EPA investigates Rogers Road

It’s been three months since the Environmental Protection Agency launched an investigation into Orange County’s treatment of residents in the highly contentious Rogers Road neighborhood — and the county hasn’t heard anything about the progress of the investigation.

Last week, Orange County Attorney John Roberts sent a letter to the EPA asking for information about its claims of environmental racism.

The Rogers Road community hosted the county’s landfill for 41 years. The landfill closed in June.

In the decades leading up to its closure, Rogers Road residents asked the county to provide public water and sewer hook ups. These hook ups were promised to the residents when the landfill was originally built.

The EPA’s Office of Civil Rights received a complaint that said the county’s Planning and Inspections Department and the Orange Water and Sewer Authority worked together to deny water and sewer services to the historically black and low-income Rogers Road neighborhood.

“That could not be farther from the truth,” Roberts said.

This behavior would violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 , according to a letter from the EPA to the county. Title VI prohibits racial discrimination in programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance.

Roberts said the county has no influence in OWASA operations.

OWASA’s governing board is comprised of two appointees from Orange County, but that does not mean the county has authority over the independent agency, Roberts said.

In his letter, Roberts highlighted the work of the Historic Rogers Road Neighborhood Task Force, a group that has been working to find a way to extend sewer lines to the area.

Roberts said he advised county commissioners to halt all considerations of the task force’s work until the investigation is closed.

Despite his recommendation, the task force has continued to work and will present its recommendations to the county Nov. 21.

Although not all of the promised services have been provided, a budget of $700,000 has been approved for the neighborhood’s community center.

“We will continue to operate in the Rogers Road community,” said Craig Benedict, director of the Orange County Planning and Inspections Department. “Chapel Hill is proceeding with an expansion that will include that area.”

The original complaint made to the EPA said the county failed to apply for grants from the agency after applying for similar grants for the Efland and Buckhorn areas.

Roberts said the county was not solely responsible for applying for the grants provided for the Buckhorn and Efland area.

If the planning department is found to be discriminatory, the EPA would either terminate grants to the department or refer the situation to the Department of Justice.

Roberts said he is confident the complaint is unfounded.

“Ultimately, I think the investigation of the complaint will be dismissed. I don’t think it will have an effect.”

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