Taking Action for
Health and Environmental Justice
Green Energy Environmental Justice Campaign
Greenaction is working
with urban, rural, desert and Native communities to promote
green, renewable, affordable and public power - and to oppose proposed
and existing polluting power plants. We produced a brochure
"Call to Action
for a Healthy Future: Clean, Renewable and Safe Energy."
Health and Justice for Bayview Hunters Point (San Francisco,
California)
The campaign by Greenaction
and the community to shut
down the polluting PG&E Hunters Point power plant, to oppose the
expansion of Mirant's Potrero power plant, and to support renewable
energy, conservation and energy efficiency is gaining momentum
and making progress.
Greenaction and youth from
Bayview Hunters Point traveled to Folsom, California to testify at
the Board meeting of the California Independent System Operator, an
agency that operates without serious public accountability and often
in secret. The ISO has held up the long-overdue closure of the PG&E
Hunters Point power plant, and Greenaction and the youth testified
about the health problems in the community we believe are associated
with the pollution from the PG&E plant.
Greenaction hosted a tour
of the community around the power plant for the Governor's office,
the ISO and other state and city officials.
As a result of intensifying
pressure from Greenaction and the community coalition, state and city
officials have now entered into discussions with our coalition about
how to implement our Community
Energy Plan to support reneweable energy, how to close the
PG&E plant immediately, and how to stop new polluting fossil fuel
plants.
We continue our support
for the community in pressuring
the U.S. Navy to do a thorough and safe cleanup of contamination at
the Hunters Point Shipyard. In July Greenaction provided information
to residents about the dangers of proposed incineration of contaminated
materials at the shipyard, and with our assistance the incinerator
plan was stopped.
West Oakland Toxic-Free Neighborhood Campaign (Oakland,
California)
Greenaction and West Oakland
community groups are working to stop
the toxic threat from the Red Star Yeast/LeSaffre facility
that emits cancer causing chemicals and foul odors into the neighborhoods
near the plant. We are conducting a community education and organizing
campaign to inform and mobilize residents, who also are exposed to
numerous other toxic contamination and pollution sources including
a vinyl chloride contamination site and diesel truck emissions. Greenaction
and the community turned out in large numbers at the May 20th public
meeting and June 20th public hearing held by the Bay Area Air Quality
Management District on Red Star Yeast's Title V Clean Air Act permit
application. A successful protest was held May 18th in front of the
factory, and we have received excellent press coverage of the campaign.
We are now pressuring the
Air District and the U.S. EPA to deny the permit. Greenaction and
the community will hold a protest August 22, 2002 at Red Star. We
are also challenging the Bay Area Air District to change their ineffective
and polluter-friendly odor complaint procedure, which currently is
set up to ensure that polluters get away with violations.
Vinyl
Chloride Contamination Site (Oakland, California)
Greenaction and the Chester
Street Block Club Association are mobilizing West Oakland residents
to attend the August 29th meeting being held by the U.S. EPA regarding
the agency's recommendation to place the vinyl chloride contamination
site (near 3rd and Mandela streets) on the federal Superfund list.
This contamination was the result of pollution left by chemical plants
that had operated in the neighborhood, and left a legacy of toxic
chemicals that threaten public health. We are demanding full community
control over decisions about what type of clean-up technology is used
at the site. Three years ago the EPA installed an incinerator to burn
the vinyl chloride, and they lied about its emissions -f alsely claiming
that only salt and steam was being emitted. Greenaction proved that
vinyl chloride and dioxin was emitted, and we forced the closure of
the incinerator. Now the clean-up must be done correctly and safely.
Richmond Toxic Cleanup Victory (Richmond, California)
Greenaction learned in
June that the Bay Area Air Quality Management District had approved
an incinerator (that the agency called a "thermal desporption"
unit) to burn contaminated soils at the now-closed Zeneca pesticide
plant in Richmond. The Air District at first denied the existence
of the incinerator, and claimed no permit was issued. Greenaction
discovered the agency had not given us accurate information, and we
demanded the immediate shutdown of the incinerator. We know these
incinerators emit harmful pollutants into the air, including chlorinated
chemicals and dioxin. In the face of threatened protests by Greenaction
and community groups, Zeneca ended the incineration weeks ahead of
schedule. We will now follow-up and ensure the rest of the toxic "cleanup"
is handled properly and safely.
