Taking Action for Health and Environmental
Justice
Watsonville and Santa Cruz, California: Victory! Plasma
Arc Incinerator Plan Defeated!
Greenaction’s
technical expertise and community organizing helped residents
defeat plans by Santa
Cruz County and AdaptiveARC
to build a plasma arc garbage incinerator near a migrant farm
labor housing complex in Watsonville. The campaign by Greenaction
and
the Pajaro Valley Coalition for Environmental Justice resulted
in the Board of Supervisors voting in November to cancel the project
after we proved that the claims the technology was proven and
without
emissions were incorrect. Now we are launching an effort to help
the County increase recycling and waste reduction to minimize
the amount of garbage in landfills.
Florida, Los Angeles, Sacramento, Indiana and Around
the World: Stop Incinerators in Disguise
Greenaction
is helping lead a worldwide campaign to defeat industry
attempts to site gasification, pyrolysis and plasma arc incinerators
for treatment of hazardous, solid, medical waste, sewage sludge
and tires. While the industry claims these technologies are “recycling” and “renewable
energy,” in reality these “incinerators-in-disguise” heat
wastes and then burn the toxic gases and produce toxic emissions.
We support pollution prevention, increased recycling and real
renewable energy instead of incineration. Reports and case studies
are available
on our website. Please contact Greenaction if an incinerator in
disguise is proposed near you.
Hayward, Avenal and San Francisco, California, Utah and the Navajo
Nation: Stop Climate Change!
Stop Coal and All Fossil Fuel Power Plants! No New Oil and Gas Drilling
on Sensitive Public Lands!
We are helping
communities fight fossil fuel power plants, and are advocating
for an emergency effort
to increase renewable energy.
We are supporting communities in Hayward, Avenal and San Francisco
to stop new proposed power plants. We are supporting the Navajo
people’s fight against the Desert Rock power plant proposed
in New Mexico. We are opposing the Bush-Cheney plan to open up
sensitive areas in the west to oil and gas development. In response
to strong
community protests, the City of San Francisco has stopped their
proposed new power plants and we are now focused on shutting the
old and dirty Mirant plant.
West Berkeley, California: Stop Pollution from Pacific
Steel Casting!
Greenaction is supporting residents in their fight
to stop noxious odors and toxic pollution from Pacific Steel Casting.
We are pressuring
the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and the City to
force PSC to eliminate odors and dramatically reduce pollution.
We want
healthy air for workers and residents. A new study published
in USA Today confirmed that kids going to school near Pacific Steel
breathe unhealthy air.
Richmond,
California: Victory! Polluter Shuts Down & State
Cracks Down on Violations!
In the face of growing protest, Myers
Crum/Container Management Services closed their controversial
facility that burned the residues
out of 55 gallon drums. When the company then abandoned the site,
Greenaction and the West County Toxics Coalition filed complaints
with the State Department of Toxics who confirmed our complaints
and took serious enforcement action against the company. We are
now helping Hayward residents stop the same company from conducting
similar activities in their community.
Bayview Hunters Point, San Francisco, California:
Hunters Point Shipyard Campaign!
Greenaction and our allies in the
Stop Lennar Action Movement won
a victory in November as the Bay Area Air District announced a
huge $515,000 fine against developer Lennar Corporation for air
monitoring
violations that took place during work at the toxic contaminated
Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. We are continuing to monitor the
cleanup and construction activities to ensure they are done as safely
as
possible.
Kettleman City, San Joaquin Valley, California: No
Toxic Dump Expansion! No More PCBs!
Greenaction is helping residents
of this farmworker community fight
proposed expansion of the Chem Waste Management toxic waste and
solid waste dump. We mobilized residents to attend and testify
at government meetings on the dump expansion, challenged the exclusion
of Latinos from the county committee making recommendations on
the
proposed dump expansion, and submitted extensive technical comments.
We helped residents in two dramatic protests in December in nonviolently
taking over county meetings designed to help Chem Waste expand
their dump. In a victory, the US EPA has decided not to issue a
new PCB
permit for Chem Waste and is requiring more public hearings and
studies. Greenaction will start a youth leadership program in
Kettleman City in January to train kids on environmental issues
and organizing
skills.
Stanislaus County, San Joaquin Valley, California:
Shut the Covanta Garbage Incinerator!
Greenaction
and the Grayson Neighborhood Council are stepping up
our campaign against the Covanta garbage incinerator in this low-income
Latino area. We are working with residents to encourage county
and city officials to support recycling and “Zero Waste” programs
instead of incineration.
San Leandro, California: New Environmental Health
and Justice Project Starts Up and Makes Waves!
Greenaction is working
with the community group, Healthy San Leandro,
to reduce pollution from dozens of polluting industries and diesel
truck operations in this community. We have helped research many
of these industries and with the community will now challenge
the biggest polluters to reduce their pollution.
North Salt Lake City, Utah: Shut
Stericycle Medical Waste Incinerator – Sterilize,
Don’t Incinerate!
Greenaction
works with families living in a new neighborhood next to the incinerator.
Stericycle burns
medical waste (and some non-medical
waste) shipped from many states, emitting dioxin and other pollutants.
Our goal is to get Stericycle to switch to safer, non-incineration
technologies to protect the health of residents and workers. Greenaction
forced the State Division of Air Quality to hold a public hearing
on October 9th and we testified about the dangers of incineration
and the State’s failure to adequately inform residents.
No
New Nuclear Power Plants in Green River, Utah – or
Anywhere!
Greenaction opposes plans being pushed by the nuclear
industry to build more nuclear power plants. Nuclear power is still
a huge
threat to the environment and health, from the uranium mining
to the risk of power plant leaks to the dangers of nuclear waste
disposal. A nuclear power plant near the Green River would be
disastrous as the Green River flows directly into the Colorado
River, drinking and agricultural water source for tens of millions
of people.
Avenal,
California: Campaign Against Importation of Los Angeles’ Trash!
We are helping
Spanish-speaking residents in this San Joaquin Valley community
organize against problems
at the local dump including
odors, diesel pollution, and dumping of Los Angeles’s
garbage. We have won initial victories including odor control
measures
and an agreement to move the dump entrance away from residential
areas to reduce the impacts of diesel truck traffic and emissions.
West Oakland, California: Clean up the AMCO Chemical
Superfund Site!
Greenaction is working with residents living on top
of and next
to vinyl chloride and lead contamination, and pressuring US EPA
to finally begin cleaning up the toxic pollution at the AMCO Chemical
Superfund site.
