! This article was published first by Southern Workers Assembly.

Dominion Energy invited the community to an open house about the construction of the Moriah Energy Center last week, but few of their questions were answered, according to Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop. “It was very well attended and a demonstration of the passion and organization of local community members. They had created a plan to engage and had a list of over 20 questions they were prepared to ask,” said Krop. “Unfortunately, Dominion had it set up in a way that they weren’t engaging with everyone together, and when community members requested they have more of forum, Dominion representatives refused. It ended up being a very loud and noisy and chaotic space.” The liquified natural gas (LNG) facility in Person County has caused controversy from its start, when Person County Commissioners voted unanimously to approve rezoning for the facility in front of a large and very vocal NO MEC crowd. Since, clear-cutting 70 acres of land in the pre-construction phase has resulted in sediment pollution of creeks running off the property and through neighbors’ land. The creeks are tributaries of Deep Creek and Flat River, both home to some of North Carolina’s endangered species, including the Neuse Waterdog and several species of mussels. Community members concerned about harm to the creeks and aquatic species attended the open house to get answers. “It was definitely not useful in getting answers to our questions. There was a lot of deflecting. If we had questions about sediment pollution, the response was: ‘Everything on site is in compliance, and we have not been issued any notices of violation,’” said Krop. “If anything, it just further proved how unwilling they are to be accountable and to meaningfully engage with the concerns community members are bringing forth.” Krop said that Sound Rivers will continue to document impacts to creeks in the area. While she has been monitoring turbidity on two creeks since before construction started, this week, she met up with community members to identify more sample sites in the area surrounding the Moriah Energy Center. “We’re working with the community on the ground to keep an eye on the creeks. We’ve got a team of volunteers, and we’re going to continue to document the impacts of sediment runoff and keep sending those reports to the state Division of Energy, Mineral and Land Resources and the Division of Water Resources,” said Krop. This article was published first at Sound Rivers.

Amid a ghastly global escalation of crippling heat waves, wildfires and superstorms, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said last week that world leaders must quickly find “an exit ramp off the highway to climate hell.” He slammed fossil fuel corporations as the “godfathers of climate chaos.” In North Carolina, one of the largest of those corporate godfathers, Duke Energy, proposes to greatly expand fossil fuel use while strangling the fastest, cheapest and fairest path to slow the crisis: rooftop solar-plus-storage (SPS), also known as local solar and distributed generation. In voluminous filings to the NC Utilities Commission on May 28th, attorneys representing scores of social justice, environmental, consumer, and business groups, along with Attorney General Josh Stein, widely rejected Duke Energy’s Carbon Plan proposal for handling the state’s electricity needs in coming decades. Nearly all parties oppose Duke Energy’s plans to gamble on high-risk, super-costly experimental technologies and to greatly expand the use of methane gas for power generation. Most parties cite the need for a shift to renewable power, with Stein’s lawyers alluding to more solar-plus-storage on homes and businesses. As initial filings are digested, it seems that many groups will explicitly support NC WARN’s proposal for a sweeping expansion of SPS by having it funded through the rate system. Joining NC WARN in presenting that proposal to the NCUC are the Charlotte-Mecklenburg NAACP, Robeson County’s Seeds of HOPE and the Down East Coal Ash Environmental and Social Justice Coalition. At least six other interveners’ refer to the need for more distributed generation including the office of Attorney General Josh Stein, The City of Charlotte, Walmart, the Environmental Working Group, the NCUC’s public staff and more. Sharing Solar Proposal Helps All Customers: Local solar-plus-storage (SPS) could expand across NC quickly, inexpensively and equitably – with priority given to disadvantaged communities and emergency facilities. There’s no cost for customers to add SPS; it would be funded through the rate system – just as we now all pay for dirty power. All homes, businesses and nonprofits benefit – even if they don’t have solar. Solar companies grow, creating thousands of jobs in small towns and cities. Sharing Solar would improve resiliency and provide backup power during outages. It avoids the constant rate hikes and high risks saddling Duke Energy’s plans. In written testimony supporting Sharing Solar, engineer Rao Konidena describes how Duke Energy rigged its modeling to virtually exclude consideration of SPS. He also told the NCUC that, in proposing large generation projects situated far from where power is most used, Duke Energy is “creating a dependency on transmission to deliver that far away generation …”. As the Environmental Working Group told the NCUC, Duke Energy favors large scale power infrastructure over cheaper and more reliable smaller scale alternatives, such as SPS, which can act as “virtual power plants” that allow the utility to draw from customers’ batteries during periods of high, system-wide demand. Among the interveners, there was little support for Duke Energy’s high-risk and secretive plans to risk tens of billions building questionable transmission corridors that might lead to giant solar farms many years from now.* NC WARN and other community groups have predicted that controversy would spring from any attempt by Duke Energy to intrude upon farms, forests and communities in eastern North Carolina while blocking local SPS. The NCUC will conduct a judicial-style hearing beginning on July 22nd in Raleigh. It is clear that the only way North Carolina can finally get aligned with the climate scientists is to rapidly expand local solar-plus-storage. All professed leaders must stop pretending that the Duke Energy Carbon Plan is moving the state toward decarbonization. *A group of co-intervenors filed one expert testimony strongly supporting Duke Energy’s grid buildout. Inexplicably, a second expert witness praised how distributed generation such as SPS could be expanded quickly and inexpensively. This article was published first by NC WARN.