San Joaquin Valley Environmental Justice Project (California)
The predominantly Latino
and low-income communities in the valley are hard hit by pollution
and environmental racism, suffering from pesticides, toxic waste dumps,
polluting power plants, and contaminated wells. We are working with
the Grayson Neighborhood Council and other community organizations
to stop Stanislaus
County from turning a local garbage dump into a regional mega-dump
for garbage and sewage sludge. We held a successful
press conference and protest with community members on July
8, 2002 in front of the government building in Modesto.
We are assisting residents
to oppose the resumption of tire incineration at a facility in Westley
that had a massive tire fire two years ago.
We are educating and mobilizing
the community to oppose new permits for the waste-to-energy garbage
incinerator in Crow's Landing. This facility has operated for years
without public scrutiny, emitting dioxin and other toxic chemicals
and metals into the environment.
Stop
Diesel Bus Campaign
We are working with the
Stop Diesel Bus Coalition to encourage San Francisco to replace
their polluting diesel bus fleet with cleaner fuel buses.
Stericycle Medical Waste/Environmental Justice Campaign
With Stericycle's purchase
of IES's customers and assets, much of the waste previously burned
at the IES incinerators will be autoclaved at Stericycle's facilities
in California. Greenaction is actively opposing Stericycle's shipments
of California medical waste to incinerators in Utah and Arizona, as
the victory in Oakland must not turn into another community's problem.
Greenaction is working
on the Gila River Indian Community reservation in Arizona to educate
the tribal government and tribal members about the dangers of the
Stericycle medical waste incinerator located on their land. Greenaction
has provided technical support for tribal members, who have launched
a campaign to evict the incinerator from their land.
We are also reaching out
to residents in Utah near that incinerator to educate them about the
dangers of waste incineration. We have been meeting with Stericycle
to encourage them to encourage their customers to reduce the amount
and toxicity of medical waste being generated by health care institutions.
Health Care Without Harm
Greenaction is part of
the international Health Care
Without Harm coalition working to transform the health care
industry to reduce their use of toxic materials such as polyvinyl
chloride (PVC) plastics and mercury-containing devices, and to end
incineration of medical waste. We work with health care institutions,
community and health groups, workers in hospitals, and government
agencies in this effort.
Greenaction is contacting
hospitals in California and Arizona urging them to adopt pollution
prevention measures, to use safer products, and to stop incinerating
their waste.
White
Mesa Uranium Mill (Utah)
Greenaction has begun assisting
communities living near the International Uranium Corporation's White
Mesa Uranium Mill in southern Utah. Located near the White Mesa Ute
reservation and Blanding, Utah, the mill has turned into a de facto
radioactive waste dump as government officials look the other way.
Greenaction is meeting with tribal members and other local residents
to escalate efforts to shut this facility which threatens the health
and environment - and Native sacred, cultural and archeological sites
including burials.
Stop
Cancer Where It Starts
Greenaction is working
with the Toxic Links Coalition to mobilize cancer survivors and community
and environmental justice groups to participate in October's Stop
Cancer Where It Starts activities during what we are calling Cancer
Industry Awareness Month. This is a direct challenge to polluter-founded
Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which consistenly refuses to address
the causes of cancer. We will be taking action in October against
industries that emit cancer-causing pollutants into our environment.
Stop Dumping on South Phoenix, Arizona
We
support this low-income community of color fighting the disproportionate
presence of toxic and waste facilities that threaten public
health and the environment. We alerted residents to a proposal by
Milum Textile Services for a medical waste facility, and forced the
State to hold a public hearing. We provide organizing and technical
support to residents tired of their community being a dumping ground.
Greenaction Web Site (www.greenaction.org)
Our website is being used
by thousands of people across the country and the world. Community
and environmental activists, students, educators, government officials,
media and even polluters regularly visit the Greenaction website for
updates, solid information and action alerts on campaigns for health
and environmental justice.
Join the Greenaction Activist Network!
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