A recent N&O story reminds us of the reason for these signs, posted all along the Crabtree system: our city’s water system is tainted by PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), a toxic chemical released over many years by the actions of Ward Transformers, a company whose name is etched in the annals of NC corporate crimes, a company STILL OPERATING next to the Superfund site next to RDU airport, where its buried load of poisons is slowly being incinerated through the process pictured below.
Ward Transformer site
Ward Transformers has a long history of environmental crimes in North Carolina. Long before the discovery that it’s open burning of materials on site to recover copper had applied PCBs to the soil surrounding its plant, Ward Transformers and its contractor, Robert Burns, were found guilty of dumping PCB-laced waste along miles of rural NC highways, using a specially designed dumping apparatus constructed at Ward Transformers. Burns and “Buck” Ward spent some time in jail, but at some point the EPA or someone in government realized that a bankrupt company couldn’t help pay clean-up costs, so Ward Transformers was left in business. The state of North Carolina had to scrape up the roadside deposits and figure out what to do with them – leading to a separate whole nightmare with the landfill in Warren County.
That was way back in 1978. The next year, EPA tests show contamination in the soil around the plant itself. In 1993, preliminary Superfund action was undertaken and in 2002 it was declared a Superfund site. Yet much local outcry and promotion took place before clean-up work was begun. Now, according to the newspaper report, the work is being done, and in a safe manner. Yet concerns remain about the process, as well described in this post at Raleigh Eco News. I went out to look at the site. The EPA’s clean-up incinerator really puts out a huge stream of white smoke – apparently almost all water vapor.
Thank you for listening to my rant. It just drives me crazy that ole Buck Ward spent a few months in jail and now his company rolls merrily along, though I presume they send a hefty check to the EPA each month. We will never fully recover from these actions in my lifetime. And we will never figure out the “best” way to punish such transgressors – justice and reparation are both so tough to achieve.
25th anniversary of PCB Landfill protests
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As a balance to the above, please enjoy a juvenile box turtle living in our garden and a fawn Cara and I saw on a trip last weekend.
raleighnaturalist
The Raleigh Naturalist 
[…] Advisory, no cure for environmental damage Result 1 Discovered August 13, 2008 at 1:38 pm The Raleigh Nature blog has a post about a toxic chemical released over many years by the actions of Ward Transformers, a […]
Pingback by Fish Advisory, no cure for environmental damage - 30Threads.com: Highlighting the Triangle Online — August 13, 2008 @ 5:38 pm
Are you sure Ward is still operating?
Comment by Lisa Zebovitz — November 25, 2008 @ 7:58 pm
Just an empty scorched piece of terra. See my comment below about my personal life living behind Ward Transformer. 1962-1968. I suppose I was lucky as I left for the military after high school just after he built that business. My little brother would climb under the chain link fence in very back of yard and scrounge for copper. Back then anything for a few cents. Even pick up soda pop bottles alongside roadway riding our bicycles.
Comment by Chuck Smith — August 22, 2025 @ 12:05 am
All the articles say it is but I must admit I found no sign of that at the site, so perhaps they operate elsewhere. My research said they continue to use PCB but that it is disposed of properly. Perhaps this summer I can find the time to figure that out. They have a functioning web site – http://www.wardtransformer.com/. I could also ask a real journalist like Sue over at http://www.raleigheconews.com! Thanks for the inquiry and maybe somebody in the know will comment.
Comment by raleighnaturalist — November 25, 2008 @ 9:22 pm
I remember visiting my sister who lived on other side of Hwy 70 Mt. Herman Road and seeing the smoke from EPA stack. She said they were burning the dirt from Ward’s property. Took a few years to do it. I used to play and work all around that back lot in tobacco fields and hunting squirrels/rabbits. When Buck Ward dug a big holding pond all the wildlife moved away. Guess hey didn’t like drinking the water in the rills and creek any longer on those Piedmont wooded hills. It was all woods (if not tobacco fields) back then. Except near the airport.
Comment by Chuck Smith — August 22, 2025 @ 12:10 am
Please keep me informed about the Ward PCB cleanup. I have been involved in this PCB story for thirty years.
Comment by Deborah Ferruccio — December 26, 2008 @ 3:35 pm
Does anyone have any documents on the PCBs in 1978 on FT Bragg, NC in Fayetteville. I would really appreciate it. I was exposed there and have high levels–Thanks
Comment by Bill Luce — August 8, 2010 @ 6:28 am
Glad to see you are still kickin Bill. I too was exposed in 78 at Ft. Bragg.(We were in the same Unit) I have had autoimmune issues for 36 years and have only recently put together what’s up. I have strong allergic reactions to “Round-Up” and other herbicides.(I’ve been hospitalized several times) Any info on what has become of Ward’s or their heirs would be appreciated.
Comment by Dan Wood — July 3, 2014 @ 3:43 am
You can read my personal experience somewhere on this thread. My parents/siblings/relatives would have a better recollection as they lived there for many years until I-540 came busting through but they are all passed now. I am last living one. I was long gone after Cary High School to military ’68-’72 then GI Bill WCU college through ’77 and beginning my career. Married college girl and settled in Fayetteville since 1979. Still at it but semi-retired. Can’t get wife to quit working!!!! http://www.hodgesassoc.com
Comment by Chuck Smith — August 22, 2025 @ 12:16 am
I am in the know and here is my comment…..
The building at WARD is soon to be torn down b/c of the toxins. The “office” is located in another part of Raleigh under a different LLC. The two companies have no relation to each other. The WARD family still owns a home in Raleigh as well as many other real estate properties on land and at sea. The court papers are public records and can be easily found. These such papers state that Mr. Ward was completely aware of what was happening. I find it very unfair that these companies use counties that are predominately African American. Those such as myself are not wealthy enough to confront these problems. Everyday we sacrifice our well being for the arrogance of the rich. They feel as though they are above the law. With all of their resources, whom have they “paid off”?
