e veryone’s backyardchej.org/wp-content/uploads/springeby.pdf · local schools contaminated by...

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The Journal of the Grassroots Movement for Environmental JusticeCenter for Health, Environment and Justice

Vol. 19, No. 1 ◆ Spring 2001

POISONED SCHOOLS – A LESSON IN DEMOCRACY FROM QUINCY

COMMUNITY GROUPS HAVE BIG IMPACT ON POPS TREATY

EXPANDED “ACTION LINE” PROVIDES MORE COVERAGE OF LOCAL ORGANIZING

Center for Health, Environment and Justice

Spring 20012 Everyone's Backyard

he Center for Health, Environment and Justice is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization that provides organizing and technical assis-tance to grassroots community organizations nationwide. The cen-ter was founded in 1981 by Lois Gibbs, who together with herneighbors won the relocation of more than 900 families from their

TABOUT CHEJ

neighborhood after it was contaminated by chemicals leaking from the LoveCanal landfill in Niagara Falls, NY. Hundreds of people living near contami-nated sites around the country contacted Lois as her efforts and those of herneighbors captured national attention and proved, for the first time, that toxicwaste is not an abstract issue, but one that’s in everyone’s backyard.

The center’s mission is to help people build democratic, community-basedorganizations to address public health and environmental threats. We believestrongly that the best way to solve local problems is from the bottom up, whenthe people directly affected speak for themselves and have a meaningful role, asequals, in any and all decisions that affect their lives, homes and family. Ourfocus and resources are devoted to helping local community based organiza-tions form, grow, and become effective in achieving their goals. We do this byproviding information, advice, training, and support. We also refer callers toother grassroots groups who are working on the same issues or fighting thesame polluter.

CHEJ can help your newly formed group learn how to conduct successfulmeetings, raise funds, define a strategic plan to accomplish goals, network withothers, hold news briefings and press conferences, and identify experts to assistwith technical or scientific issues and questions. CHEJ has staff scientists whocan answer many of your questions and who can review technical documentsand tests results you need help with.

For more established groups, CHEJ can provide guidance and assistance onissues such as keeping people involved over the long haul, organizational struc-ture and board development, one- to five-year strategic planning, buildingworking coalitions, developing campaign and issue strategies, media trainingand assistance, and expanding beyond your existing geographical area.

CHEJ has bilingual staff who can respond to requests for information andorganizing assistance in Spanish.

Currently, CHEJ is coordinating three national campaigns: Stop Dioxin Expo-sure Campaign, which is working to educate the public and to move all levels ofgovernment to take steps to eliminate the sources ofdioxin; Child Proofing Our Communities, devotedto protecting children from pesticides andtoxic chemicals in schools and day care fa-cilities; and Health Care Without Harm,aimed at stopping the incineration ofmedical waste and eliminating the useof medical devices containing toxicmaterials. We invite local groups to be-come part of these campaigns.

We have a unique library of books,reports, government documents, sub-ject and corporate files, and videos thatmay have just the information youneed. Don’t hesitate to contact us. ◆

CHEJ STAFF

EXECUTIVE DIRECTORLois Marie Gibbs

DIRECTOR OF SPECIAL PROJECTSCharlotte Brody

SCIENCE DIRECTORStephen Lester

FINANCE/ADMINISTRATIVE DIRECTORBarbara Sullivan

ORGANIZER/TRAINERLarry Yates

Adrián Boutureira

DIOXIN CAMPAIGN COORDINATORMonica Rohde

HEALTH CARE WITHOUT HARM

D.C. CAMPAIGN COORDINATORCecilia Deloach

HCWH MEMBERSHIP SERVICES

COORDINATORJolie Patterson

CHILD PROOFING OUR COMMUNITIES

CAMPAIGN ASSISTANTLindsey Cotter

EDITOR/RESEARCH ASSOCIATERon Nicosia

GRANTS MANAGERMaryll Kleibrink

BOOKKEEPERHae-Young Kang

MAJOR GIFTS MANAGERAnita Uyehara-Mccartin

MEMBERSHIP MANAGEMENT ASSISTANTDorothea Gross

◆

CHEJ BOARD MEMBERS

MURRAY LEVINE, NYChairman

CLYDE FOSTER, ALConcerned Citizens Of Triana

VILMA HUNT, MA

LUELLA KENNY, NYLove Canal Medical Fund

PAME KINGFISHER, NMShining Waters

ESPERANZA MAYA, CAPeople For Clean Air And Water

SUZI RUHL, FLLegal Environmental Assistance Fund

ALONZO SPENCER, OHSave Our County


Spring 2001 Everyone's Backyard 3

ackyackyackyackyackyararararardddddBEvvvvverererereryyyyyone’one’one’one’one’sssss

Center for Health,Environment and Justice, Inc.

150 S. Washington StreetSuite 300

(P.O. Box 6806)Falls Church, VA 22040

(703) 237-2249www.chej.org

Vol. 19, No. 1 ◆ Spring 2001

hange is never easy, butit’s a necessary part of life.Based on what you, ourreaders and members,

Students protestproposed Quincyhigh school site atcity hall meeting.Courtesy, ThePatriot Ledger.

Everyone’s Backyard is published quarterly by the Center for Health, Environmentand Justice, Inc. The editor is Ron Nicosia. Design and Production is done by PageArtistry, Rochester, NY. Printed by Ecoprint of Silver Spring, Maryland. The coverand text are 100% recycled, 100% post-consumer waste paper, not rebleached withchlorine. Printed using low-VOC soybean inks.

