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 energy - and to oppose proposed and existing polluting
power plants. We have a new brochure "Call
to Action for a Healthy Future: Clean, Renewable and Safe Energy."
We will continue to work to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
in Alaska, public lands in Utah's fragile wilderness and other important
ecosystems from the Bush/Cheney
relentless quest for oil. We join with millions of people
in the United States and around the world in opposing Bush's planned
war for oil in Iraq, and to demand renewable energy and conservation
so we can have a healthy and peaceful planet!
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 continues to
make significant progress.
Greenaction and our partners
in the Community Energy Coalition won a victory with the passage by
the Board of Supervisors of a City Electricity Plan that calls for
greatly increased renewable energy, conservation and efficiency programs
- and the closure of the PG&E Hunters Point power plant and Mirant's
Potrero power plant. Now we must work to make this a reality.
Greenaction and our allies
will now be working on several fronts to promote green
energy policies and practices. We will target large corporations
that waste energy and fail to conserve. We will also be involved in
commenting on the proposed siting of four small fossil fuel peaker
power plants the City hopes to find locations for. These small units
must be used only to achieve the closure of the large fossil fuel
power plants and must not be placed in the same low-income neighborhoods
that have borne the burden of polluting power plants for decades.
Red Star Yeast/LaSaffre Campaign (West Oakland, California)
Greenaction and community
groups are working
to stop the toxic threat from the Red Star Yeast/LaSaffre factory
that emits cancer causing chemicals and foul odors. Greenaction and
community groups held a successful press conference on December 18th
to demand that the Bay Area Air Quality Management District immediately
deny Red Star/Lesaffre's application for a new five year Title V Clean
Air Act permit. At the event we released data documenting the company's
failure of air pollution tests they needed to pass in order to receive
a new permit. Despite Red Star/Lesaffre's failure of the air pollution
test and their ongoing odor violations, the Air District is refusing
to deny the new permit and is holding off on a permit decision until
June - despite daily violations of their current permit. We received
excellent coverage in the Oakland Tribune of the event and community
concerns.
We are now pressuring the
Air District and the U.S. EPA to comply with their stated commitments
to environmental justice and deny the permit. 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 (West Oakland, California)
Greenaction and the Chester
Street Block Club Association will continue to watchdog the U.S. EPA's
recommendation to place the vinyl chloride contamination site (near
3rd and Mandela streets) on the federal Superfund list. Old chemical
plants that had operated in the neighborhood left the contamination.
We are demanding the best possible cleanup, with full community control
over decisions about what type of clean-up technology is used. Three
years ago EPA used an incinerator to burn the vinyl chloride and EPA
lied about its emissions -falsely 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
cleanup must be done safely.
San Joaquin Valley Environmental Justice Project (California)
The predominantly Latino
and low-income communities in the valley are hard hit by pollution
including pesticides, waste dumps, an incinerator and polluting power
plants.
We are working with the
Grayson Neighborhood Council and the Central California Environmental
Justice Network to stop
existing and proposed toxic threats and to educate and empower
residents to protect their health and environment.
Our efforts have stopped
Stanislaus County officials from turning a local
landfill into a regional mega-dump for garbage and sewage sludge,
although a smaller expansion is still being proposed.
In a major new effort,
we are educating and mobilizing the community to oppose
new permits for the Covanta 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. We forced the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control
District to hold two public hearings (October and December) on the
incinerator permit by informing residents about the issue and criticizing
the Air District for failing to notify residents about the first hearing.
We have also launched a
Youth Environmental Justice Leadership Project in the area, working
to educate and involve youth on environmental justice issues. We are
hosting a retreat for youth from the San Joaquin Valley in early January
to help build their knowledge and skills, and will conduct a series
of skills trainings for the community this winter and spring.
Stericycle Medical Waste/Environmental Justice Campaign
New Victory! Arizona Incinerator
Closed! Greenaction and tribal members of the Gila River Indian Community
reservation in Arizona won a
giant victory when Stericycle closed their controversial and dangerous
medical waste incinerator on December 10th. We had worked
for two years to educate the tribal government and tribal members
about the dangers of the Stericycle medical waste incinerator located
on their land. We provided technical support for tribal members, who
formed Gila River Alliance for a Clean Environment and launched a
campaign to evict the incinerator from their land.