Comment by John Doe — December 29, 2008 @ 4:40 pm
http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F2/676/676.F2d.94.81-5162.html
Take a look at this website. This is public records I was talking about.
Comment by John Doe — December 29, 2008 @ 4:45 pm
They continued to dump PCB’s along the roads of Ft. Bragg well after 1978. We used to wonder what the stuff was as we walked alongside or in it during road-marches and training missions. We drank the water from the nearby streams and were not warned of the dangers. Eventually, we began to see scattered signs that said “Danger PCB’s” but we did not know what they were. We trained in those areas (and yes, we trained in the impact areas too) so I’d like to know who gave them permission to dump at Ft. Bragg in the first place.
Comment by Ray K — December 19, 2015 @ 8:54 pm
I worked at Wards for a few years while the open burning was ongoing. They used to take the transformer coils out the back garage like door and burn the about 30 feet from the door. I breathed in plenty of that PCB smoke. Is there anything being done to assist the people who worked at Ward’s and were exposed to these PCB’s?
Comment by Rather NotNow — March 6, 2016 @ 11:05 pm
I lived about 150 yards west of Wards Transformer on small one lane dirt path. Relatives had tobacco fields and path lead to Briar Creek where my grandparents live at the end of road. Dad built house in 1962 and few years later Ward built his concrete slab with chain link fence to house all the transformers he was refitting/repairing. He dug a 200′ x 30′ (approx) pond next got the building where all the work was being done. The storage area slab came right to the dirt path called Tater Bug Baldwin Drive!!. James Baldwin own that acreage back along that path. Over 100 acres. It was mule and tobacco fields for my father’s Aunt/Uncle/Cousin. We had been a Navy family from 1942 – 1962 moving all over the U.S. every two years a new Naval Air station in another state. Even Hawaii which wasn’t a state in 1956. Anyways. All the wildlife left. Squirrels in trees and rabbits in raspberry briar patches. The deer cross the RDU runway to Umstead Park. https://www.google.com/maps/@35.9022074,-78.7770782,579m/data=!3m1!1e3?authuser=0&entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDgxOS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D. Our house was where the green 4A is on embankment of I-540. I left for service after high school in 1968 to go fight the commies. Like my father did the Japanese and his father did the Germans. After 4 year service in two wars Cold War/Vietnam I had had plenty of communism for such a young man. Grandmas pond is still there by the parking lot RMF Engineering. I remember it was an RBC Bank. Dad’s uncle was local moonshiner. Their house was about 1/2. mile down one lane road dirt path. Cleared for the most part with tobacco fields but also a clear view from porch of the entrance to path off paved road (Mt. Herman Church Road). That was so he could hide his liquor when saw the law coming. Still back there today in those woods you can find remains of his small moonshine operations on the trills of Briar Creeks under this huge pines and hardwoods. Wish I could attach picture to show you. Sometime later that Buck Ward got charged with hiring to dump his oils and went to jail. Also state bought all that land for I-540 as eminent domain and family all had to move. My parents retired on down to Palm Bay, FL. Junior ‘Tater Bug’ built small brick house just other side of Hwy 70. After he died my Dad got that house and when Mom died I was to sell it. 10 acres all the way back up to the (now) Briar Creek Cemetery. Sold it to a man who was in plumbing business. He lifted house up and moved it to road..sold it. Built large warehouse in it’s place and still there today. Oh, when Dad retired from Navy and moved back home, he ‘traded’ me and my younger brother age 10 to help in his tobacco fields/barns. Was a good lesson in life working that hard during teenage years. In return Dad got two acres to build his house. One stipulation was when school started we didn’t stay out to work the tobacco. After school all want and on weekends. It was a ‘Flue Cured’ education. Priming, hanging, pack house. At first with Kate, the mule plowing those fields and pulling tobacco sleds through field old harvest days. Later, Tater, got a Ford tractor. First time on it, I ran it up a tree going through drainage ditch by the watermelon patch. Almost flipped on me if it hadn’t stalled. All those years never once got to go to the tobacco auction house. That would’ve been in October and school was in during the day. That’s my story of Ward’s Transformer. OH…When he built his building also put in a nice smooth asphalt parking lot which was great for skateboarding. We made our own skateboards from sister’s old metal skates and slab of wood and bolts./nuts. Our basketball goal was from chopped down red cedar and slabs of wood from clear cut. Dad bought a rim/net. Put it in our dirt driveway in front of house. It was the spot for all the kids who’d come riding 2-3 miles on bicycles to play b-ball. Also remember most of the kids I played with didn’t even have indoor toilets. Outhouses. That was so strange having been on Navy bases or in neighborhood all my growing up and always had indoor plumbing. Went to school in Cary. First on the bus,, last one off. Durham County line just over a couple Piedmont hills on Hwy 70. Cary wasn’t Briar Creek. A different ‘status’. Have to remember this was before Civil Rights 1964 and before IBM came down from New York. Now the RTP has taken all them woods and pushed into Morrisville on Hwy 54. There was no I-40 back then. Hwy 70 Raleigh to Durham and Hwy 54 Chapel Hill to Raleigh. Girlfriends father ran the ABC store in Morrisville. Only liquor stop between the cities for fall UNC/NCSU/DUKE football games. ECU wasn’t in the picture during this time. SUPERFUND SITE. All my family/realtivesa long that dirt path behind Ward’s have died from cancer of some sort except one sister. I’m the last one.
Comment by Chuck Smith — August 22, 2025 @ 12:00 am