UE Local 150 members from the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and the University of North Carolina (UNC) held a political action day at the state legislature on Thursday, May 16th to urge their representatives to take action to improve working conditions for public-sector workers around the state. Members gave speeches and chanted outside the capitol on the front lawn to call attention to their unlivable wages and working conditions. “The staff shortages in DHHS are as bad as they have ever been,” said Sekia Royall, President of Local 150 and cook at the O’Berry Center in Goldsboro. “Each facility is looking at at least 30 percent vacancy rate across the state with the nursing staffing agency contracts expiring this summer workers are concerned that the vacancy rate will double. “North Carolina has tried to temporarily fix our staff shortage by hiring temporary workers paying them twice the money that they pay long-term dedicated staff, and we are tired of it. Our demand for a $20 per hour minimum wage is necessary to keep up with the current inflation.” DHHS has been working to address overlapping crises in North Carolina related to mental health and opioid addiction, while also dealing with a shortage of inpatient beds for patients with dementia and developmental disorders. In addition, the state legislature has not addressed the critical staffing shortages at the state’s 13 hospitals. UE Local 150 members said that continued inaction will lead to the loss of more inpatient hospital beds which provide critical services to their most vulnerable residents. The members have urged legislators to act because record vacancy rates are creating more difficult working conditions and stagnant salaries, which are not keeping up with the skyrocketing cost of housing and food. “We know that our state has a $1.4 billion surplus and we want our legislative body to allocate those funds in a way that is consistent with our values,” said Rakesh Patel, a state DHHS worker from Central Regional Hospital. “We are asking for DHHS and the legislative body to appropriate more funds so we can have a 20 percent increase in our salaries or a $20 minimum wage." “We also think there are issues that don’t involve money, which include assigning a safe staffing task force and addressing the chronic toxic workplace culture that we are seeing in our hospitals. State workers come to take care of these patients and we want to see them leave physically intact and emotionally intact.” North Carolina is also set to be the first state to completely eliminate corporate income taxes, draining between $6 and 8 billion from critical public services and jobs. Local 150 members met with over a dozen legislators urging them to raise state workers’ salaries by 20 percent and institute a $20 minimum wage for state workers. They are calling for corporations pay their fair share of taxes, safe staffing, an end to toxic work environments, and a repeal of the ban on public sector collective bargaining in the state. In recent weeks, Local 150 graduate worker members at UNC and NC State University have also been peacefully calling on their university to divest from the Israeli military, which is currently bombarding the people of Palestine. Administrations at the universities responded by violently attacking, arresting, and suspending students and graduate workers. This included UE Local 150’s UNC graduate worker co-chapter president Hashem Amireh, who is Palestinian, while peacefully protesting.  The union is calling for the charges to be dropped and suspensions to be overturned. UNC union members are also calling for an end to parking and graduate worker fees which are paid by campus workers. Videos from the rally and press conference can be seen on the UE Local 150 YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@ue150ncpublicserviceworker5. This article was published first by UE Local 150.

Southern politicians have gone out of their way in word and action to make clear they stand on the side of big business and racism as they’ve recently lamented that the “Alabama [ie – Southern] model for success is under attack” and vowing to “fight unions to the gates of hell.” Nearly two hundred rank and filers who are developing a movement of workers in the South that can build power to make these politicians’ fears a reality gathered in Charlotte, NC on May 17 – 19 for the 2024 Southern Worker School. These meetings are the annual organizing conference of the Southern Workers Assembly network, which includes local workers assemblies, worker organizations, and other workers from various sectors and states throughout the region. As the upsurge in worker organizing and fightback continues to expand – most notably represented in the UAW drives across the auto industry – the 2024 elections loom and the broader social movement to end the U.S. supported Israeli genocide in Palestine widens and spread, the gathering came at particularly timely juncture to assess conditions and develop united plans for advancing in this period. “Being in a room with such a diverse group of workers, we can consider that a real cross section of the American landscape. It felt like a new beginning of the labor movement to me, a room filled with people organizing to achieve justice in the workplace, from all walks of life, to make sure we have justice for everyone regardless of race, gender, etc,” remarked Jamie Muhammad, Vice President of the International Longshoremen’s Association Local 1414 in Savannah, Georgia. “It was powerful, too, to see so many people wearing keffiyehs and showing solidarity with Palestine. Those are the type of people who look at the news and are aware of everyone’s suffering and want equality for everyone. I’ve never been in a room like that before. When the working people in the South rise up and we come together on a common cause, we can lead the rest of the nation where it needs to go.” This was the largest worker school convened by the Southern Workers Assembly to date, and included delegations and participation from: El Futuro Es Nuestro/It’s Our Future; Siembra NC; United Campus Workers; UAW; ILA Local 1422; ILA Local 1414; Truckers Movement for Justice (TMJ); UE Local 150; UE Local 111; Union of Southern Service Workers (USSW); National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA); Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity & Empowerment (CAUSE); Duke Graduate Students Union (DGSU); National Nurses United; and several locals of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), among others. Building a movement & worker networks The opening session of the school kicked off only hours after the result of the vote by Mercedes workers in Alabama on whether to join the UAW was concluded. This opening panel discussion sought to offer some assessment of the organizing across the South, while raising some specific examples and practices from worker network building outside the context of a solely NLRB election approach. The panel included Ashaki Binta from Black Workers for Justice (BWFJ); Corey Hill, president of UAW Local 3520 and chair of the Daimler Truck North America Council; Dominic Harris, president of the Charlotte Chapter of UE Local 150; Miranda Escalante, Asheville Food and Beverage Workers United (AFBU); and TaShira Smith, a founding member of the Union of Southern Service Workers (USSW). Ed Bruno, a member of the SWA Coordinating Committee, offered these remarks at the discussion’s opening, saying: “The SWA congratulates the UAW for the election at Volkswagen and Mercedes. The vote counting doesn’t matter. What matters is the workers’ and the UAW’s motivation, willingness, and resources to organize the Southern auto industry.” Bruno continued, noting, “The Southern auto industry will not be organized one election at a time, nor will the hospital industry or logistics or any industry. We encourage other unions to follow their example. The UAW founding in the 1930s was based on sit-down strikes that were multi-corporation, multi-location efforts to organize the entire auto industry. That’s the way the modern labor movement was formed. And that’s the way the South will be organized today.” Ashaki Binta expanded on these points, drawing on the 40 year history of Black Workers for Justice organizing workers in North Carolina, noting, “Through our experience, we learned that traditional methods of trade union organizing would not work in the South. Understanding the political and economic structure of the South, that was built to maintain the region as a cheap labor market for capital, and the oppression of Black people in particular as the basis for that market, impacting all other workers. Sixty percent of Black workers live in the U.S. South. The question of building power for working people has to be the objective and basis of our work. The experience of the UAW is extremely important and we are looking forward to learning all that we can from their work. Even so, there are still millions of workers in the South that need to be organized.” USSW, AFBU, and UE150 worker leaders all contributed lessons of how they’ve developed worker networks that prioritize collective action and movement building, utilizing this central orientation to win on issues and grow their organizations. Joining this discussion just over a week after the record contract won by Daimler Truck