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An aerial photo of the Linden Mill, later the Carolina Asbestos Company, with smokestack, in downtown Davidson. Main Street and Davidson College Presbyterian Church are at the bottom. The photo is probably from the 1950s or 1960s.
Here s a familiar story in the Charlotte region: An old brick textile mill is turned into something hip a brewery, apartments or a food hall. It happens all the time, but attempts to redevelop a 130-year-old cotton mill in downtown Davidson have failed. The problem is cancer-causing asbestos. It s buried on the site, and it s been an environmental hazard to the historically Black neighborhood that surrounds the mill.
HAZARDOUS WASTE: A poster child for policy failure: Will EPA ban asbestos? eenews.net - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from eenews.net Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
This WFAE community conversation takes a look at what s happening with asbestos removal in Davidson, North Carolina and the possibility for redevelopment at the old Linden Mill.
WFAE s series, Asbestos Town, investigates the history of asbestos in Davidson, the attempts to renovate the mill and how contamination in the historically Black neighborhood nearby has stirred up old tensions.
Watch this community conversation about what s happening with asbestos removal and the possibility for redevelopment at the old Linden Mill.
Panelists:
Mark Miller, developer
Linda Reinstein, president of Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization
Rosalia Polanco, a University of Pennsylvania graduate student and 2018 Davidson College graduate who has researched the environmental justice aspects of Davidson s asbestos issue
Community Conversation:
Join us 7 p.m. tonight for a discussion about what s happening with the town s asbestos removal and the possibility for redevelopment at the old Linden Mill.
The event is free, but
In this hourlong special, we ll hear stories about asbestos at an old, brick textile mill in Davidson, North Carolina, and how redevelopment might solve the problem. We ll learn how asbestos got into both the historically Black neighborhood nearby and elsewhere in town and how it s being cleaned up. And we ll talk to residents worried about how fixing one problem might contribute to another gentrification.
Rather read than listen to the audio? Read the transcript.
Focus The New York Times – January 27
President Biden on Wednesday signed a series of executive actions, ranging from pausing new federal oil leases to electrifying the government’s vast fleet of vehicles, casting the moves as being about job creation as much as they are about the climate crisis. Biden said his directives would reserve 30 percent of federal land and water for conservation purposes, make climate policy central to national security decisions, and build out a network of electric-car charging stations nationwide. With respect to leases of federal land for oil and gas drilling, Biden’s executive orders direct the Interior Department “to the extent consistent with applicable law” to “pause” leases pending a review of the climate change effects. The orders also call for increasing renewable energy production on those lands and waters, with the goal of doubling offshore wind energy production by 2030.