Recent studies have unveiled the potential long term effect of toxics spread by natural disasters. Evidence shows that in areas where homes were destroyed by wildfires in California there was a higher incidence of toxic chemicals than in areas without homes. Hurricane Maria has been found to cause the spread of PCB contamination throughout Puerto Rico. In a world where toxic chemicals are often common household items, stronger storms have the ability to cause long term contamination. <Read more>
Month: July 2019
Currently, the action standard for lead for New York schools is 15 ppb— but research from the NRDC suggests that this is too high, as no level of lead intake is safe for children. They propose lowering New York’s lead action standard in schools to 1 ppb, in order to protect children from the affects of lead poisoning. <Read more>
A mining company involved in the Bonita Peak Mining District Site by the Animas River in Colorado is rejecting EPA’s order to participate in the clean up of the area. The Superfund Site in question is made up of several inactive mines that have been leaching waste into the nearby Animas River. The site was first established in 2015, when EPA inadvertently triggered a spill from Gold King mine, contaminating river systems with 3 million gallons of toxic wastewater.
Sunnyside Gold Corp, the company EPA initially ordered to conduct a groundwater assessment of the area, is now refusing to take action to clean up the area, saying that they are not responsible for the polluting spills. EPA said they would review the company’s leader before taking further action. <Read more>
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Building a Kaleidoscope Movement
by Lois Gibbs
As we approach the 2020 elections, I am excited about the opportunities to engage in a broader pubic conversation about creating real social change. Elections provide us with opportunities to engage the public in conversations about serious deep changes that are needed, not only environmental and health but social justice issues across the board. Class, race, living wage, immigration policies, economic growth, climate change, environmental justice are all connected. We need to begin today to expand the movement and build bridges with other leaders, develop strategies and take advantage of the 2020 public conversation to move an agenda that is about people, protection, jobs, justice and so much more. Now is the time to plan and now is the time to build those bridges to work together for change.
Over the 38 years since the Center for Health, Environment and Justice (CHEJ) was founded, we have dedicated ourselves to broadening the base and strengthening the skills of the grassroots movement for environmental health. Our goals are to raise popular consciousness about fundamental problems in the current system, provide a positive, unifying vision, and build a sense of empowerment by reinforcing the power of an organized group of people to create change.
The Kaleidoscope Movement is a formation of groups at local, state and national levels that are joined together around building and strengthening community. The issues are varied, as are the class, race and geographical locations. What is common is the desire for justice, to prevent harm to human health, the economy, environment and the ability of our children to achieve the American promise. It is not anchored in a single political party or class of people, but rather inclusive, dynamic and strategic.
This is a movement that takes people where they are, listens to their concerns and builds power around their issues and concerns. It is not D.C. or policy focused, rather it’s focused on people, values and strategic place/practice-based goals. For example, our definition of “environmental health and justice issues” is where people live, work, learn, pray and play. Systemic change has come from this approach by building power at the local level.
The results historically have been very exciting. By organizing one family at a time, one church at a time, one school at a time, and one neighborhood at a time, CHEJ and partners have been able to accomplish things that have been out of reach to groups taking a policy or regulatory approach to systemic change. We have our supporters and grassroots activists to thank for this success. In fact, in most cases the policy has not kept up with the shifts in practices. Our methodology for change is to bring people together, build power around issues people care about that are strategic and fit into a larger vision of change that is needed.
CHEJ does not bring people together to agree on a platform or policy agenda and then try to move groups into action. Our approach, instead of top down, is to pick strategic issues that people care about and then move people directly into action from the bottom up. Through this process the public conversations raise fundamental values and the work is based on solutions that are source based for a more permanent change in public opinion and in practice.
The victories of changing the “practice,” are unlike regulatory or policies based wins. These victories are not as likely to a slide backwards or are enforcement centered. Consequently, they stay in place even when there is a change in elected representation or a decision maker.
Through these specific issue related efforts, CHEJ linked activists together to build a broad progressive movement. While organizing, educating, and building the base, we actively teach people about the root cause of their problems and the need to become active participants in the governance of their communities and state. Our work also helps activists experience the power of working collaboratively in local or statewide coalitions.
To continue to build a progressive movement, it is critical to find ways to remove the barriers between organized groups nationwide, identify common frames that can unite groups of groups, and take advantage of opportunities to flex this multi-faceted, multi-issued political muscle.
CHEJ works with diverse constituencies that focus on a single issue – such as nuclear disarmament activists, disease-related groups focusing on issues like birth defects or breast cancer, environmental justice leaders, firefighters, teachers, parents, faith-based leaders or toxics use reduction groups. We are all learning to support each other, respect each other’s issues and underlying shared values, and appreciate the value of speaking with a unified voice.
2020 offers us all the opportunity to continue to not only learn about one another’s cultures, issues, and tightly held values but to advance them through public conversations this election year. We all win if we continue to break down barriers between diverse segments of the environmental health movement and building bridges to related social justice movements like Black Lives Matter, Health Care for All, living wage campaigns, building a new economy and so many more.