North America workers was overwhelmingly ratified, Local 3520 President Hill reminded everyone that, “We won a record contract. But the war has just begun. The thing of it is, they always change the game plan on us to keep us divided. Divided no more we will be. When we stand together that’s where our strength comes from. We took six locals and brought them together. Not the bargaining committee, not the leadership, but the workers won that contract. They proved they could set out and walk that line and do what they needed to do. But we have a lot of work to do.” Higher levels of consciousness, coordinated collective actions The remainder of the weekend focused on deepening sector-based networks, sharing out organizing reports on lessons from workers assemblies and workplace committees, political education, and assessing interventions made by workers across the SWA network in solidarity with Palestine – from organizing contingents in demonstrations, education workers and others building solidarity with student encampments, moving ceasefire resolutions through union locals and city councils, and more. “It was powerful to see how so many other workers are thinking like me and fighting to make change in the workplace,” said Shenika Brown, a truck driver from Memphis, TN, and a member of Truckers Movement for Justice. During the political education discussion, led by Abdul Alkalimat of the SWA Education Committee, attention was given to analyzing and assessing the political economy of the South. Alkalimat broke down the concepts of the base – the productive forces – and superstructure – the consumption of commodities/services, social reproduction, ideas, etc – of the economy. In particular, there are many changes occurring in the base of the Southern economy in this period, with large capital investments in manufacturing and electric vehicle production, that are worth the attention of worker cadre to understand and incorporate into our strategic thinking. In light of these developments, the Southern Workers Assembly has recently launched a program aimed at recruiting workers to get jobs in some of these growing, strategic sectors of the Southern economy. This program was discussed in some detail during the weekend. There was also a great deal of discussion of political power and how it’s developed, in light of the 2024 elections. The Southern Workers Assembly’s nine point Worker Power Program was raised as a way for workers to make independent political interventions that are connected to the primary objective of building organization and power in the workplace. Workers from the logistics, manufacturing, public, building trades, healthcare, education, and service sectors held breakout discussions on Saturday afternoon, during which time they were able to share about the work and fights they’d been engaged in and identify more opportunities for coordination going forward. “At each of the past two SWA worker schools, there’ve been industry breakouts where I’ve met multiple union brothers and sisters from my sector. And these are members who’re already committed, long-term, in seeing a real united working class force in the South. An organization that can pull in building trades workers like that is, frankly, rare. I come away from these weekends with people who live states away but who I can consistently rely on for educated strategies and resources. The value of that is immeasurable,” said Chris Anders, a rank & file member of IBEW LU 666 in Richmond, VA. At the November 2023 worker school, service and education workers formed industry councils that have met on a semi-regular basis since that time, and made plans to continue to coordinate coming out of the most recent school. In addition, public sector workers from Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina formed a pubic sector council that intends to meet going forward. “To see teachers and rank and filers from Amazon and other places, even though we work in different industries to see and hear that we have a common thread to be treated with dignity and respect was powerful. We’re all fighting to make our employers recognize our value and to assert that we do have a voice. To see all of us coming together was amazing, united around a basic thread that we want to be treated with dignity and respect and should be paid what we are worth. We’re human beings, not robots,” Mary Hill, vice president and co-founder of CAUSE, reflected. “I was especially encouraged to build solidarity with migrant workers and to see so many young people at the worker school. The group we brought from CAUSE was largely new members. We’re not just fighting our own struggle at different workplaces, we’re building a movement and it’s a legacy we are passing on to the younger generations coming behind us. It gives me hope for the future to see younger generations getting involved in struggles at their workplaces.” The worker school contributed towards advancing the deepening of worker networks across the region, and in addition to providing space for exchanges and coordination among the ten active workers assemblies, workers from more than half a dozen other cities were in attendance and are making plans to begin building assemblies in their cities coming out of the gathering. The movement to organize the South marches forward. This article was published first by Southern Workers Assembly

On Wednesday, May 8, 2024, a crowd of 100 frontline community members impacted by the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) and allies gathered in Charlotte to hold the financiers behind MVP accountable for the destruction the pipeline has wrought across Appalachia. This action took place a week after MVP experienced serious pipe failures during hydrostatic testing as it tries to go into service at the end of May. “We face life-threatening conditions on this methane gas pipeline route due to MVP’s recklessness and it’s all made possible by these banks and asset managers. We are in the midst of a climate crisis; these financiers must stop locking their investors into bad deals by backing companies like MVP,” said directly harmed community member and co-director of POWHR Russell Chisholm. Activists, carrying signs that said “Defund MVP”, met in the morning at Vanguard’s offices to call out their continued reckless and immoral financing of methane gas pipelines like MVP which contribute to climate chaos and destruction. Vanguard is the single largest investor of fossil fuels in the world. “Vanguard is often insulated from the ugly impacts of its massive investments in expanding fossil fuel development, but we know that the Mountain Valley Pipeline is a danger to everyday people living nearby, and ultimately, a bad investment for Vanguard. We came all the way from Pennsylvania to act in solidarity with those on the frontlines of this pipeline, and we will be sharing their stories with the growing number of Vanguard customers who are ready to move their money out if Vanguard continues on this dangerous path,” said Lina Blount, Director of Strategy and Partnerships at the Earth Quaker Action Team. The actions continued in uptown Charlotte where 100 Indigenous water protectors, frontline leaders, and allies carrying puppets and signs, and singing songs and chants, delivered letters on the financial risk of MVP to Wells Fargo, Chase, and Bank of America. They conducted a mock-trial in front of the Bank of America headquarters called “The People vs. Bank of America”, to expose the crimes against humanity and the planet. “No human being can survive without clean water, yet Bank of America continues to fund projects like MVP that destroy precious drinking water sources without a second thought. These banks and asset managers must know that MVP continues to wrack up unprecedented violations, including violations of the rights of tribal nations to informed consultation. So long as they choose to keep funding these harms, our multiracial, multi-faith grassroots movement will only keep getting louder,” said Dr. Crystal Cavalier-Keck, co-founder of 7 Directions of Service, Citizen of the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation, and impacted community member on the Southgate route. This action continues the work that local faith leaders and activists with GreenFaith have been leading against Bank of America including monthly Earth Witness Wednesday events and the most recent protest on April 23 the day before the bank’s annual general meeting. “Our many faiths teach us that we are to care for people and protect the planet.  The financial decisions of big banks are destroying the planet and causing untold human suffering. As people of faith and conscience we know this is wrong, inhumane and also deeply unjust  since so many of these projects disproportionately exploit Indigenous lands and peoples as well as many black and brown communities in the US and the Global South,” said Rev. Amy Brooks Paradise, US Organizer with GreenFaith. Further interviews are available with frontline leaders, including: Dr. Crystal Cavalier Keck (co-founder of 7 Directions of Service and impacted community member on the Southgate route), Russell Chisholm (co-director of the POWHR Coalition and directly harmed community member on the MVP mainline route), and Mariah Clay (MVP organizer with West Virginia Rivers Coalition). This article was published first by POWHR.