Library of Congress #ISSN 0749-3940. Copyright by CHEJ. Reproduction by per-mission only. Center for Health, Environment and Justice, P.O. Box 6806, FallsChurch, VA 22040, (703)237-2249. Unsolicited manuscripts, news items, artwork,photographs and other submissions are welcome. All submissions become theproperty of CHEJ and will not be returned unless special arrangements are madein advance.

C

EVERYONE’S BACKYARD

IS CHANGING

have told us is most helpful to you,we have decided to make somechanges in EBY. Beginning with thisissue, we are expanding ActionLine—our stories of local victoriesand local fights against environmen-tal abusers—and cutting some of thefeature articles and columns that youseem to value less. We still plan onproviding organizing tips and adviceon using scientific information thatwe hope will support your organiz-ing efforts. And we’ll continue to re-port on each of the major campaignswe are part of—Stop Dioxin Expo-sure, Child Proofing our Communi-ties, and Health Care Without Harm.

Let us know what you thinkabout the new EBY. This magazine isa tool for you to use in your localwork and in building and sustainingthe grassroots environmental move-ment. So we always appreciate itwhen you tell us how you use it,when you pass it on to a colleague orfriend, and even when you careenough to tell us we did somethingwrong. We look forward to hearingfrom you. ◆

POISONED SCHOOLS – A LESSON IN DEMOCRACY

FROM QUINCYConcerned parents in Massachusetts take on city officials and blockplans to build a high school on a contaminated site. ..............................................4

COMMUNITY GROUPS HAVE BIG IMPACT ON POPS TREATYOrganization, strategizing, and close coordination among NGOs inJohannesburg last December helped produce a treaty that representsa victory for public health. ..........................................................................................6

ACTION LINE ..........................................................................................................9

CAMPAIGNS

HEALTH CARE WITHOUT HARM .............................................................. 19

STOP DIOXIN EXPOSURE ............................................................................ 20

CHILD PROOFING OUR COMMUNITIES .................................................. 21

RESOURCES .......................................................................................................... 22



he past year has seen more and more newschools built on or next to highly contami-nated land. In this article, we focus on thestruggle of one community to protect its chil-dren, but we ask that you keep in mind that

POISONED SCHOOLS – A LESSON INDEMOCRACY FROM QUINCY

BY LOIS GIBBS

Tthis case is only one of many. There are on-going battles tostop the building of new schools on contaminated land inRhode Island, Maryland, Texas, Pennsylvania, California,Michigan, and many other states.

The reasons for the surge in building new schools in-clude the growth of the U.S. school population and thefact that our schools are small, old and in disrepair, andunable to support the technology that today’s studentsneed in order to enter tomorrow’s workplace. No one dis-putes the need for new, modernized school buildings.What is in dispute is whether it is safe, for children andschool personnel, to build a school on property contami-nated by toxic chemicals.

Twenty-three years after Love Canal, school boards,cities, and state governments are making the same tragicmistakes. The Love Canal crisis began with parents con-cerned about the safety of their children attending twolocal schools contaminated by toxic dumpsite leaks. Bothschools were closed, but not before thousands of children,as well as school personnel, were exposed to hundreds ofdifferent toxic chemicals.

In cities and towns across the country, those in chargeof educating our children and who mandate, by law, thatchildren attend school, seem unconcerned about placingchildren in harm’s way. The attempt by Quincy, Massa-chusetts officials to build a school on contaminated land isan example of irresponsible decision-making by peoplethe public entrusts with the care and education of theirchildren. But this is also a story of a successful struggle to

protect our children—of how parents, teachers and com-munity members, stood up against great odds to stop ahorrifying proposal and hold their elected representativesaccountable.

“A GOOD SITE”

In Quincy, city officials planned to build a $60million high school on land that had been usedto dispose of wastes from the Fore River Ship-yard and nearby industries. The city was fully

aware when it purchased the land that it was contami-nated with asbestos, lead, PCBs, and other chemicals.The mayor said that he believed it could be made safe forchildren: “The Department of Education has come out,looked at the site, and said it’s a good site if we followthe cleanup procedures.”

Unconvinced, parents decided to learn about the sitefor themselves and began an education-drive to informother families about the site. They wrote and circulatedflyers, took petitions door-to-door and held informa-tional meetings. Until this educational grassroots effortreached them, many families had had no idea that thiscontaminated site was being considered for a new highschool. Parents and school-based groups reacted withboth anger and disbelief. “I find it hard to believe thatthe single most contaminated four acres in this entire cityis the spot where we should put a high school,” said Wil-liam Phelan, parent and school committee member. “Ifthey build a school there, we will have to send our kids.It’s putting us in an awful spot. I’m worried with imme-diate health issues from that site and I’m going to beworried about the future,” complained Deborah Powers,a mother of two.



TPARENTS FOR SAFE SCHOOLS

he original group of concerned families formedParents for Safe Schools (PSS). As they talkedabout what to do to stop the proposal, they de-cided they needed a scientific opinion from

someone outside the city and state governments. They alsofelt they needed a credible physician who understoodchildren’s special vulnerabilities and could help educatethe public about this issue. They scheduled a physician tospeak at a public meeting and found an outside scientistwho could review the data and comment on the potentialhealth risks the property might pose to children.

