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Tribal Members & Greenaction Win Victory! Gila River
Alliance for a Clean Environment November 26, 2002
See Also: 1/10/03 Coverage in industry journals (Solid Waste Report and Native American Report) about the closing of the incinerator! 11/30/02 Press Coverage of the victory in The Arizona Republic For more information about the victory against the IES incinerators in California IES Campaign Home Page For more information about the campaign for responsible health care, visit Health Care Without Harm's website at www.noharm.org Read Industry Journal Report on Protest & Press Conference at Stericycle Shareholder Meeting Read the Health Care Without Harm report on Stericycle Inc and press coverage of the report in Solid Waste Report 5/15/02 Chicago: Stericycle Shareholders Meeting! Greenaction and Health Care Without Harm Challenge Medical Waste Company to End Incineration. Read the Message To Shareholders, and read the Health Care Without Harm report on Stericycle. 12/13/01 The fight for jobs and environmental justice: Lessons and next steps in the campaign against the IES incinerators
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Stericycle Closes Controversial Waste Incinerator at Gila River Indian Community Reservation in Arizona Gila River Indian Community, AZ In response to a growing community outcry against an incinerator that had been burning medical waste and non-medical wastes from several states, industry giant Stericycle has permanently closed their controversial incinerator on the Gila River Indian Community reservation in Arizona. According to tribal officials, the incinerator ceased burning waste effective November 17th. Stericycle has renegotiated a new lease with the tribe to allow only an autoclave, a technology that is safer than incineration and sterilizes medical waste. Gila River Indian Community tribal members had launched a campaign to evict the incinerator from tribal lands earlier this year after learning about the toxic emissions from the facility. Located at the tribe's Lone Butte Industrial Park on the reservation near Chandler, Arizona, the incinerator emitted dioxin, mercury and many other toxic chemicals. Most tribal members had been unaware of the toxic emissions and the nature of the incinerator's operations until Greenaction, an environmental health and justice organization, brought the truth to tribal members. Tribal members and Greenaction educated the community through meetings and presentations, and tribal members formed a grassroots group called Gila River Alliance for a Clean Environment (GRACE) to campaign against the incinerator and other environmental hazards on tribal lands.
"Thanks to Gila River Indian Community members, Greenaction, Indigenous Environmental Network and Health Care Without Harm we accomplished the impossible," said Lori Thomas-Luna of the Gila River Alliance for a Clean Environment. " This victory gave us confidence to continue our fight against the polluting business and industries on Indian Lands." "The grassroots people have spoken! " said tribal councilmember Brenda Robertson. "Community people worked so hard, they are the people that don't have any jobs, don't have the money, but yet they came and talked about the environmental issues. We were very concerned about it; the community never wanted the incinerator. I just want to thank all the community members for their efforts in helping, supporting and speaking up about the detrimental pollution issues." "This is a great day
for the health and environment of the Gila River Indian Community and
surrounding communities," said Teri Johnson, Greenaction's Arizona
Community Organizer.
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