Taking Action for Health and Environmental
Justice
Bayview
Hunters Point, San Francisco, CA: Campaign to Shut Down PG&E
power plant escalates!
The fight
to close the polluting and unnecessary PG&E Hunters
Point power plant is escalating. Greenaction, residents and supporters
demonstrated
March 23rd at PG&E headquarters in San Francisco,
and a big action at the power plant is scheduled for early June
during World Environment Week being hosted by the City of San Francisco.
Our goal is to shut this plant down once and for all, and to replace
it with clean, renewable energy. In late spring 2005 Greenaction
and residents will start new campaigns targeting other big air polluters
in this neighborhood that suffers high rates of asthma and cancer.
Stanislaus County, San Joaquin Valley, California
Greenaction and the Grayson Neighborhood Council are
escalating our campaign
against the Covanta garbage incinerator in Crow’s
Landing. We held an exciting
protest at the County Board of Supervisors meeting on March
15th. We are also launching a new campaign against pesticide drift.
We have a training program to teach leadership and organizing
skills
to women and youth. We participate in the Central California
Environmental Justice Network helping to support and unite communities
across
the Valley.
Resisting
the Onslaught of “Incinerators in
Disguise”
Greenaction
has launched an all-out campaign to defeat the waste industry’s attempt to site incineration-like technologies
such as gasification, pyrolysis, plasma arc and catalytic cracking
for treatment of hazardous, solid, medical waste and tires. While
the industry claims these are “recycling” and “renewable
energy,” these “incinerators-in-disguise” burn
toxic waste gases, have toxic air emissions and are not a safe
solution for the landfill crisis or energy needs. We support pollution
prevention,
increased recycling and real renewable energy instead of incineration
technologies.
Sierra Vista, Arizona: No incinerators in disguise!
Greenaction
alerted Cochise County residents about the threat posed by Global
Energy Resources’ proposal to build a “plasma
arc” incineration facility to treat garbage at Sierra
Vista. Greenaction’s visit to the area, and our technical
critique of the proposals, received front
page newspaper coverage and sparked
community concern and grassroots organizing.
Red Bluff, Stockton and Los Angeles facing plasma
arc incinerator proposals for medical waste!
We alerted residents
in these three communities that Inentec/Integrated
Environmental Technologies wants to build commercial medical waste
facilities using plasma arc incineration technology to treat medical
waste. Greenaction is helping residents with technical expertise
so they understand the potential toxic threat, and we are helping
with organizing to defeat these proposals.
Hanford,
San Joaquin Valley, California
Greenaction
brought plans by Plastic Energy LLC for a plastics catalytic cracking
incineration plant to a halt in November after alerting
the public to the potential dangers and forcing
the San Joaquin Valley Air District to rescind the company’s
permit. We will continue our campaign until the company drops
their plan once and for all. Greenaction and allies have filed
a request with the California Integrated Waste Management Board
calling on the agency to rescind the company’s two million
dollar loan.
West Oakland, California: AMCO Chemical Superfund
Site
We are working with the Chester Street Block Club
Association to make
sure the USEPA does a thorough, safe and prompt cleanup of the AMCO
Chemical vinyl chloride Superfund site. We are pressuring
EPA to use the safest possible technology for remediation of
the toxic site.
White Mesa Ute Reservation and Moab, Utah: Protect
Colorado River and sacred Indian lands!
We are working
with White Mesa Ute and Navajo tribal members, the Ute Mountain
Ute Tribe,
other area residents and the City of Moab
to demand the Department of Energy (DOE) move the uranium tailings
and toxic waste from the defunct Atlas Mill that is leaking into
the Colorado River in Moab. We are also working together to demand
that the DOE reject International Uranium Corporation’s
request to take the radioactive and toxic tailings to the IUC
Uranium Mill
located next to the White Mesa Ute reservation. We want to close
the IUC plant that pollutes the environment and
desecrates the ancient sacred sites located at and next to the
facility. Greenaction spoke
at the DOE public hearings in Moab and White Mesa January 26-27,
2005, and helped tribal members file an administrative complaint
charging the DOE with violating the civil rights of the White
Mesa Ute Community.
North Salt Lake City, Utah: Shut the Stericycle incinerator!
Greenaction
and residents are stepping up our campaign to close
Stericycle’s incinerator that burns medical waste and non-medical waste from
across the west. We work with the Health
Care Without Harm coalition to encourage hospitals to use non-toxic materials
and non-incineration treatment for medical waste.
Defending
the Sacred Ward Valley Film Project
Greenaction
and the Mohave Cultural Preservation Program (of the Colorado
River Indian Tribes) have launched this project to distribute
the new film “Defending
the Sacred” that tells the
story of the successful fight by the five tribes of the Colorado
River Native Nations Alliance, Greenaction and a broad coalition
that saved Ward Valley, the Colorado River and sacred Indian
lands from the proposed nuclear waste dump. Speakers from the
tribes
and Greenaction are available to show the film and educate the
public about the victorious campaign and issues. The video can
be purchased from Greenaction for $22.
Colorado River Indian Tribes, Arizona: Shut down Westates
Carbon!
Greenaction is helping Colorado River Indian Tribes
(CRIT) members oppose
the continued operation of the Westates/US Filter hazardous waste
facility on tribal lands. Westates emits dioxin and many
other hazardous pollutants, but EPA has allowed the company
to operate without proper permits and without divulging the fact
that toxic pollution was emitted. In December Greenaction convened
a meeting with top USEPA officials and tribal members from CRIT
and the Gila River Indian Community to discuss concerns.
Gila River Indian Community, Arizona: Shut down the
Romic hazardous waste plant!
Greenaction and tribal members in the
Gila River Alliance for a
Clean Environment won a huge victory in November when Romic, a
hazardous waste company operating on the reservation without proper
permits
and a terrible track record of violations, announced they stopped
handling the most toxic solvents. We are continuing our support
for the campaign
by tribal members to evict this polluter off
the reservation.
Environmental
Justice Air Quality Coalition
Greenaction
is working with community
groups across the Bay Area to pressure
the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and other
agencies to protect air quality and uphold environmental justice.