Image credit: IndyWeek [1] Despite a years-long campaign to greenwash its corporate image by misleading the news media and decision-makers, Duke Energy remains a leading driver of the global climate crisis and is expanding fossil fuels while undermining clean energy solutions. The latest evidence is data NC WARN’s attorney and engineer obtained during the “discovery” phase of the ongoing challenge to Duke’s latest (pro) Carbon Plan proposal. That plan is Duke’s projection of future power generation, and the NC Utilities Commission is supposed to subject it to rigorous open debate by multiple parties and meaningful input by the public. Image credit: Duke Energy [2, pg. 30] The data NC WARN found show that Duke won’t even begin choosing bids for its much-touted solar expansion until at least 2028 [3]. Construction would apparently begin sometime later, then increase for a few years before reverting to very low levels again by 2037 (just 525 MW) and beyond, according to Duke’s projections in the 2023 (pro) Carbon Plan application [2, pg. 81]. Image credit: Duke Energy [2, pg. 81] For several years, North Carolina ranked 2nd nationally in additions of large-scale solar fields, with 1,250 megawatts (MW) added in 2017 [4]. The number plummeted to 250 MW in 2022 due to pro-Duke legislation and a limit on new solar development that Duke sought and received from the NCUC in its 2022 Carbon Plan order. Those legislative and regulatory barriers have fueled uncertainty among solar investors, leading to market stagnation and the loss of dozens of proposed projects; North Carolina’s national solar ranking fell to 13th in 2023 [5]. The Solar Energy Industry Association says NC ranks 23rd in projected growth over the next five years. Image credit: SEIA [5] To amplify the uncertainty, many of the new solar farms Duke Energy is claiming it will later pursue could hinge on Duke leaders’ dreams to pour billions into new or expanded transmission corridors in southeastern NC, where several community groups have already expressed concerns and demanded to know precisely where Duke intends to use eminent domain (land seizure) for new corridors [6]. All this amplifies our belief that Charlotte-based Duke Energy is gradually strangling the companies that build large solar fields, much like it’s done to the companies focusing on rooftop-parking lot solar through its NCUC-sanctioned change to net metering rules. A ruling that could reverse those changes is pending at the NC Court of Appeals [7]. Guaranteed Failure to Help with Climate Crisis So, even if Duke’s high-risk plans for utility-scale solar, experimental nuclear reactors and “hydrogen capable” gas were to succeed as planned, none would provide any meaningful climate benefit until well into the 2030s – much too late for North Carolina to help avert runaway climate-social chaos. Meanwhile, Duke continues expanding construction of methane-leaking, fracked gas burning power plants, hedging against quitting coal and charging ratepayers millions annually to study the possibility of building an as-yet designed nuclear reactor that, at best, might become operational in 2034. State leaders simply must stop Duke Energy from killing the growth of renewables and doubling down in the wrong direction. Local, rooftop-parking lot solar plus storage, matched with well-placed utility-scale solar is the fastest, cheapest – and could be the most equitable way – for North Carolina to help the millions of people already being devastated by climate impacts. This article was published first at NC WARN. Work Cited Billman, Jeffrey. “Trump’s Failing War on Solar Could Hurt North Carolina.” INDY Week, 8 Feb. 2023, indyweek.com/news/archives-news/trump-s-failing-war-solar-hurt-north-carolina. "Carolinas Resource Plan, Appendix C." Duke Energy, www.ncwarn.org/wp-content/uploads/DukeCPAppendixC.pdf. “Carbon Plan Data Request, NC WARN Request No. 1, Item No. 1-14.” NC WARN, www.ncwarn.org/wp-content/uploads/CPDataReq.pdf. “State Solar Spotlight.” SEIA, Sept. 2022, www.seia.org/sites/default/files/2022-09/North%20Carolina%20State-Factsheet-2022-Q3.pdf. “North Carolina Solar.” SEIA, www.seia.org/state-solar-policy/north-carolina-solar. “84 Solar Companies, Targeted Groups and Allies Call for Investigation of Duke Energy.” NC WARN, 13 Dec. 2023, www.ncwarn.org/2023/12/84-solar-companies-targeted-groups-and-allies-call-for-investigation-of-duke-energy-nc-warn-news-release. “Duke Energy on Defense at NC Court of Appeals Over Regulators’ Agreement to Slash Solar Incentives.” NC WARN & EWG, 13 Feb. 2024, www.ncwarn.org/2024/02/duke-energy-on-defense-at-nc-court-of-appeals-over-regulators-agreement-to-slash-solar-incentives-news-release-from-nc-warn-ewg.

From left to right: Vincent Daniels and Willie Brown (Public Works), Mayor Leonardo Williams, Gerald Woody and Montrell Perry and George Bacote (Solid Waste), Councilman Mark-Anthony Middleton On the first day of Black History Month, February 1, 2024, members of the Durham City Workers Union, UE Local 150, from the Departments of Solid Waste and Public Works met with Mayor Williams and Mayor Pro Tempore Middleton to discuss their demands for the Fiscal Year 2024-25 budget, to be voted on in June 2024. George Bacote, speaking for sanitation workers, started off the meeting by sharing the difficulties that workers face such as working two jobs and many being unable to afford the skyrocketing rent costs in Durham. Bacote also raised the issue of lengthening routes, which are likely to add even more work on the over-stretched workforce. The union reiterated their demand to raise wages to $25 per hour with a special emphasis on workers in Solid Waste and Public Works, who have been the main workers speaking out and participating in UE Local 150 actions. Workers also demanded that Solid Waste Operators be reclassified to a new job title to recognize the special skills they have beyond being “Maintenance Technicians”. Christopher Benjamin recommended the title of “Sanitation Engineers”. Durham's city government has hired the Logic Consultant Group to put together a compensation study with recommendations on pay for city workers. The City Council does not have a release date, but claims the study should be out in mid-February or March. The city is hosting a Budget Retreat on February 16 and March 1 at Lake Mist from 8:30am - 4:00pm. UE Local 150 is encouraging workers to take off work to attend. The compensation study should be released on that date. During the meeting with Williams and Middleton, workers also reiterated the need to think bigger about where to find tax revenues to fund the needs of workers and the community. This article was published first at UE Local 150