PSS realized, however, that stopping the proposalwould require more than science. The decision to build theschool was in the hands of the city council. Therefore, thegroup had to focus some of its energy on getting the major-ity of the city council members to vote no. The group madesure that some of its members were at every council meet-ing; they challenged council members who supported theplan and demanded public meetings to discuss the issue.

More than a hundred residents packed the meetinghall on October 30 to discuss the school plan with citycouncil members and their environmental consultants.During the five-hour meeting, parents presented two peti-tions that opposed the school and voiced strong concerns.“You’re building on known carcinogens. You think you cancontrol it until something goes wrong,” said residentMaura Peterson. Parents turned up the heat on councilmembers, reminding them that voters were watching andmaking it clear that the issue was not going away.

At another public meeting the following week, stateofficials were to present information about the site. Councilmembers were concerned about this meeting since thestate had made a commitment to reimburse the city for up

to ninety percent of the building costs for the school.Without notice, the council moved the meeting from itsadvertised location to city hall. Local residents, some ofwhom were bused to the new meeting location, felt thiswas an intentional effort to reduce turnout at the meeting.School Superintendent Creedon wanted the meeting tofocus on his agenda: “I look at it with a vision, a dream,that for once we have the space we need.” However, theorganized parents wanted to focus on health risks andchemical contamination. After several interruptions,Creedon told residents that he would have to run themeeting like a classroom. When one resident said, “I’mnot in school anymore.” Creedon replied, “You are withme.” Creedon’s behavior angered people, but they kepttheir focus on the health of their children.

Residents of Quincy used every opportunity to putpressure on city officials. They made their presence felteven during the annual Quincy Thanksgiving parade,holding up signs along the parade route and passing outflyers. A few days later, the mayor announced the city’sdecision—the school would not be built on the contami-nated property.

Public officials had felt the sting of what happenswhen public concerns are ignored. City Councilor Cahill,a supporter of building the school, summarized his feel-ings this way: “The past month has been difficult. Notonly has four years of hard and difficult work beenflushed down the drain, but people who I had oncethought were friends, and who trusted my judgment,now look at me with suspicion and contempt, as if Iwould actually support a decision that would putchildren’s and teacher’s lives at risk.”

As Tip O’Neill, former Speaker of the House, oncesaid, “All politics are local.” The Quincy story not onlyconfirms the truth of that statement but underscores thatpeople can fight city hall and win. ◆

The Magnesium Corp. of America, rankedthe most polluting manufacturer in thecountry by the U.S. EPA year after year, hasbeen sued by the Department of Justice for

CORPORATE CORNER

illegally generating, storing, and disposing of toxic orcorrosive wastes in operations at its Utah magnesiumplant. Charges include dumping the waste into severalunlined ditches and into a 400-acre pond next to theGreat Salt Lake. In 1998, MagCorp produced 57 millionpounds of toxic air pollution, mostly chlorine gas andhydrochloric acid. This and other magnesium produc-tion facilities may be significant sources of dioxin, butthey are not included in the EPA’s inventory of dioxinsources because of the lack of testing.

◆ A unit of TRW Inc. agreed to plead guilty to crimi-nal charges that it mishandled sodium azide, a toxic

and potentially volatile compound, and sent it to a lo-cal landfill. TRW will pay more than $17 million incriminal and civil penalties and will pay for full-pageads in Arizona newspapers describing the company’sillegal actions, its conviction, and planned preventativemeasures.

◆ In 1977, when the hazardous waste landfill atEmelle, Alabama opened, local media praised it as ajob-creator and “a new facility which could give thisarea more advantage in attracting other businesses.”But today there are no “other businesses” in Emelle —even the grocery store and the gas station have closeddown. Thanks to massive layoffs in the 1990s, therearen’t many jobs at the landfill either. Emelle is notablenow only for the millions of tons of hazardous wasteburied just outside of town. One city council memberobserved, “Jobs or not, we’re stuck with that.”



ast December, the United Nations Environ-mental Programme held its fifth and final ne-gotiating session on the POPs Treaty in SouthAfrica. The presence of nongovernmentalorganizations (NGOs) in Johannesburg

COMMUNITY GROUPS HAVE BIGIMPACT ON POPS TREATY

BY MONICA ROHDE

Lplayed a crucial role in determining the final language ofthe treaty.

Even before the negotiating process began inMontreal in June 1998, NGOs started organizing to putpressure on delegations to ensure a strong treaty. The In-ternational POPs Elimination Network (IPEN) was devel-oped to help coordinate NGOs and serve as a resourceand clearinghouse for information. Out of IPEN grewStop POPs, a coalition of U.S community-based groupsformed to pressure the U.S. delegation and ensure that thechemical industry didnot dictate the U.S.position.

Before the Decem-ber negotiating ses-sion, Stop POPsgroups from the GreatLakes region, Califor-nia, and Alaska wroteletters to the U.S. del-egation and their Con-gressional representa-tives expressing theirconcern that the U.S.delegation would op-pose a strong endorse-ment of the precau-tionary principle inthe treaty. As a directresult of pressurefrom constituents,thirty-six members of

the House sent a letter to Secretary of State MadelineAlbright.

