If you have information regarding toxic soot from the Continental Carbon Company’s Phenix City plant, please contact the Muckraker through our website’s contact form here.
PHENIX CITY, Ala. — A Phenix City chemical plant has been poisoning an entire neighborhood for over 20 years, raining carcinogenic soot onto residential homes. The City of Phenix City wants the plant to remain open despite the cancer-causing pollutants being breathed in by its own residents.
The Continental Carbon Company, a manufacturer of a chemical called “carbon black” located at 1500 State Docks Road, was ordered by a federal jury to pay damages to residents in a $19.5 million federal lawsuit back in 2005. Federal courts then denied the company’s appeal in 2007, maintaining the multimillion-dollar damages be paid.
The toxic soot, however, continues to rain down on the entire neighborhood, covering streets, cars, homes, and the residents themselves.
One local Phenix City resident recently shared a photo with the Muckraker of his grandson’s feet and hands covered in the the toxic soot as the two casually sat on their front porch several months ago in 2022:
The substance, known as “carbon black,” is a small particulate soot that is carried up and out of the chemical plant’s smokestacks and then rains down onto residential neighborhoods. The chemical is a known carcinogen. It is used in the manufacture of tires, inks, and other industrial products.
According the EPA, carbon black pollution poses “a serious public health problem,” as fine particles of the soot-like substance can “penetrate deep into the lungs” and can cause “premature death and harmful effects on the cardiovascular system.”
Despite the blatant violations of the EPA’s Clean Air Act, local children and their parents are forced to breathe and live amongst the substance every day in their own Phenix City homes and neighborhood. The substance covers their homes, their cars, and their bodies while officials fight to allow the poisoning to continue.
Another local resident shared a photo with the Muckraker taken today on September 30, 2022, showing the toxic carbon black soot visible inside the air conditioner unit at her place of business near Victory Drive in Columbus, Ga. The business is located directly across the Chattahoochee River from the Continental Carbon Company’s plant in Phenix City:
The plant originally signed an agreement with the EPA in 2015, stating they would comply with federal regulations within five years. That agreement was then extended to 2022, though the toxic operation of the company continues. As a result, the chemical plant is currently scheduled to close by December of 2022 for failing to comply with the Clean Air Act.
However, local and state officials are fighting hard to extend that deadline again, forcing their own residents to continue to be covered in the dangerous toxic soot for possibly several more years as the plant continues to operate without adhering to federal regulations.
Statements by officials have made it clear that they are valuing the economic benefits of the plant over the health of their own citizens; they are fine with residents being covered in a known cancer-causing substance so long as profits can continue driving “economic development” within the City of Phenix City and the State of Alabama.
Phenix City’s Economic Development Director, Shaun Culligan, recently argued that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is a permissible reason to allow the plant to continue raining carcinogenic soot onto local Phenix City residents, saying the plant’s continued illegal and toxic operation is a market opportunity for the city:
The official statement made by the City of Phenix City poses serious questions of its apparent value of profits and economic development over the health of its residents and the federal regulations that exist to ensure it. Phenix City appears to be blatantly valuing those dollars more than the immediate and long-term health of its citizens.
In a letter written to the Department of Justice in July 2022, Governor Kay Ivey argued that allowing the toxic operation to continue for a while should be permitted, since preserving jobs and economic output are more important than having Alabamians being covered in toxic cancer-causing soot:
The officials widely cited “economic development” as the reason for allowing the plant to continue operation, in spite of the grotesque and dangerous health hazards forced upon local residents every day. According to their own statements, officials believe the economic output of the plant and the dollars it generates for the city are more important than ensuring their own residents aren’t subjected to toxic cancer-causing chemicals being rained onto their homes, cars, and bodies every day.
Local media coverage of the toxic soot has been extremely scarce and elusive for more than two decades. Reports often focus on the economic impacts of the plant’s operation but completely fail to bring attention to the daily suffering of the residents as a result.
It is the strong opinion of the Muckraker that local media outlets have purposefully avoided showing photographs or video of the toxic soot, as the Muckraker has been able to very easily obtain such photographs. It is questionable as to why other far-larger media outlets have chosen not to show such graphic and horrifying images.
The scant media attention does raise questions about the possibility of a coordinated effort between local media outlets, the City of Phenix City, State of Alabama officials, and the chemical company itself to suppress the atrocity as much as possible and downplay the humanitarian damage it continues to cause.
One Phenix City resident interviewed by the Muckraker provided screenshot conversations with a reporter from WTVM in 2019. The reporter showed initial interest in reporting on the toxic soot that covers the residential neighborhood. However, the reporter then backed away several times, cancelling her appointments with the resident. The reporter never showed, and no coverage was provided. The issue remained avoided.
Further raising questions about a potential coordinated cover-up, a Phenix City resident contacted the Muckraker stating that Columbus State University had collected samples of the toxic soot from within the neighborhood, but never followed-up with residents nor provided their findings.
This is an introductory story to bring initial awareness to a complex and damaging local humanitarian issue. The Muscogee Muckraker will continue to investigate this story and publish our findings as they develop.
While other main-stream media outlets may be too afraid to show the true destruction of this humanitarian problem and possible governmental cover-up, the Muckraker will continue to shed light on the dirty, filthy, soot-covered truth that those in power wish would never see the light of day.
Facts are stubborn things — and we’ll keep publishing them, whether city officials like them or not.
If you have information regarding toxic soot from the Continental Carbon Company’s Phenix City plant, please contact the Muckraker through our website’s contact form here.
If you would like to voice your concerns to officials and help bring awareness to how government officials are fighting to allow the Continental Carbon Company to continue poisoning local residents, you may do so through the following means:
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