By Lexi Schaffer Crystal (left) and Jason (right) Cavalier-Keck participating in a march. Image credit: 7DS In December 2023, progressives in North Carolina celebrated an announcement by Equitrans Midstream. The corporation’s interstate fracked gas project, the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), would now end in Rockingham County, 30 miles into North Carolina, instead of Alamance County, 70 miles into the state [1]. The subject of a decade’s worth of controversy, the MVP runs 303 miles through Virginia and into northern North Carolina, carving through streams, rivers, forests, and backyards along the way. The proposed section of the MVP that originally planned to reach 70 miles into the state, now reaching only 30 miles, is called the Southgate extension. Green line shows the route of the Southgate extension of the MVP. Image credit: NC Newsline [1] The shortening of the Southgate extension brought joy into the hearts of thousands of North Carolinians who had feared for their land, water, and safety. But the activists behind the success aren’t done. The fight is only just beginning. Building on their partial victory, grassroots groups across North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia are organizing to stop the rest of the Southgate extension and the entire Mountain Valley Pipeline. One of the groups working against the MVP is 7 Directions of Service (7DS), which works to combine Indigenous knowledge with the universal need for clean air and water — a united front for environmental justice. Sunrise Durham sat down for an interview with prominent 7DS leaders Jason Campos-Keck and Coda Cavalier-Keck. Jason co-founded the organization with his partner Crystal Cavalier, an award-winning Indigenous leader. Their child Coda, the Native Youth Organizer for 7DS, is also an influential environmental activist. Crystal, Jason and Coda have worked to turn 7DS into the capable organization that spearheaded Alamance County’s successful expulsion of the pipeline. Jason recalled that the 7DS was “originally a nonprofit called Eastern Woodland Lacrosse” that “offered free stickball to the neighborhood.” Before stickball games, Jason’s players “would do water ceremonies to prepare for the game” in the Haw River, which is sacred to indigenous communities. The Haw flows through six North Carolina counties, including Rockingham and Alamance, providing natural beauty and vital resources such as fish and clean water [2]. MVP ditch behind a home in Virginia. Image credit: Bloomberg In 2018, the Cavalier-Kecks learned that the proposed Southgate extension would cut straight through the Haw River and “cross many streams in the Haw River watershed” [3]. The family and much of the community were appalled. As Crystal and Jason dug deeper into the issue, they were astounded by what they found. If built, the originally proposed Southgate extension “would have crossed 207 streams, three ponds and temporarily damaged 17,726 linear feet of streams, 6,538 square feet of open waters, and 14 acres of wetlands” in addition to cutting through private property [1,4]. The pipeline “threatens air, it threatens land, it threatens animals, it threatens people,” said Jason. It especially “threatens water, because there is no replenishing supply of fresh water once humans have damaged it,” and a proposed filtration system is expensive and “only helps the two legged people. It doesn’t help the fish swimming in it, doesn’t help the insects, doesn’t help the turtles, the birds eating those fish.” Coda added that “once the fish get poisoned, it’s only a matter of time before” people eat the fish, meaning that any water contamination from the pipeline could prove deadly, with or without a filtration system. 7DS leads a demonstration. Image credit: 7DS Furthermore, Southgate would cut through vulnerable ecosystems previously shielded from extensive human contact by mountains and dangerous terrain. The pipeline also runs through an area that has been “a traditional indigenous trading path for hundreds of years,” explained Jason, making the project a threat to local heritage. In addition to tearing through previously undisturbed land, the Mountain Valley Pipeline endangers local plants and animals that have lived alongside humans in the area for thousands of years. The project is predicted to drive local fish species such as the Roanoke Logperch and Candy Darter to near-extinction [5]. To protect these animals, activists have appealed to laws that protect endangered species to hinder the progress of Equitrans Midstream. “Hunting and fishing alone is not going to deplete the populations of these species,” said Jason. “Fossil fuel extraction certainly will.” Roanoke Logperch. Image credit: Conservation Fisheries / Candy Darter. Image credit: National Park Service The MVP deepens environmental injustices along its route. The Southgate extension “would require a massive, polluting compressor station in a predominately Black community near Chatham, VA” [6]. The pipeline would fuel climate change, emitting an astonishing 89 million metric tons of annual greenhouse gas emissions, the equivalent of 26 coal plants or 19 million passenger vehicles [7]. Jason remembered that Crystal “was an elected tribal official at the time” when they learned of the Southgate extension. When she brought the issue “to her council, . . . they basically told her that she could not speak out.” Frustrated, she resigned “so that she could advocate on the community’s behalf.” Crystal and Jason began organizing and mobilizing against the MVP full-time, gathering the support of their peers and the larger community through their roots in Eastern Woodland Lacrosse. They decided to give the organization a new name: 7 Directions of Service. The seven directions are “children, women, men, elders, the earth, the sky (which is also symbolic of culture and the mind) and finally, the direction within” [6]. These values have guided the Cavalier-Kecks and other activists in their work against Southgate and the MVP. Drawing upon principles of inclusivity, 7DS brought together activist groups from around North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia “as one united front” against the pipeline, said Jason. People “have a responsibility and to show solidarity and support with our neighbors, no matter . . . where they are, whether they’re in North Carolina or up in West Virginia and Virginia.” Protestors hold an anti-pipeline banner. Image credit: WSLS 10 Once united, the groups worked closely together to mobilize people against Southgate. Jason said “we go politically, we’ve gone to the Pentagon, we’ve gone to the United Nations, we’ve gone to the White House itself.” In February 2024, 7DS filed a Human Rights appeal to the United Nations claiming that the MVP violates Articles 11, 26, and 29 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples [8]. 