Throughout the negotiating process, communitygroups in Alaska campaigned aggressively to get the at-tention of the governor of Alaska and of the departmentsof State and Interior. One result of the campaign was thattwo staffers from the governor’s office were included asmembers of the U.S. delegation; the two staffers played acritical role in keeping issues of concern to the NGOSalive during closed-door discussions.

A week prior to the negotiating session, the GlobalAnti-Incineration Alliance/Global Alliance for Incinera-tion Alternative (GAIA ) officially launched a new interna-tional coalition focused on halting incineration of wastesand promoting alternatives that protect public health.

More than seventygrassroots environ-mental and publichealth activists from 23countries participatedin the new initiative,bringing more groupsto Johannesburg.

Just before the ne-gotiations opened, thePesticide Action Net-work North America(PANNA) andCommonweal releasedNowhere to Hide: A Re-port on Toxic Chemicalsin Food. Analyzingdata collected by theFood and Drug Ad-ministration (FDA),PANNA andCommonweal found

GAIA members shame the U.S. delegation into meeting with them. Photoby Monica Rohde.



that virtually all food products sold here are contaminatedwith POPs banned in the U.S.

DECIDING ON A STRATEGY

T

F

wo days prior to the negotiating session, IPENheld its preparatory meetings. As we talkedabout problem governments and strategies, itbecame obvious that the U.S. was going to

need some extra nudging. There were two crucial areas inwhich the U.S. was holding up the progress of the nego-tiations. The U.S. 1) refused to include strong languageendorsing the precautionary principle; and 2) refused toendorse the goal of eliminating dioxin. It was clear thatthe chemical industry had the ear of the U.S. delegationand that we would need to come up with creative strate-gies in order to move them.

The result of our discussions was an “insider-out-sider” approach to influencing the session. The “insider”strategy was to continue to lobby and negotiate with thedelegations, building on relationships that had been es-tablished during previous negotiating sessions. The “out-sider” strategy comprised a series of actions that wouldkeep the key issues of precaution and dioxin eliminationin the faces of the delegates and in the media.

“OUTSIDER” ACTIONSor the opening day of the negotiations,Greenpeace organized a demonstration infront of the Convention Center. More thanthirty volunteers dressed in bright yellow

“Toxic Patrol” radiation suits lined up along the side-walk and doors leading into the building. Demonstra-tors wore surgical masks and held black and white pho-tos of people whose health has been affected by POPs.The demonstration was designed to set the stage for theweek—to remind the delegates that this treaty was reallyabout protecting people and to let delegates know thatpeople from all over the world would be watching themand the decisions they made.

Later that day, a group of U.S. participants who arealso part of GAIA staged a protest directed at the U.S.delegation. As delegates left the building at the end ofthe day’s session, protestors stood outside the buildingwith paper bags on their heads and held up signs thatread “Ashamed of the U.S. Policy on POPs” and “Bagthe U.S. Policy on POPs.” The protesters were calling forthe U.S. to 1) take immediate action to eliminate, notmerely control POPs; 2) prioritize a precautionary ap-proach to POPs cleanup and treatment; and 3) refuse toallow the chemical industry to shape U.S. and interna-tional environmental policy. This action was successfulin embarrassing both the U.S. delegation and the indus-try representatives—so much so that the StateDepartment’s Brooks Yeager, the leader of the U.S. del-egation, asked for a meeting between the demonstratorsand key delegation members.

The NGO representatives used their 45-minute meet-ing with delegates later that week to remind them that thereal stakeholders were the communities that are being dis-proportionately impacted by POPs, not the chemical in-dustry. As a result of this meeting, the U.S. delegation didbecome more accessible to IPEN representatives duringthe negotiating session.

The Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) took aleading role in making sure that the delegates understoodthe impact that POPs have on Native peoples. On the sec-ond day of the negotiating session, they presented theU.S. delegation with a folder containing forty tribal reso-lutions calling for the adoption of the precautionary ap-proach and the elimination of POPs. Throughout theweek, IEN organized meetings with key delegates fromaround the world to ensure that the treaty would addressthe needs not only of people today but of the seven gen-erations to come.

On Friday morning, the fifth day of the session,twenty-two women from all over the world held a silent

T

WHAT IS THE POPSTREATY?

he official name of the POPs Treaty is the“International Legally Binding Instru-ment for Implementing International Ac-tion on Certain Persistent Organic Pollut-

ants (POPs).” Negotiations on the treaty began in1998 under the sponsorship of the U.N. Environ-ment Programme. Discussion focused on twelvePOPs that have been linked to cancer, birth defects,and other developmental abnormalities in humansand animals.

At the final negotiating session last December inJohannesburg, 122 countries agreed on a treaty that,if ratified, would represent a significant victory forpublic health. The agreement bans eight pesticides,restricts the use of DDT to disease control, prohibitsproduction and phases out the use of PCBs, and callsfor actions to reduce the release of dioxins, “with thegoal of their continuing minimization and, wherefeasible, ultimate elimination.” The treaty explicitlyendorses the precautionary principle and establishesa POPs Review Committee to identify additionalPOPs based on a precautionary approach to protect-ing public health. The precautionary approach givesthe public greater leverage to challenge chemicalswhere there is evidence, but not proof, of risk.

