Cleanup decision reached for contaminated site in historically Black Upstate neighborhood

The “Bramlett Site” has long been an environmental hazard to those in the Southernside community

Updated: 11:24 PM EDT Jun 12, 2025

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Last June, there was a public hearing regarding contaminants in the historically Black neighborhood of Newtown, in Greenville’s Southernside community and potential plans to address the issue.One year after the meeting, a decision has finally been made.”We are very excited to see that the Department of Environmental Services listened to the public comments that were submitted and changed their remedy to really get closer to the comprehensive cleanup this community has been waiting for and has deserved for so many years,” South Carolina Environmental Law Project Attorney Emily Poole said. “What will happen next is that the department will organize with the two responsible parties of this site, which are Duke Energy and CSX. The department is going to bring both of these parties to the table and they’re going to negotiate what’s known as a voluntary cleanup contract, and then they will create an implementation plan for the remedial action because we have the decision, but we don’t have the nuts and bolts of what will happen in year one and year two.”In a detailed release from the South Carolina Environmental Law Project, it reads:”The Bramlett Road site includes nearly 35 acres located in the Newtown neighborhood of the Southernside community that are heavily contaminated with coal tar. As part of Duke Energy’s coal gas manufacturing operations that occurred from 1917 to 1951, coal tar drained into and across the site’s parcels, three of which are wetlands, as well as toward and into the Reedy River via a historic drainage ditch on the parcels, settling into the sediment and groundwater near Mountain View Baptist Church and Legacy Charter School. CSX Transportation became the owner of the site in the 1960s, and an unpermitted landfill was later placed on top of the contamination in the late 1980s. When inspectors evaluated the landfill in 1993, they discovered the extensive coal tar contamination.Situated at the end of Washington Street underneath the railroad tracks, Newtown was once home to over 400 Black families, a hub of Black entrepreneurship, and a church built by the hands of those who lived in the community. However, over the years, the neighborhood has faced significant challenges due to environmental contamination, flooding, and disinvestment. One of the main sources of environmental contamination affecting Newtown and Mountain View is the Bramlett site, which is located less than 250 feet away from the church building. Today, only the 117-year-old Mountain View Baptist Church remains as a poignant reminder of the area’s vibrant past.In order to revive the community that built it, Mountain View Baptist Church and its subsidiary, the Parish House Community Development Corporation, have dedicated countless resources to the creation of a Newtown Master Plan, which emboldens a vision of a thriving cultural district that uplifts the contributions of the Black community in Greenville, SC. Foundational to this vision, however, is a clean environment that provides opportunities, rather than hazards, to the people who live in it.“Mountain View Baptist Church and Parish House Community Development Corporation applaud the decision and look forward to working with all of our community partners toward our mutual goals,” said Reverend Stacey Mills. “Everyone deserves the right to have confidence in where they live.” In 2024, SCELP began representing Mountain View Baptist Church in advocating for a fully restorative cleanup of the Bramlett site and all coal tar contamination. Together with environmental and community partners and residents of the Newtown neighborhood, we made our voices heard through public comments submitted to the Department of Environmental Services last summer about which cleanup remedy the Department should enforce on the site’s responsible parties, Duke Energy and CSX Transportation. The Department’s decision document selects a remedy that excavates the entire illegal landfill, excavates all impacted sediment on the site’s parcels, monitors groundwater, and implements land use controls. In addition, as a result of our collective advocacy during the public comment period, the Department also added the following components to its remedial approach: removal of contaminated soils on the site’s upper parcels to meet residential health standards, restoration of all wetlands impacted or damaged during the cleanup process, and a commitment to monitor and address groundwater contamination after contaminated soil and sediment is removed from the parcels. “This decision reflects the recognition of generations of community members who have lived with contamination and garbage from other communities dumped in their backyards,” said Mills. “It is a beginning to a complex process of making whole a people whose lived experience has been subjective to decisions made beyond their scope and capacity. This decision in concert with the Newtown Master Plan changes that scope and gives opportunity for a marginalized community to come to the table with solutions for their community.”“It is encouraging to see that the Department incorporated several of the recommendations made by the public during the comment process,” said Emily Poole, Staff Attorney at SCELP. “These added steps bring the selected remedy closer to the fully comprehensive cleanup that has been delayed for far too long in the Newtown community, despite a similar site in a more affluent part of Greenville County being swiftly remediated, restored, and revitalized. With a remedial action for the Bramlett site finally on the horizon, we look forward to continuing our advocacy and collaboration alongside this treasured local community as the responsible parties now step up to the plate and begin the cleanup.”See video above for full story.