7DS also encourages its members to contact local and national politicians, in order to spur widespread legislative progress. Despite the group’s political persistence, Jason noted that the most challenging part has been “negotiating with elected officials, regulating people like the EPA, the FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission), and the Army Corps of Engineers, those people who are supposed to listen to our concerns and make changes.” In his experience, government officials are quick to find loopholes and develop new policies to get around hurdles created by activists, a heartbreaking cycle of progress and setbacks. Jason pointed out an “incentive by government to enable these corporations, regardless if they’re a responsible corporation or a predatory one, like the MVP,’’ that uses “disingenuous and dishonest practices” to force communities into compliance. Fossil fuel companies running roughshod over indigenous land doesn’t just happen in North Carolina. Energy corporations across the nation have broken through activists’ defenses to build disruptive, greenhouse gas-emitting pipelines. For example, the infamous Dakota Access Pipeline threatens the land of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and other indigenous populations in the Dakotas. Demonstrators protest the Dakota Access Pipeline. Image credit: The Daily Northwestern Instead of waiting for delayed government responses and gradual policy change, 7DS organizes public rallies and speeches to press for political change. Jason recalled, “we’ve done civil disobedience, which looks like marches, what they call protests in the media, but we call those protects, not protests.” Coda said that their most effective “community advocacy strategies” have been “art builds, sharing meals together . . . just showing up and gathering support from the community.” They reflected that “support in strength of numbers” shows resilience and determination, two qualities that passionate North Carolinians have fully exhibited in their ongoing fight against the pipeline. Jason and Coda said that, just as the brave “Standing Rock . . folks have not given up,” the people of this state are already to resist Southgate through political and civil means to protect their land and safety, “no matter what happens or what the MVP announces.” Image credit: Jan Burger of Paperhand Puppet Intervention After their victory in reducing Southgate’s reach in December of 2023, 7DS is now mobilizing citizens in Rockingham County, the pipeline’s new ending location. Sunrise Durham asked how people living in North Carolina can help, and Jason and Coda emphasized that anyone, including non-activists, can join the campaign to push back against the pipeline and protect North Carolina’s land, water, plants, and living beings. Coda suggested “following [7 Directions of Service] on social media”. That allows people to receive updates and get involved by coming to events. “There is always some way that you can help out,” they said, “whether it’s by donating or just showing up and supporting even for . . . an hour, a few minutes, just doing something to show solidarity.” Additionally, they said that people can contribute by “calling your politicians, emailing them, reaching out, doing something that you can do within your power” and time, whatever that may be. Simply spreading awareness by speaking to loved ones about the issue will bring attention to injustices that are currently being swept under the rug. “We would love any support,” Jason said, “even if it’s sitting at home sending an email saying, we don’t like this. There’s got to be a better way.” Protesters unite against the MVP. Image credit: In These Times “Welcome to North Carolina,” Jason said when asked about newcomers to the state. “Not only have you moved to one of the largest populations of indigenous tribes in the country East of the Mississippi, you’ve moved to the home of the civil rights movement.” He commented that North Carolina is “the home of the first environmental justice movement, which was . . . near Halifax County, North Carolina, where corporations were trying to poison a small farming community and they rose up and resisted. I would invite you to do your homework on the local indigenous population.” In this state of diverse social movements and sacred land, we can achieve change and protection if we all work together. Organizations like 7DS are leading the charge, acting as spokespeople for all living beings, human and nonhuman. “Environmental rights are rights for every living thing,” Jason said. “We all have to drink water and breathe air, so we might as well drink clean water and breathe clean air and fight to have the most basic human rights.” Works Cited 1. Sorg, Lisa. “MVP Southgate Natural Gas Pipeline Will No Longer Cross Alamance County.” NC Newsline, 2 Jan. 2024, ncnewsline.com/2024/01/02/mvp-southgate-natural-gas-pipeline-will-no-longer-cross-alamance-county/. 2. “Haw River — Guilford/Rockingham/Alamance Counties.” Piedmont Land Conservancy, 5 Oct. 2015, https://www.piedmontland.org/protected-places/clean-water/upper-haw-river/. 3. “Mountain Valley Pipeline Proposal: Haw River Assembly.” Haw River Assembly | Defending the River since 1982, 6 June 2023, hawriver.org/river-issues/mvpsouthgate/ #:~:text =Effects%20on%20the%20Haw&text=The%20pipeline%20will%20cross%20many,stream%20crossings%20leave%20streams%20devastated. 4. “Letter From NC Department of Environmental Quality to US Army Corps of Engineers About Mountain Valley Pipeline.” NC DEQ, 23 Sept. 2019, edocs.deq.nc.gov/WaterResources/DocView.aspx?id=990879&dbid=0&repo=WaterResources&cr=1. 5. “Federal Court Stays Mountain Valley Pipeline’s Biological Opinion Again.” Center for Biological Diversity, Center for Biological Diversity, 11 July 2023, https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/federal-court-stays-mountain-valley-pipelines-biological-opinion-again-2023-07-11/ 6. “Our Core Initiatives.” 7 Directions of Service, https://7directionsofservice.com/core-initiatives. Accessed 2 Mar. 2024. 7. “The Mountain Valley Pipeline: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Briefing” https://priceofoil.org/content/uploads/2017/02/mountain_valley_pipe_web_final_v1.pdf. Accessed 12 Mar. 2024. 8. “United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples”. United Nations, 13 Sept. 2007, www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/11/UNDRIP_E_web.pdf.

Trade unions, environmental groups, and left-wing parties are preparing to rally and march in central Durham on May 1st, 2024 to celebrate International Workers Day [1]. The May Day rally is being organized by Durham Workers Assembly, United for a Fair Economy, Raising Wages NC, UE Local 150, and other groups. The rest of the world celebrates May 1st as a worker’s holiday. The day was chosen to honor of the victims of the 1886 Haymarket Massacre in Chicago, where four demonstrators were killed by police during a rally for an eight-hour work day. In the US, May 1st is designated as Law Day. “Attacks on workers’ standard of living and working conditions have intensified. During the COVID-19 pandemic, employers made record profits at our collective expense,” the organizers of the May Day wrote in a statement, “Our labor continues to be stolen and used to fund increasingly brutal police and military forces across the planet, all while the costs of living climbs higher and higher.” Haymarket Massacre in Chicago. Image credit: Illinois Labor History Society The May Day rally and march will put forward four demands and themes: 1.     Local minimum wage of $25 per hour for all workers, particularly for city workers. Only the state government can raise the overall minimum wage, while the City Council controls the pay of city workers. These bodies are only likely to act if trade unions press for better pay and conditions. 