The treaty will be known as the Stockholm Con-vention after it is signed this May in Sweden. Fiftygovernments must ratify the treaty before it becomeslegally binding. For more information about thePOPs Treaty, visit the web site of the InternationalPOPs Elimination Network (IPEN) at www.ipen.org.



demonstration against the healtheffects of POPs on the developingfetus. Solemn-faced and wearingpapier-maché pregnant bellies, theylined the entrance of the negotiatingcenter and stood silently as negotia-tors filed in to begin the day. Theirmessage: “It is a human right to beborn toxic free.” The dynamic propsand the silent nature of the protesthad a profound impact on the del-egates as they crossed the line ofwomen and entered the building.

Later that day, the women—stillwearing their belly-props—gainedaccess to the Convention Center andlined up outside the room where theUnited Nations EnvironmentProgramme was holding its firstmajor press conference of the nego-tiations. This was unprecedented, as the U.N. normallydoesn’t allow demonstrations or props inside the center.The women waited outside the press conference until itwas almost finished and then silently filed in. An NGOmember then asked a pointed question about the tensionssurrounding the inclusion of precautionary language inthe treaty. The pregnant bellies were the perfect back-drop. The media picked up on the question and more dis-cussion followed.

Throughout the week Stop POPs representatives com-municated with folks back in the states about the key is-sues being debated. Folks in the U.S. launched a massivefax attack on congress highlighting the U.S. delegation’sposition on dioxin elimination and precaution. They alsogot a number of community groups to write letters toBrooks Yeager, which the Stop POPs folks in South Africadelivered in person.

WORKING TOGETHER

Belly Brigade lines up outside negotiating conference. Photo by Monica Rohde.

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hese “outsider” activities took place whileother IPEN representatives took the “insider”approach and lobbied delegates. Both strate-gies needed the other to be effective; working

together, we were able to have an impact on the U.S. andother problematic delegations. The outsiders needed theinsiders to turn their messages into treaty language, whilethe insiders needed the outsiders in order to sound morereasonable at the negotiating table.

These strategies worked because the NGOs were or-ganized. There were clear lines of communication and ahigh level of trust; NGOs met at least once a day to checkin on strategy and tactics. Although not everyone agreedwith what the other was doing, no one tried to blockanother’s actions, and no one was blind-sided by whatanother group did. The outcome was a treaty with stronglanguage on the need to adhere to the precautionary prin-

ciple and with the final goal of eliminating dioxin—atreaty that, if ratified, can be used to shape U.S. policy onPOPs.

This same insider-outsider strategy can be used onthe local and statewide levels when working in coalitionsto establish public health policies.

◆ Determine which groups are better suited for the in-side approach and which for the outside approach.

◆ Together develop a plan that will build off eachother’s actions.

◆ Set up regular meetings to both report back onprogress to date and to strategize about next steps.

◆ Remember that communication, transparency, andtrust are the key elements to achieving your commongoal. ◆



ALABAMA◆ When Stericycle officials contactedBirmingham city planners about putting amedical waste facility in the Titusvilleneighborhood, they got a skeptical reac-tion. Birmingham residents well rememberthe long and ultimately successful battleTitusville waged to keep out a wastetransfer station. Undaunted, Stericycleproceeded to convene a community meet-ing, sure it could make its case. Despiteless than a week’s warning, Titusville resi-dents attended in mass numbers, wieldingsigns community seniors spent all daymaking. Before all 300 of the peoplescheduled to speak got their chance,Stericycle gave up and dropped its plans.Congratulations, Titusville!

ALASKA◆ The Qawalangin Tribe of Unalaska isfuming over the U.S. EPA’s failure to takeremedial action following the latest roundof testing of fish captured from Dutch Har-bor, the heart of its community. An EPApreliminary risk assessment found highlevels of arsenic and PCBs in the fish andhigh cancer and non-cancer risk levels forpeople consuming the fish, the mainsource of food for the community. Anabandoned military facility leaking PCBs,pesticides, metals, and volatile organicchemicals (VOCs) borders the harbor, butthe agency is drawing no conclusions andtaking no action. The community is won-dering what the numbers mean andwhether they should continue to eat thefish.

ARIZONA◆ In Tucson, a Brush Wellman facilityprocessing beryllium is located in a pre-dominantly Latino neighborhood, near ahigh school, a middle school, and two el-ementary schools. Beryllium causes afatal and incurable lung disease; 25 Tuc-son Brush Wellman workers are already illwith the disease. Brush Wellman has adocumented record of exposing workersto unsafe beryllium levels and of releasingthe deadly metal into surrounding com-munities. Environmental Justice Action

Group (EJAG), a coalition of communitygroups, is working with the Southern Ari-zona Alliance for Economic Justice topress for safety measures at BrushWellman’s facility for both workers andneighbors. As a result, the local schooldistrict has agreed to place four air moni-tors around the plant. EJAG continues topush for zero beryllium emissions andother protections for students, residents,and workers.

EJAG is building on the experience ofTucsonians for a Clean Environment(TCE), which fought for many years toprotect the same communities from indus-trial contamination of water, and still ben-efits from the example of Rose Augustine,leader of TCE, former CHEJ Board mem-ber, and nationally recognized environ-mental justice leader.

◆ Activists in the town of Williamsblocked the construction of a cell-phonetower that landowners said would devas-tate the area’s natural beauty and neigh-bors’ property values. The local paper hadpublished a computer-simulated photo ofthe tower provided by the company pro-posing the tower, but an opponent of theplan demonstrated to local officials thatthe actual tower would be much more in-trusive than represented.

