A new group calling itself the Valley Environmental Justice Alliance has organized with hopes of being able to push the Virginia DEQ and our own Waynesboro City Council to protect the city from Northrop Grumman.
This is good to see – that somebody local wants to take on the multibillion-dollar corporate giant.
The City Council sure doesn’t seem interested.
The alliance sent out a release on Tuesday to say that its members will push the DEQ to mandate independent, third-party air and water-quality monitoring near the Northrop Grumman facility, which is located off Interstate 64, and is less than a mile from Coyner Springs, the city’s primary water source.
Northrop Grumman has filed a request with DEQ for a state permit that would allow them to dump 24.9 tons of hazardous pollutants into the air each year over Waynesboro and surrounding areas.
In the release, VEJA noted that the “facility’s proximity to the city’s water supply, residential neighborhoods, outdoor recreation areas — including a popular 145-acre dog park —and the Shenandoah Valley warrants additional safeguards.”
The group is “also concerned that prevailing winds would carry hazardous air pollutants over Waynesboro, the Shenandoah Valley, and Shenandoah National Park, where temperature inversions can trap air pollution.”
The battle here is of an uphill nature.
The DEQ, in a 15-page “Summary of Public Comments and Responses: Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation” that it made public last month, pushed back against the request made by several locals at a public hearing in July for independent testing at the Northrop Grumman site, saying state regulations don’t require independent testing.
The City Council, meanwhile, practically bent over frontwards in 2023 to get Northrop Grumman to come here – just to get the 300 low-tech jobs that basically involve people spraying stuff on other stuff.
In addition to giving Northrop Grumman the keys to the local environment, we’re giving them $8.5 million in tax breaks over the next 10 years.
Northrop Grumman – market cap: $73.7 billion – needs that $8.5 million like any of you reading this need another hole in your head.
The Valley Environmental Justice Alliance has requests of our City Council on this as well.
To wit:
- Details on how Waynesboro City Council will prevent — not merely respond to — another environmental disaster, including those associated with DuPont and GE/Genicom.
- A plan to protect community health once the facility becomes operational.
- A clear plan identifying who will be responsible for protecting surrounding soil and waterways after NG’s conditional 15-year lease expires.
ICYMI: Northrop Grumman
- Northrop Grumman announces plans for $200M manufacturing facility in Waynesboro
- Waynesboro: DEQ sets public hearing on Northrop Grumman permit request
- Locals gave Virginia DEQ an earful on Northrop Grumman permit request
- Waynesboro: DEQ says it’s OK for Northrop Grumman to pollute our environment
- Waynesboro leaders sold our clean air, water, for 300 low-tech jobs
- Waynesboro: DEQ sets second public hearing on Northrop Grumman pollution request
- Virginia DEQ response on Northrop Grumman pollution matter: Our hands are tied
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Chris Graham