2.     Measures to make housing more affordable. Various state laws make it almost impossible to pursue the normal methods for creating affordable housing - rent control and public housing. In North Carolina, rent control is illegal under GS 42‑14.1 [2]. Cities in North Carolina are allowed to create public housing, but only for a low-income market that the private sector has no interest in. The state government is similarly bound, unable to help create affordable housing for the majority of the population due to a 1939 state law called the Umstead Act that bars the state government from competing with the private sector [3]. 3.     Payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) from Duke University. The university owns at least $1.7 billion of property but pays only $3.7 million in property taxes, since most of their properties are tax exempt [4 , 5]. However, universities across the US such as Yale and UPenn make voluntary PILOTs worth tens of millions of dollars per year [6, 7]. 4.     Support for the Palestinian people with a call for a ceasefire in Gaza and divestment from Israel, as well as a demand to reallocate military funds to social needs. In February 2024, Durham’s City Council passed a resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza by a vote of 5-2, with Mayor Pro Tem Mark Antony-Middleton and Mayor Leonardo Williams voting against. During the City Council debate, Mayor Williams said that “ignorance is not always intentional, so I ask for your grace” before voting against the resolution [8, 5:45:47]. The other vote against the resolution was Mayor Pro Tem Middleton, who commented during the debate that in 2023 he’d been on a trip to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Knesset [8, 5:24:03]. Ceasefire event at Durham City Council. Image credit: Leslie St. Dre / IndyWeek The May Day event hopes to help change a grim status quo for workers in North Carolina. According to Oxfam America, the state holds the 2023 title for “worst state to work in” and “last place position in the Working Women index”. The low ranking is based on North Carolina's $7.25 minimum wage, lack of paid leave, and “right-to-work” laws that undermine the finances of trade unions (and do not guarantee employment) [9]. North Carolina has a unionization rate of 3.6 percent, slightly lower than the 67 percent rate of Denmark but trouncing the 2.7 percent rate of South Carolina. The May Day statement said that “the city of Durham has the highest eviction rate in the state.” EvictionLab numbers run out in 2016 when the city had an eviction rate of 5.2 percent per year, ranked sixth out of nine tracked cities [10]. According to DataWorks, Durham’s eviction rate rose to 9.4 percent during the 2016-2020 period [11, pg. 8]. During that time, the eviction rate for Black people was 15.8 percent, triple the rate of any other group. The data show the source of the anguished pleas to alleviate “gentrification” heard every election cycle in Durham. 2020 photo of Lutrenda Sumpter, who has dealt with multiple Durham Housing Authority eviction filings. Image credit: Maydha Devarajan / Durham Voice A mini awakening of Durham’s working class will be on display at the May 1st event. Old unions are stronger and new unions have appeared. The groups that will march from CCB Plaza include “Durham city workers (UE Local 150), school workers (Durham Association of Educators), Duke graduate workers (DGSU), Starbucks workers (SBWU), Amazon workers (CAUSE), REI workers (UFCW), Waffle House workers (USSW)”. In August 2023, graduate workers at Duke University won their NLRB election by an astonishing vote of 1000-131. That victory turned the DGSU into the largest union of graduate workers at a private university in the South [12]. Image credit: DGSU / The Nation In a lesser-known development from 2023, the Starbucks on Fayetteville Road voted 16-2 to unionize with SBWU, joining a wave of 420 stores across the US [13]. Recently, the store’s workers called for community help when managers cut the hours of pro-union baristas to as low as four hours per pay period. The May Day march and rally has been endorsed by dozens of groups including 7 Directions of Service, Black Workers for Justice, NC Environmental Justice Network, and Jubilee Baptist Church. The organizers have encouraged community members and groups to RSVP and endorse the May 1st event with this form. People looking to keep track of updates should follow the social media accounts of Durham Workers Assembly. Work Cited 1.     May Day 2024 - Durham Endorsement and Interest Form. actionnetwork.org/forms/may-day-2024-durham-endorsement-interest-form. 2.     “GS 42‑14.1. Rent Control.” NC Legislature, www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/PDF/BySection/Chapter_42/GS_42-14.1.pdf. Accessed 20 Apr. 2024. 3.     Mulligan, Tyler. Local Government Support for Privately Owned Affordable Housing | Community and Economic Development - Blog by UNC School of Government. 16 May 2022, ced.sog.unc.edu/2022/05/local-government-support-for-privately-owned-affordable-housing. 4.     Burness, John. “Dismiss Durham'S Idea to Tax Duke'S Dime.” The Chronicle, 15 Apr. 1998, www.dukechronicle.com/article/dismiss-durhams-idea-tax-dukes-dime. 5.     Mungai, Mary. Durham City Councilman Proposes Duke Pay “Fair Share” in Property Taxes | the Durham VOICE. 14 Mar. 2024, durhamvoice.org/durham-city-councilman-proposes-duke-pay-fair-share-in-property-taxes. 6.     Basler, Cassandra. “Yale Announces ‘Historic’ $135 Million Payment to New Haven.” Connecticut Public, 9 Mar. 2023, www.ctpublic.org/education-news/2021-11-17/yale-announces-historic-135-million-payment-to-new-haven. 7.     Stellino, Molly. “Activists Question Whether Wealthy Universities Should Be Exempt From Property Taxes.” The Hechinger Report, 18 Dec. 2020, hechingerreport.org/activists-question-whether-wealthy-universities-should-be-exempt-from-property-taxes. 8.    City of Durham NC. “Durham City Council Feb 19 2024.” YouTube, 20 Feb. 2024, www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwgMfJf8bp4. 9.     Work in America: The Best and Worst States in 2023. 30 Aug. 2023, www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/stories/best-worst-states-work-us-2023. 10.   “Eviction Rankings.” Eviction Lab, evictionlab.org/rankings/#/evictions?r=North%20Carolina&a=0&d=evictionRate&lang=en. 11.   DataWorks. Tenant Demographics and Eviction Filings in Durham County. 2023, dataworks-nc.org/wp-content/uploads/Tenant-Demographics-and-Eviction-Filings-in-Durham-County.pdf. 12.  Schlemmer, Liz. “Duke University Graduate Students Win Union Election in a Landslide.” WUNC, 22 Aug. 2023, www.wunc.org/news/2023-08-22/duke-university-graduate-students-win-union-election-in-a-landslide. 13.  Cranford, Claire. “‘Starbucks Works Because We Work’: Inside the Formation of Durham’s First Starbucks Union.” The Chronicle, 12 Jan. 2024, www.dukechronicle.com/article/2024/01/duke-university-starbucks-durham-union-formation.