CALIFORNIA◆ In West Contra Costa, the WestCounty Toxics Coalition led residentsconcerned about toxins in their highlyindustrialized communities in a rally atthe State Hazardous Materials Labora-tory in Berkeley to assert their right toknow how they are being contaminated.They challenged the laboratory to testthe blood drawn from one resident for thepresence of dioxins, PCBs, lead, andother persistent environmental pollutants.They also demanded that the state es-tablish a program to regularly monitor thelevels of persistent organic pollutants inbreast milk and blood. Supporters sent e-postcards to the laboratory from theCommunities for a Better Environmentwebsite.

◆ Community members gathered out-side the U.S. Army Community CleanupOpen House at Fort Ord to oppose burn-ing of military waste on the former train-ing base. Brandishing banners urging“Say NO to Fort Ord Toxic Burnings,” Life2000 celebrated all the birthdays an endto burning would bring. Balloons, cup-cakes, and beautiful sunshine kept thefocus on children and health. The formerFort Ord, where ordnance was used for

he Grayson Neighborhood Council and other StanislausCounty residents worked with Bay Area activists to abort a pro-posal to import and burn medical waste in the county. Thecounty board of supervisors unanimously opposed even study-T

GROUPS RALLY TO SHUT DOWNOAKLAND INCINERATOR

ing the project. The proposal came from Integrated Environmental Sys-tems (IES)/Norcal, a company that currently operates the state’s onlycommercial medical waste incinerator in Oakland.

Regulators have hinted that they may shut down the Oakland facility,which is located in a community of color and is a source of dioxin andother toxic emissions. As EBY goes to press, more than a dozen faith, stu-dent, health, environmental, and other grassroots groups are preparing fora major rally against that incinerator—a rally they hope will be the lastone before the facility is closed down.



◆ Labor and community groups in SanDiego joined together to block a marinecoating business operating without meet-ing health requirements. Neighbors ofSIPCO Services, along with the Environ-mental Health Coalition and the SanDiego/Imperial Counties Labor Council,opposed SIPCO’s attempt to get a vari-ance from the Air Pollution Control Districtafter the company failed its health riskassessment. An Environmental HealthCoalition spokesperson welcomed thedecision but said, “The fight for long-termprotection for labor and the environmentin the shipyards is just beginning.”

◆ On the third anniversary of the start ofthe 113-day occupation of the Ward Valleysite, the Colorado River Native NationsAlliance and the Ward Valley Coalitionhosted a celebration of the successfulfight to save Ward Valley, the ColoradoRiver, sacred Indian land, and the deserttortoise from the proposed nuclear wastedump. Those present dedicated them-selves to remaining vigilant against anyfuture threats to Ward Valley. U.S. Ecol-ogy, the group seeking to run the wastedump, suffered two major court defeatslate last year in attempts to revive the

decades, is now a highly-touted site fordevelopment close to Silicon Valley.

◆ Children and other Riverside Countyresidents appeared before the countyboard of supervisors demanding an endto the dumping of sewage sludge onnearby farmland. They cited odor andhealth effect issues. As one five-year-oldlamented, “It makes me sick.”

◆ Protesters gathered at the gates ofRocketdyne’s Santa Susana Field Labora-tory as trucks began to haul radioactivehazardous waste to a dump in KernCounty. The dump is near Buttonwillow,home to a large Chicano population al-ready hosting over 2,000 tons of debrisfrom the Manhattan Project that built theoriginal nuclear weapons. The Committeeto Bridge the Gap characterized themove as allowing “free release of radioac-tive waste throughout” California andwarned that “deregulating radioactivewaste” would prove even worse for thestate than deregulating electricity. In 1996,Rocketdyne’s parent company agreed topay $6.5 million in fines in connection witha fatal incident involving hazardous wasteat the laboratory.

dump proposal or recoup their financiallosses.

◆ Community activists, groups againstcorporate domination, and environmentalgroups united to protest rate hikes andcontamination of communities at PacificGas and Electric’s (PG&E) San Franciscoheadquarters. Protesters blocked thedoorway and picketed to demand closureof the Hunters Point power plant as along-standing polluter of the predomi-nantly African-American community. Resi-dents of Midway Village, a subsidizedhousing community in Daly City, alsojoined in to protest the dumping of toxicwaste from a neighboring PG&E facility.Protest sponsors included Bayview Hunt-ers Point Community Advocates, Lit-eracy for Environmental Justice,Greenaction, the Green Party, GlobalExchange, and the International ActionCenter.

◆ Taking a time out from workshops atthe Military Toxic Project’s ContaminatedBases Conference, people from 25 orga-nizations and indigenous communities allover North America, as well as from Ja-pan, rallied on the shore of San DiegoBay, a major center of U.S. Navy facilities.They called for cleanup and communityparticipation at base sites from PuertoRico to Alaska. Gilbert Sanchez of theTribal Environmental Watch Alliancedeclared that “National security should notmean that the military is secure from thelaws and regulations that are meant toprotect the well being of Americans.”

Their hosts, the EnvironmentalHealth Coalition and the Peace Re-source Center of San Diego, gave them atour of the contamination due to the Navypresence, and San Diego community resi-dents joined the conference participantsat a People’s Congressional Hearinghosted by local Congressman Bob Filner.

