Cal Cunningham Exposed for Disturbing Environmental Hypocrisy

Everything Democratic Senate candidate Cal Cunningham based his campaign on has been a lie. For months he lectured North Carolinians about integrity and honor, then his explicit text messages with the wife of a wounded combat veteran were revealed.

Apparently that wasn’t the only blatantly hypocritical message Cunningham has been pushing. He’s pitched himself to voters as an environmental champion, repeatedly proclaiming “Our state ought to have a Senator who’ll protect our air and the health of North Carolinians.”

It turns out the family company he routinely mentions on the campaign trail was one of North Carolina’s top polluters:

Washington Free Beacon: “Cunningham was a shareholder in the now-defunct Cunningham Brick Company as recently as 2015, court documents obtained by the Washington Free Beacon show. According to emissions reports filed with the North Carolina Department of Environmental and Natural Resources, the company released at least 1,700 tons of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, and other harmful substances between 1993 and 2011, making it a major polluter in the state.”

According to court records, Cunningham’s family company noted that it was “aware of environmental issues” caused by “approximately 27,500 tons of contaminated soil.” Their trail of environmental destruction didn’t stop there.

“In addition to its release of harmful air pollutants, Cunningham Brick was ranked among the state’s top 50 emitters of mercury in 1998 and 1999, according to the Greensboro News and Record. The EPA warned North Carolina residents at the time that mercury pollution can cause ‘tremors, an inability to walk, convulsions and death.’ The state’s environmental department also noted that ‘man-made mercury’ was polluting the state’s waterways ‘by wind or as runoff from soil.’”

Bottom line: As a former shareholder and employee at Cunningham Brick, it’s unconscionable that Cal Cunningham would attempt to hide the company’s disturbing environmental record from voters. He should explain the full extent of his family company’s pollution in North Carolina communities.