The University of Alabama in Huntsville

Uniontown, Ala., a low-income, predominantly black community located in the state’s Black Belt, made the national news back in 2010, when 4 million tons of coal ash were shipped to its Arrowhead Landfill in the wake of a dike rupture at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston Fossil Plant. As telltale signs of contamination began to pile up, word made its way to Dr. Azita Amiri, an assistant professor in the College of Nursing at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) who serves as the chairwoman of the Alabama State Nurses Association’s Environmental Taskforce.