Acetone, Ethanol, Toluene, Lead - A Toxic Creek Winds Through NC Neighborhood, And Trump's EPA Doesn't Care

DURHAM, N.C.—On a summer afternoon in Burton Park, hip-hop throbs from a car stereo over the backbeat of a basketball slapping on concrete. The sun bakes a grid of identical brick buildings, whose wheezing window air conditioners can barely keep pace with the 96-degree heat. Three young boys laugh and shout as they speed down the sidewalk on their bikes. They stop and point at a creek. It lies stagnant behind an orange snow fence smothered in kudzu. “You can’t go in there,” one of the boys blurts. He pulls the collar of his T-shirt over his nose. “It stinks.” Two years ago, in August 2023, the city fenced off the creek in east Durham after chemical distribution company Brenntag Mid-South detected high levels of acetone, toluene and ethanol in water at its property edge a half-mile upstream.

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That trend is true in Durham. The neighborhoods near the Brenntag plant rank among the highest in the state for proximity and exposure to pollution sources: hazardous waste facilities, underground petroleum storage tanks, cars, diesel trucks and more, according to the EPA’s EJScreen tool. In the census block group containing Brenntag and McDougald Terrace, children’s asthma hospitalization rates are four times the state average, according to public health data. Residents also have lower life expectancy and higher rates of heart disease.

Most of the homes in the neighborhood were built before 1978, when the EPA outlawed lead-based paint for residential use. In the McDougald Terrace neighborhood, not only could children be exposed to lead indoors, but also from the bed of the contaminated creek. Sampling from 2023 showed creek sediment contained lead. Although the levels were below the EPA’s residential standards, there is no safe threshold for lead exposure; the EPA has set a goal of zero.

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The city is still awaiting word from the EPA. Meanwhile, city officials cited Brenntag in June for illegally discharging an excess flow of stormwater and failing to complete corrective actions from violations issued three years ago. A city spokesperson told Inside Climate News that “we are exploring all legal and regulatory options.”
ince 2022, the state and city have fined Brenntag just $3,500 for its discharges; last year the company recorded gross profits of more than $4 billion, according to investor statements. “Brenntag needs to be held more accountable for the pollution associated with this facility,” said Hlavaty of the Environmental Affairs Board.

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https://insideclimatenews.org/news/13082025/north-carolina-brenntag-water-contamination-environmental-justice/