CONNECTICUT◆ The “Filthy Five” are the state’s oldest,largest, and filthiest power plants, locatedin urban areas of Connecticut and ownedby NRG, a Midwest-based utility. Theplants are “grandfathered,” exempting

tewart County Residents Against Pollution (SCRAP), workingclosely with the county’s local governments, forced the WaterWorks of nearby Columbus to abandon plans to set up a sludgeapplication facility in their county. As one SCRAP supporter de-

STEWART COUNTY, GEORGIA, SAYS“NO” TO SLUDGE

scribed it, “Young folks, old folks, black folks, white folks, quiet folks, loudfolks—folks pulling oxygen tanks around and folks in wheelchairs” joinedtogether from all parts of the county in a unified effort to defeat the sludgeplans. SCRAP organized an overnight letter-writing campaign thatflooded the Columbus Water Commissioners with letters, calls and e-mails. One sludge opponent put a toilet next to a “Don’t Dump On Us”billboard. Others sold T-shirts and posted signs all over the county.SCRAP and Stewart County did more than stop the sludge plans and senda message to other potential polluters; the local newspaper, the Stewart-Webster Journal wrote, “The greatest intangible benefit [of the victory] isthat our community’s self image has been uplifted in a positive way.”

S



them from new pollution standards. Lastyear, legislation pushed by the CT Coali-tion for Clean Air to clean up the FilthyFive came within one vote of passing thestate senate, after supposed clean airsupporters changed their positions. Thecoalition is back this year, focusing on leg-islators from less urban areas. The ToxicsAction Center, a coalition member,points out that EPA figures show that 97%of all Connecticut residents breathe “seri-ously unhealthy” air. Evidently the FilthyFive are not just a problem for their imme-diate neighbors.

DELAWARE◆ Green Delaware’s newsletter editor—a registered lobbyist—attended the newgovernor’s inauguration to do “a storyabout how the inauguration was totallypaid for by corporate fat cats,” many ofthem polluters or potential polluters. Afterinquiring about attending an invitation-only reception, he was arrested by policefor sitting in an unauthorized area. A con-dition of bail while he is awaiting trial banshim from Delaware’s Legislative Hall, thevery place where he practices his profes-sion. The American Civil Liberties Union,which is representing him, has stated inhis defense that “The right of citizens toattend and observe the legislative processis protected by ... the Constitution of theState of Delaware, in addition to the FirstAmendment to the Constitution of theUnited States.”

FLORIDA◆ Local officials, environmental activists,and neighborhood residents were en-raged when the state and Waste Manage-ment Inc. proposed that Broward Countyhost the notorious Philadelphia incineratorash once dumped in Haïti. Bass DillardNeighborhood Issues and Preventionand others confronted Governor JebBush, who was in Broward County for anunrelated event, demanding that the statedrop its plans for the ash. One countycommissioner warned, “If we have to linkarms in the roadway to stop this, we areprepared to do it.” The county also consid-

ered financial and political means to pres-sure Waste Management. As oppositionand media attention mounted, state offi-cials delayed the dumping, and WasteManagement finally withdrew its proposal.Florida joined the long list of places thathave refused to accept the waste bargesince it left Philadelphia in 1986.

GEORGIAEncouraged by the Glynn EnvironmentalCoalition, the Glynn County school boardadopted a non-toxic pest control programfor their 11,500 students. It requires pre-vention of pest problems through non-chemical methods and permits pesticideuse only in emer-gencies, when build-ings are vacant, andthen only in minimalamounts. The coop-erative effort to de-velop the policy alsoincluded the Coop-erative ExtensionService, a pest con-trol company, andthe Legal Environ-mental AssistanceFoundation.

HAWAII◆ After facing 500Leeward Coast,Oahu, residents in a10-hour meeting, theU.S. Army changedits view that it couldresumelive-ammunitiontraining in the MakuaValley without anysignificant environ-mental impact. TheMakua Valley con-tains irreplaceablecultural sites andnatural resources.The Army haltedlive-ammunitiontraining there in1998.

KENTUCKY◆ After more than 15 years of fightingU.S. Army plans to build a chemical weap-ons incinerator in Madison County, mem-bers of Common Ground still know howto “turn up the heat” on government offi-cials. At a January 9 public hearing onchemical weapons disposal options, over350 area residents—including farmers,veterans, ministers, teachers, students,and expectant mothers—voiced a re-sounding “NO!” to incineration and “YES!”to safer, cleaner non-incineration tech-nologies.

In 1984 the only options for chemicalweapons disposal were incineration and

Tracy Powell-McCoy speaking at Common Ground pressconference, January 9. Photo by Sean Perry.



“doing nothing.” Thanks to grassrootspressure on elected officials by CommonGround and other community groups inthe grassroots Chemical Weapons Work-ing Group coalition, that’s changed. Now,any program to dispose of chemicalweapons must consider several technolo-gies that have already been scrutinized bypeople from affected communities likeMadison County. As the Army this yeardecides which technology to use to dis-pose of its chemical weapons, CommonGround and other community groups willbe part of the process — one way or an-other.

◆ Kentuckians for the Common-wealth (KFTC) in Union County blocked aPCB-removal facility proposed by TransCycle Industries. (TCI won global notori-ety last year when local and internationalorganizing thwarted its plan to transportPCBs from a U.S. military base to a Cana-dian facility.) The KFTC members got thestate to put tighter requirements on the

facility, and instead of accepting the re-quirements, TCI dropped its plans for thefacility. Members from around the statesupported the Union County residents.One traveled to a hearing to relate herpersonal story of living in a contaminatedcommunity. The TCI facility had alreadybeen turned down in Illinois and Indiana.

