Environmental Protesters Fight Defamation Lawsuit Filed by Coal Ash Landfill
桃子视频Makes Free Speech Case Defending Residents of Low-Income, Majority Black Alabama Town
MOBILE, Ala. 鈥� The 桃子视频 today asked a federal court to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed against four people who voiced opposition to a coal ash landfill in their small town.
The defendants, all residents of Uniontown, Alabama 鈥� a poor, predominantly Black town with a median per capita income of around $8,000 鈥� are being sued for $30 million by Georgia-based Green Group Holdings because the residents are fighting the hazardous coal ash that the company keeps in a landfill in a residential area.
鈥淭his lawsuit involves speech at the very core of the First Amendment,鈥� said Lee Rowland, senior staff attorney with the ACLU鈥檚 Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. 鈥淣o one should have to face a multimillion-dollar federal lawsuit just for engaging in heartfelt community advocacy. All Americans have a right to speak out against hazardous substances being dumped in their home towns, and the Constitution prevents companies from using lawsuits to silence their critics.鈥�
In 2009, Arrowhead Landfill in Uniontown became the new host for millions of cubic yards of coal ash after it spilled out of a landfill in Tennessee following a catastrophic dike failure. The coal ash in Tennessee contaminated land, rivers, reservoirs, and shore areas surrounding the landfill with arsenic and lead, leading the Environmental Protection Agency to conclude that there was a potential 鈥渋mminent and substantial endangerment to the public health.鈥�
Residents of Uniontown organized in opposition to what they saw as a racial and environmental injustice, speaking out against the risk to their environment and health, as well as the location of the landfill, which is across the street from several homes and next to one of the town鈥檚 historic Black cemeteries. Some 35 residents filed a complaint with the EPA鈥檚 Office of Civil Rights under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The complaint alleges that the Alabama Department of Environmental Management violated their civil rights by allowing the Arrowhead Landfill to locate in their predominately Black neighborhood without adequate protections for the health of residents or the environment.
Some citizens also organized a concerned-citizens鈥� group called the Black Belt Citizens Fighting for Health and Justice, which created a Facebook page that publishes concerns about risks to their environment and health. Green Group sued over the Facebook posts, which included statements such as 鈥渨e should all have the right to clean air and clean water鈥� and 鈥淚t affected our everyday life.鈥�
The population of Uniontown is 91 percent Black, and 48 percent live below the poverty line. In addition to being the site of the Arrowhead Landfill 鈥� the biggest municipal waste dump in the state 鈥� is also the site of a sewage lagoon, catfish farms, and a large cheese processing plant.
The site of the Arrowhead Landfill was once a plantation where Uniontown residents鈥� Black ancestors 鈥� including both enslaved people and tenant farmers 鈥� picked cotton, and some are buried in graves near the site. Some Black residents now say that they are unsure about the location and treatment of their ancestors鈥� remains.
鈥淪tate officials would never have allowed the landfill to be here if we were a rich, white neighborhood,鈥� said Esther Calhoun, one of the Uniontown residents Green Group is accusing of defamation. 鈥淭hey put it here because we鈥檙e a poor, Black community and they thought we wouldn鈥檛 fight back. But we are fighting back and we鈥檙e not afraid to make our voices heard.鈥�
Before filing the defamation suit, a lawyer for Green Group provided the defendants with a list of demands in exchange for not filing the lawsuit. The 鈥渟ettlement proposal鈥� 鈥� which was sent before any lawsuit had been filed 鈥� would have required a full apology from each defendant, full-day interviews about their community advocacy, forensic searches of each of our client鈥檚 electronic devices, access to the group鈥檚 future social media postings, and extensive details about Black Belt Citizens鈥� membership, advocacy, and communications with other environmental groups. The proposal also would have required each of the defendants to withdraw as complainants in the federal civil rights complaint filed with the EPA.
鈥淣ot only have Black people been expected to endure this kind of systematic racial and environmental injustice throughout our nation鈥檚 history, they are expected to bear it silently or be subjected to harsh consequences just for advocating for their health and community,鈥� said Dennis Parker, director of the ACLU鈥檚 Racial Justice Program. 鈥淲e want to ensure that our clients don鈥檛 have to face that choice in Uniontown.鈥�
The defendants in the case are represented by lawyers from the ACLU鈥檚 Speech, Privacy & Technology Project; the ACLU鈥檚 Racial Justice Program; the 桃子视频of Alabama; Charles S. Sims of the law firm Proskauer Rose; and Alabama attorneys Bill Dawson and Matthew Swerdlin.
罢辞诲补测鈥檚 motion to dismiss, the 鈥�settlement proposal鈥� previously offered to the defendants, and other case documents are here:
