DURHAM, N.C.—Acetone and ethanol, 1,4-dioxane and “mucilaginous goo.”
For decades, state regulatory documents show, a chemical repackaging and distribution company in Durham has discharged high levels of toxic chemicals, as well as other unknown substances, into a neighborhood creek that flows behind an elementary school, through a public park in a predominantly Black neighborhood, and into a major drinking water supply.
Now, the North Carolina attorney general is suing Brenntag Mid-South on behalf of state regulators over the alleged illegal releases, according to a complaint filed Monday in Durham Superior Court.
The complaint alleges that Brenntag is violating North Carolina’s water quality laws. The state is asking the court to require the company to submit a plan to eliminate the discharge and clean up previous contamination within 30 days.
“I’m thrilled that the attorney general is intervening in this longstanding environmental injustice in Durham,” said City Councilman Nate Baker. “The residents living around Burton Park and further downstream have suffered too long from the negligence of a large corporate neighbor, and it is time the harms rendered be repaired.”
