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Community and Environmental Justice Victory! In response to pressure from community and environmental justice organizations, the United States Environmental Protection Agency announced today that they would shut down a controversial incinerator at a Superfund site in Maywood. Contact:
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US EPA Forced to Shut Down Controversial Incinerator at Superfund Site in Maywood Maywood, California After weeks of community protests, meetings, and concerns from elected officials the incinerator was shut down Tuesday according to EPA officials. The controversy arose when it was revealed to the community that the incinerator was emitting dangerous toxins into the air. Some of those toxins are extremely toxic to children. Many people living near the incinerator have been sick and the Heliotrope Elementary school is only two blocks away. Residents were never told about the incinerator and its toxic emissions. The controversy erupted when Communities for a Better Environment, Madres del Este Los Angeles, Greenaction, and California Communities Against Toxics alerted the community to the toxic threats posed by the incinerators emissions. EPA had said that the emissions are safe. These concerns about the potential health effects of the incinerator's emissions also prompted Assemblymember Firebaugh and Congresswoman Roybal-Allard's offices to become involved in the controversy, as well as the City of Maywood. EPA maintained that the emissions coming from the incinerator were within safe levels, but community activists and environmental groups challenged this assertion since one of the chemicals emitted, dioxin, is unsafe at any emission limit according to EPA's own studies. There will be a community meeting on Friday at the community center from 5:30 -7:00 to discuss an alternative to the incinerator and to discuss further community actions now that the site has been listed on the National Priority List under Superfund. "This is a great victory for environmental justice and the right of people to have a say in the dangers they are exposed to in their own homes and communities," said Alicia Rivera from Communities for a Better Environment, an environmental health and social justice organization with over 20,000 members throughout California. "This victory underscores how powerful community groups can be when they become informed and active in their communities' stated Jane Williams, the executive director of California Communities Against Toxics, a coalition of over 70 community groups working on toxic chemicals and environmental justice. |