By Emily Chambliss Durham County resident Susanna Strasser speaks about her experiences with construction and development. Image credit: Pam Andrews with Preserve Rural Durham. In 2022, a few weeks before Thanksgiving, Susanna Strasser put framed family photos in her new rental home while the walls shook around her. The floor vibrated beneath her feet, and the few belongings she brought into the home rattled in their boxes. Smoke drifted through her backyard from the construction site behind the 1300 block of Junction Road in Durham, N.C. Construction in the area was nothing new, so Strasser paid it no mind. But weeks later, when dark brown, sour-smelling water poured from her faucet, she knew something was wrong. ー As the fifth largest county in North Carolina, Durham County saw over 25% population growth in the last 14 years, welcoming over 60,000 new residents in that time. To accommodate this growth, the city plans to expand into rural Durham. In November, the Durham City Council voted in favor of amendments to the Simplified Code for Affordable Housing. The code removed many barriers to development, and opponents claimed it encouraged gentrification of the area. Urban developers can acquire farmland and forests in Durham County, and petition the city for voluntary annexation of the land into the city. In November, the city council approved the controversial Perry Farm project, allowing McAdams civil engineering firm to convert 280-plus acres of forested land into 665 new residential units in southeast Durham. In the firm’s rezoning application, it designated 3 percent of the units as affordable housing at 80 percent area median income for 30 years. This is less than 20 affordable units for low-income residents. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a family of four is considered low-income if they bring in less than $30,000 a year. Buyers at 80 percent AMI in Durham would make about $76,000 a year for a family of four. “Public officials and developers want growth in Durham,” Pamela Andrews, founder of Preserve Rural Durham, said. “They want the money. They want the taxes. They don’t care about anything else.” With Durham’s population expected to increase by over 100,000 in the next 20 years, the city council and the Durham Board of County Commissioners have promoted high density housing as a way for all Durham residents to live affordably in the area. High density housing, like apartments and townhomes, increases pollution and pressure on the natural environment. High density development strips land of trees, roots and other vegetation. Deforestation and infrastructure expansion increase the risk of severe flooding and create urban “heat islands.” Structures like roads and buildings re-emit heat from the sun at a higher rate than natural landscapes. These “heat islands” contribute to higher daytime temperatures and increased air pollution. Environmental concerns continue to grow as new annexations push city boundaries further into Durham County. “We need a promise from Durham that they’re going to protect our waters and our environment,” Samantha Krop, Neuse riverkeeper and director of advocacy at grassroots organization Sound Rivers said. “And we don’t have that right now.” During construction, developers blast away rocks to make room for the concrete slab foundations houses are built on. Uncontrolled blasting can produce structural damage to neighboring buildings and structures. The city of Durham has strict blasting regulations, requiring the notification of nearby residents and a safety plan. Durham County does not require either. This construction can also contribute to water pollution from metals, chemicals and sediment eroded by deforestation, blasting and drilling. On Sept. 7, the Southern Environmental Law Center filed a lawsuit on behalf of grassroots organization Sound Rivers to stop ongoing pollution into Martin Branch Creek, which connects into major drinking water source Falls Lake. The lawsuit alleges Clayton Properties Group, Inc. has committed more than 16 Clean Water Act violations in its development in southeast Durham. Water samples collected by Krop show the developer has discharged sediment into the creek at over 20 times over permit limit. This excess sediment has turned creek water bright orange. The SELC notified Clayton Properties Group of their intent to sue in May 2023, but the lawsuit claims water samples collected 60 days after notification “confirmed” ongoing violations. “We weren’t receiving the response we were hoping for in terms of stopping the pollution,” Krop said. “We’re hoping to encourage developers to value and protect our creeks. We believe we can have responsible development that provides housing that Durham needs while also protecting its water resources.” Krop said Durham’s environmental issues come down to a lack of development oversight, and insufficient regulation enforcement. In October, Sound Rivers filed a lawsuit against Mungo Homes, claiming the development company violated the Clean Water Act over 20 times as it builds homes along Olive Branch Road. “What has happened to Durham that we don’t care about our water systems?” Andrews said. “That used to be taboo. It makes no sense.” Much of Durham falls into critical watersheds, or areas where water supply protection is considered crucial, like Falls Lake and Jordan Lake. Durham developers have, according to the Sound Rivers lawsuits, polluted essential sources of water for drinking, irrigation, flood control or hydroelectric projects. Susanna Strasser, who said she has been without clean water since November 2022, claims excessive construction and development is the cause. ー On the 1300 block of Junction Road, near Walmart Supercenter and Glenn Elementary School, many homes have been without clean water since their wells failed around Thanksgiving 2022. Preserve Rural Durham and residents of the area said the issues started weeks after local developer KB Homes blasted rock behind their homes. Strasser noticed weak water pressure and a “horrible” smell she described as rotten eggs. The water came out of sinks and showers a dark brown. Strasser tried using a water filter, but said it did not last a day. Residents believe the nearby blasting collapsed their wells and ruptured surrounding sewer lines, contaminating their remaining water supply. Despite efforts from landlord Elmo Yancey, little has been done to mitigate the issue. “The county [does] not care what’s happening. The city [does] not care what’s happening,” Strasser said. “We don’t have the money for them to care.” Residents can only use the water for the toilet. They have been purchasing bottled water or collecting rainwater for cleaning, showering, cooking and drinking. Lludiz Velazquez said her daughter complained of dry, itchy skin and rashes before halting showering in the well water. “I’m sure it was that terrible, nasty water,” she said. Several neighbors reported the same issue. Now, Velazquez and her family buy water from Walmart, heat it on the stove and pour water on themselves from a container as they sit on a medical shower chair. The family stopped showering every day, reducing to twice a week. “We will shower three times if we can afford it,” Velazquez said. She said it embarrasses her daughter at school to be without water, and that she gets excited to use an actual shower when staying with family. “She’ll say ‘Mommy I wish we can move to another house,’ I say ‘We cannot afford to live in another house,’” Velazquez said. Velazquez collects rainwater for dishes and buys the rest in gallon jugs. According to a study by DigDeep, a nonprofit aimed at improving universal clean water access, purchasing drinking water costs a family an average of $1,350 a year, or about $112.50 per month. The average water bill in Durham comes out to approximately $40 a month for 5,000 gallons of water for all uses. The DigDeep study states households without adequate water and sanitation access spend over $15,000 a year on healthcare costs and other related expenses. Seventy-nine year old Strasser said the water has deteriorated her health. “I have to eat out every day. I can’t lift the water I bought from the store. I can’t always get to my son’s house to use his water, especially when it’s cold,” she said. “So I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.” In May 2023, Durham County provided a tanker truck to supply water to the homes with failed wells. Residents said there wasn’t enough water for everyone. In November, the county removed the tanker without providing a permanent solution. A few days before the removal of the tanker, Strasser said she received a bill for the water because it was on her property. She said the bill charged her $500 per day. “I don’t know where they think I am going to get that money,” Strasser said. “The people who did the damage haven’t had to pay nothing,” The Durham Voice reached out to Durham County about the issue, but received no response. Few options remain for Junction Road residents to regain access to safe water. The property owners can petition for annexation of the area into the city of Durham and petition for an extension of the city’s water services. Or, they can petition for annexation and extend the water line at their own cost. It can take weeks to months to design, assess and install any kind of water line extension. Velazquez reached out to the Durham City Council about a quicker solution. She said city council members expressed interest in solving the issue; even going as far as to visit the Junction Road homes for themselves. Velazquez has not heard from any council members since, despite several attempts to contact them. “Lot’s of promises. Lot’s of hope,” she said. “But still there is nothing.” Almost a year and a half after their wells failed, residents of Junction Road have not found a solution. Renters and property owners continue to hope the issue will soon be resolved. “Nobody is fighting for us. We are the only ones fighting for us,” Velazquez said. “It’s been a nightmare. But we’ve gotten used to a nightmare.” Edited by Phillip Le This article was published first in The Durham Voice