I believe that by investing in ground up activities across lines of issues, race, gender and geographic boundaries, we can create the world we want. I’m looking forward to this challenge this year with the many opportunities that will present themselves during all presidential election years.
PFAS are toxic chemicals that are used commonly in packaging and other household products. They tend to accumulate in the environment rather than break down, so PFAS contamination is common in water systems throughout the US. This is particularly dangerous because PFAS consumption has been linked to increased risk of cancer.
Last month, PFAS containing foam spilled into the Farmington River in Connecticut, near Windsor. Residents were upset and concerned about the implications of the contamination for their water systems.
One of the most common uses of PFAS is in the foam firefighters use in order to put out fires. While there are alternatives products, firefighters are currently required to use PFAS foam in their trucks. The spill in question was caused by a firefighting hangar at Bradley International Airport dumping foam into the river. <Read more>
This past month, Philadelphia was rocked by a massive refinery explosion that released smoke and toxic chemicals into the sky. The explosion occurred at 4am and was visible throughout the city, and residents were warned to shelter in place until the fire was more contained.
Luckily, reports indicate that no one was killed, but five workers were injured in the explosion. The refinery in question, Philadelphia Energy Solutions, has been responsible in the past for 72% of Philadelphia’s toxic emissions. After this explosion, the refinery will close.
However, the explosion was nearly deadly, as the fires could have moved to burn tanks containing Hydrogen Fluoride, an incredibly dangerous chemical that can be lethal even if inhaled in small doses. Hydrogen Fluoride is a commonly used in oil refineries across the US, and these refineries commonly burn— like the Husky Superior Refinery in the Twin Ports area of Wisconsin in April of last year. In the Husky Refinery explosion, the HF tanks were about 200 feet away from the fires and narrowly missed being hit by debris. If the HF tanks had been detonated in the Philadelphia Refinery explosion, hundreds of thousands of people’s lives would have been at risk.
While the Philadelphia refinery is closing, the Twin Ports Refinery is not, nor are many HF using refineries across the United States. Even though many citizens have demanded that these refineries remove the chemical from there practice, it is not currently banned in the United States. Why, then, are oil companies continuing to risk disaster? <Read More>
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by Teresa Mills, CHEJ Organizer at Large/Small Grants Coordinator
As a small child growing up in the hills of Appalachia Ohio, I was not aware that communities sponsored July 4th parades, or fireworks. Our local drive-in theater did shoot off a few fireworks between movies; so my aunt and cousins would all pile into a car and go to the drive in, a major treat for my cousins and myself.
I remember laying on a blanket looking up at the sky in anticipation of what was about to take place. As our childhood excitement grew and grew, our aunt was more than happy that she brought a blanket and that we were out of her car.
As the first firework went off there were screams of joy and excitement followed by the silence of our childish glee. We had become amazed and almost hypnotized by the sights and sounds of what we were told was the day we celebrated our independence. I recall my cousins looking at each other with confused looks and one cousin asking, “What does independence mean?” Our poor aunt tried in vain to teach a bunch of rowdy six and seven-year-old girls what “Independence” meant and why we celebrate the day. I think we listened to her for about thirty seconds before starting to chase each other around the parked cars in the lot.
A few years later I learned what Independence Day was. At least what it was supposed to be. You know there is always a fine line between what we are told and what is reality. Growing up in a political family in Appalachia I was always told not to worry, the politicians would take care of things. Wait, what, you mean my uncle, my brother, and my grandfather would see that everything was ok, REALLY! I knew these people and knew that they didn’t know a whole lot more than I did. I saw politics play out in a small town and felt that this was not what I would call independence. It was more like a dictatorship. “Do as I say, because I said so” was the response to all my questions.
Today, things have only gotten worse. Every time we turn around, some elected suit is taking away yet another one of our civil and human rights. We are seeing fewer and fewer chances to participate in our own government, both federal and state. I think we all remember when the state governments were complaining that the federal government had too much control. Now look at it. Today, it is many of our states, influenced by corporate power/dollars, that have turned around and taken local control away from our cities, towns and villages. Boy now isn’t that the “pot calling the kettle black”!
America! Wake up this 4th of July! Celebrate the day and then on the 5th, do something to help take back control over your own government from corporate America! Don’t allow the same “Do as I say because I said so” to continue. Stand up! Raise your voice! Some say that our voice has been taken away; I believe we gave our voices away by not standing up to those who hold us down.
Get mad.
Last Monday, Keurig Dr. Pepper announced they would be pulling their bottled water brand Peñafiel from the shelves, as a report found the arsenic levels in their water to be non compliant with FDA bottled water standards.
One of the reports in question, by the Center for Environmental Health (CEH), found both Peñafiel and Starkey bottled water to contain high levels of arsenic. Peñafiel is sold at Target and Walmart, and Starkey is sold at Whole Foods.
Arsenic in water bottles may be more common of a problem than we think: a study conducted last April found 11/130 bottled water brands sold have detectable levels of arsenic. <Read more>