Clear and present danger: Former Army missile plant has polluted a Black, Latino neighborhood in

Note: The following two-part article is a long read.


Clear and present danger: Former Army missile plant has polluted a Black, Latino neighborhood in Burlington for more than 30 years


Tattooed in ivy, bound in chain-link fence, Building 16 casts an ominous three-story shadow over several homes along Hilton Road. The window blinds are torn, as if it were sleeping with one eye open.

This relic of the Cold War is among two dozen buildings sprawled across the 22-acre Tarheel Army Missile Plant in East Burlington. Here, in the 1950s and ’60s, Western Electric conducted top-secret research on behalf of the military.

That research, developing sophisticated guidance systems for Nike missiles, required workers to handle hazardous chemicals. Over time, those chemicals spilled and seeped and leaked. They were poured down sinks and dumped into storm drains.

Fifty years since the military mothballed the Nike missile program, the plant, once a source of civic pride for the city, is now a toxic disgrace.

Cyanide, caustics, acids, radioactive materials, asbestos, lead, chromium, PCBs, gasoline, diesel fuel and more — have been detected throughout the property, according to state records.

Read more: http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/2021/09/08/clear-and-present-danger-burlington-missile-plant-english/

Part 2: http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/2021/09/09/former-army-missile-plant-burlington-poses-public-health-risk-eng/