A Community's Health in Black and White

Five years ago, Sheila Holt-Orsted's father discovered he had prostate cancer. Then she found out that she had cancer, and her neighbor had it too. In fact, most of her street in rural Dickson County, Tennessee -- a quiet enclave of black families, many of whose forebears were freed slaves -- had at least one family member who was suffering from some form of cancer. They had something else in common: Their drinking water contained trichloroethylene (TCE), an industrial solvent that was seeping from the county landfill into their wells at levels that exceeded the Environmental Protection Agency's safety standards. Among the effects of TCE: neurological and cardiovascular damage, kidney and liver failure, and birth defects. The federal government lists it as a probable human carcinogen.

Today Holt-Orsted is embroiled in what promises to be one of the biggest environmental justice battles in recent history. Several years ago she discovered letters sent to white families instructing them to stop using their well water, around the same time that her family (whose water was tested and found to have unsafe TCE levels) was told everything would be fine. The Holts are one of several families that have sued the county, and in their civil rights case they are represented by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Others have settled, taking what money was offered. For the Holts, there's something much bigger at stake: cleaning up.

So they turned to NRDC for help. This past summer, NRDC announced its intent to sue the county and city governments of Dickson as well as the companies that were primarily responsible for dumping the industrial solvent, for violating the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, calling for a comprehensive evaluation and cleanup of the toxic plume. --Laura Wright