We have now launched a
campaign with Salt Lake City, Utah residents to close the commercial
medical waste incinerator operated in their area by Stericycle. As
part of the international coalition Health Care Without Harm, 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
We
are 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.
We are meeting with government
agencies and health care institutions to promote pollution prevention
programs and to encourage alternatives to incineration of medical
waste. We are also working to promote regulations for autoclave facilities
to better protect worker health and the environment.
Colorado
River Indian Tribes Environmental Health and Justice Project
Greenaction
is working at the invitation of tribal members concerned about the
ongoing operations of a commercial hazardous waste facility on tribal
lands, next to a sacred religious site. Westates Carbon/U.S. Filter
operates the plant that treats hazardous wastes shipped to the reservation
from across the U.S., including waste from EPA Superfund sites and
from federal agencies. Contrary to company claims that the emissions
are "essentially steam," Westates emits dioxin and many
toxic chemicals and metals into the air. Tribal members and Greenaction
are challenging the U.S. EPA to stop its complicity in polluting tribal
lands and desecrating the sacred site next to the factory.
Superfund
Site on Gila River Indian Community (Arizona)
Over twenty years ago
the U.S. EPA supposedly cleaned up up a site on the Gila River Indian
Community reservation that was contaminated with high levels of toxaphene
and DDT dumped on tribal lands by non-Indian farmers engaged in aerial
pesticide spraying. At the time, tribal members living on the site
were told by the EPA that it was safe to return home after the so-called
cleanup. Unfortunately, the families who lived on the site continued
to suffer a wide range of serious illnesses, including cancer, skin
problems, miscarraiges, headaches and other problems. Several months
ago the families asked Greenaction for help, and we investigated the
issue. We discovered that the U.S. EPA did not do a thorough cleanup,
and much of the toxic contamination had been left on the site. We
have now pressured the EPA to return to the reservation and reopen
the case. The EPA has now met with the tribe, residents and Greenaction
and they admitted that significant contamination remains. U.S. EPA
has agreed that a new large scale remediation action to remove the
toxics still remaining is needed and will take place. Greenaction
will continue to assist the tribal members until the site is cleaned
to the best extent possible, health care provided and a new safe homesite
provided.
White
Mesa Uranium Mill (Utah)
Greenaction
has begun assisting Ute, Navajo and non-Native 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 health and the environment
- and desecrates Native sacred, cultural, archeological and burial
sites.
San
Rafael Rock Quarry (California)
Greenaction
responded to requests for
help from residents tired of the dust and toxic diesel emissions
into their neighborhood from the San Rafael Rock Quarry owned by Dutra
Materials. The quarry's operations are noisy and hundreds of trucks
travel local roads at all hours. This fall we held a successful protest
at the quarry with local residents, and we will escalate the protests
in the New Year. Our goal is to stop the company's overwhelming diesel
truck traffic and off-site dust clouds.
Victory!
Shell's Expansion Plan Defeated in San Francisco
Greenaction joined with
the Chinese Progressive Association and PODER to assist parents, teachers,
students and other residents of San Francisco's Excelsior District
to force Shell Oil
to drop their plans to expand a gas station next to schools and homes.
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District had approved the permit
despite acknowledging a big increased cancer risk. We pressured the
Air District and organized a protest at the Shell station. One day
before the protest Shell informed the community they were dropping
their expansion plans.
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. This is a direct response to polluter-founded Breast Cancer
Awareness Month that refuses to address the environmental causes of
cancer.
Environmental
Justice Air Quality Coalition
Greenaction
is a founding member of the Environmental Justice Air Quality Coalition
that was formed in response to the pro-polluter and anti-environmental
justice practices of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.
We are working to change the agency's policies and practice and hold
them accountable to protect air quality and promote environmental
justice.
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!
Call (415) 248-5010
or Email us at greenaction@greenaction.org
to
sign up and get involved!
