South Carolina’s Richland and Marion counties boast many historical, archeological, and natural treasures, yet for many residents – rural, low-wealth, predominately African American – the region is a sacrifice zone. The Sierra Club of Richland and Marion Counties seeks to protects its neighbors, particularly their access to clean water, by spreading awareness, increasing collaboration, and helping community leaders advocate for themselves. Industry has fueled the area’s economy for decades, often to the residents’ health and environmental detriment. Dotting the landscape are unregulated dumpsites, a Superfund site, and industrial plants, some with a long history of regulatory and safety violations, polluting the air, groundwater, and surface waters. The nonprofit works with groups such as the NAACP and the Thriving Earth Exchange to investigate, collect, and accurately interpret data to hold polluting facilities accountable. Though a small chapter of the National Sierra Club, the group is making a big impact.
Leading the group is Virginia Sanders, a long-time Richland resident and National Sierra Club organizer. She and the all-volunteer Sierra Club were instrumental in helping stop developers from building a gated community in the floodplain near the Congaree River which would have diverted flood waters into a low-income black community. In 2018 when a uranium/acid leak from a Westinghouse facility posed a threat to the community’s water source, Virginia sounded the alarm and the need for warning systems. She has also organized bus riders in the city of Columbia to advocate for improvements to transit services as well as investments in walking and biking infrastructure. The group’s current focus is on clean industry, advocating for investment in green jobs and the necessary training and education for area residents to secure and thrive in those jobs.
Westinghouse Facility. Image by High Flyer.