NCD980602163_19970114_Warren County PCB Landfill_SERB C_Re Statement by Dollie Burwell to Diane Barett-OCR

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TO :
FROM:
RE:
DATE:
720 Ridgeway Street
Warrenton, N. C. 27589
Office [phone] -.Fax [phone]
William L. Meyer. Director
Division of Solid Waste Management
Doris Fleetwood
Statement by Dollie Burwell to Diane Barett
January 14, 1997
Number of Pages, including cover sheet : 3
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TO:
FROM:
DATE:
RE:
Diane Barett
Dollie B. Burwell
Co-chair PCB Working Group
P. 0. Box 254
Warrenton, N. C. 27589
Dollie B. Burwell
January 14, 1997, dictated by phone at 8:40 a.m.
Statement by Dollie B. Burwell, co-chair Joint Warren County/State PCB
Working Group, member National Environmental Justice Advisory Council,
Warren County Resident
Dear Ms. Barett:
This is to inform you that I will not be available to meet with you at the Joint Warren
County/State PCB landfill Working Group (Working Group) office, Ridgeway Street, January
14, I 997 at 10:30 a.m .. The first call I received from you in reference to your being in Warren
County was at 10:00 p.m. recorded at 8:50 p.m. on January 13, 1997on my answering machine.
In the recorded message you stated you could be contacted before 10:00 p.m .. Since I did not get
home until after 10:00 p.rn., I did not attempt to contact you, pursuant to your instructions. In
addition, you indicated that you could be contacted between 6:30 a.m and 7 00 a.m., Tuesday,
January 14, 1997, the date you plan to visit the office .. Unfortunately, that is the same time I am
busily preparing for work, to which I have to report at 8:00 a.m .. (in Oxford, N . C)
My first concern is that for more than a week you have been scheduling a visit to Warren County,
for what purpose, I do not know. In my capacity as co-chair of the Working Group, who
contacted you in the first place, I was not contacted, nor did I receive a message on my answering
machine at home nor at work. My second concern is, if you are here to investigate a complaint or
grievance filed by the Working Group why would you not contact me, as co-chair. For the
record, until last evening, (January 13, 1997) at 8:50 p.m. I have received no message on
answering machines at home, my Warrenton office, my Granville County otlice, and no message
left specifically for me a the Working Group office. Third, rny concern is if your purpose is to
listen to citizens in Warren County or the Afton communities, that you should have included a
representative number of African Americans from those comm.unities. Based on my investigation
and contact with a number of African Americans who live in the Afton community, they have no
knowledge that you or members of EPA staff would be in Warren County.
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Finally, Ms. Barett as a member of the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council, lam
co11cerned that your visit, in the manner it is occu.-ring, does not honor or respect any of
the principles of environmental justicr and/or inclu~ive public participation by the Afton
or Warren County communities. I will be happy to discuss these and other issues at a mutually
agreed upon time.
Sincerely,
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Dollie B. Burwell, Co-chair
PCB Working Group
cc: John H. Hankinson, Administrator EPA Region IV
Connie Raines, Acting Director of the Office of Environmental Justice
Congresswoman.Eva Clayton, First Congressional District
Jonathan B. Howes, Secretary, Dept. of Environment, Health and Natural Resources
Frank Ballance, North Carolina State Senator, Second Senatorial District
Henry Lancaster,U, Assistant Secretary for Natural Resources
William L. Meyer, Director, Division of Solid Waste Management
PCB Working Group
Patrick Barnes, PCB Working Group Science Advisor
Joel Hirschhorn, PCB Working Group Science Advisor
Charles Lee, NEJAC, Chair Waste and Facility Citing Subcommittee
Connie Tucker, Executive Director Southern Organizing Committee