MARYLAND◆ Under pressure from a small butdogged band of opponents and from themedia for its bias towards massiveprojects, the Army Corps of Engineersbacked down from its plans to deepen theChesapeake and Delaware Canal for thePort of Baltimore. The local member ofCongress had also turned against theproject, though most Maryland politicianscontinue to support it. The Corps hadbeen embarrassed by a number of errorsin its early studies of the project. One er-ror had the canal flowing in two directionsat once. Another error, perhaps more seri-

ous, stated that the project had no localopposition. The Corps will not revisit thedredging proposal for at least three years.

MASSACHUSETTS◆ “This is science just confirming thefacts of every day life for communities ofcolor and low-income communities inMassachusetts,” said a staffer for Alterna-tives for Community and Environment(ACE) at the January release of UnequalExposure to Ecological Hazards. ACE, theEnvironmental League of Massachu-setts and Toxics Action Center coordi-nated the release of the study with its leadauthor Daniel Faber, a professor at North-eastern University.

Among the many findings of the reportwas that nine of the fifteen most intenselyoverburdened towns in the state have ahigher than average population of peopleof color. A spokesperson for the Coalitionto Protect Chinatown also noted the im-portance of the report’s discussion of thecumulative effects of hazardous waste onoverburdened communities, of whichBoston’s Chinatown is one. The Environ-mental League and ACE are working withState Senator Dianne Wilkerson, who hasintroduced legislation requiring that envi-ronmentally questionable projects receivea higher level of scrutiny before going for-ward in those communities.

MICHIGAN◆ “You can’t fight City Hall,” said aspokesperson for IKO Industries, a multi-national roofing supply manufacturer, as itshut down its roofing paper plant in Mon-roe, laying off its remaining 45 employeesthe week before Christmas. But Monroe’sCity Hall wasn’t IKO’s real problem. True,the City had taken IKO to court for violat-ing its nuisance ordinance, where a judgehad found IKO in violation for the odorsemanating from the plant. But in 1997,City Hall had welcomed IKO, providing itwith a 12-year tax abatement packageestimated to be worth $920,000. Then,neighbors of IKO, assaulted by the plant’sodors, organized. They picketed, put upyard signs, signed petitions, filed a class

Angry Monroe MI neighbors protest IKO’s emissions. Photo by Dennis Oblander,courtesy The Monroe Guardian.



action lawsuit, attended Council meetings,talked about recalling local officials, and inevery way pressed the city and state totake action against IKO’s noxious emis-sions. Their message? “We will not die for$$$” and “Elected officials should do it foryou, not to you.”

The goal of the activists was not toshut down the plant. As Linda Comporawrote to the local paper, “IKO is the rea-son people are unemployed. We will notbe made the scapegoat.” They merely in-sisted that IKO operations no longerthreaten their homes and health.

Linda told EBY, “Sometimes you feellike you’ll never win, but persistence andprayers pay off.” Despite IKO’s claim, youcan fight not only city hall, but also a mul-tinational, multi-billion dollar company—and win.

MISSOURI◆ The Medical Waste Action Group inSt. Louis has been giving Stericycle a runfor their money. Stericycle owns and oper-ates a medical waste incinerator that hascome under enormous public scrutiny forits polluting practices. Recently the facilitytemporarily shut down hours before thelocal officials began hearings on two com-munity-driven ordinances that could ulti-mately force the facility to shut downpermanently. The aldermen will be makinga decision in April.

NEW YORK◆ In New Rochelle, both environmentaland fair-housing objections thwarted erec-tion of an Ikea “big box” store. The cityhad declared the City Park blighted in or-der to obtain the property through emi-nent domain. The community affected is40% African American. Public-hearingwitnesses spoke 222 to 4 against the pro-posal and property seizure, promptingIKEA to drop its plans and the city to with-draw its claims. Westchester ResidentsAgainst IKEA Now celebrated the victoryby distributing flyers throughout the neigh-borhood. One local business owner, whohad given up on fighting the project, toldlocal press that “The level of resistance

that [IKEA] found was persistent and or-ganized beyond anything they would haveimagined.”

◆ The children of the Arbor Hill neigh-borhood in Albany had a guest recently —the governor of New York. The childrentook Governor Pataki on a walk across acreek and through snow to see Tivoli Pre-serve, which they and their predominantlyAfrican-American community believeshould be a well-funded park and naturecenter at the edge of their community. Thesite, originally purchased by the city ofAlbany as a drinking water source andlater a Negro League baseball field, be-came contaminated by the state-ownedANSWERS incinerator. Arbor Hill resi-dents shut down the incinerator and wona substantial court award, which hasfunded the W. Haywood Burns Environ-mental Education Center in Arbor Hill aswell as its sister organization, Arbor HillEnvironmental Justice Corporation.The Center is now spearheading the ef-forts to make the Tivoli Preserve once

again a vital resource for the community.

◆ Seventh-grade students at H.C.Crittenden Middle School in North Castlehave taken on billionaire developerDonald Trump, who plans a golf course fortheir community. The students tested thewater at the site and identified risks toarea wildlife and people, especially frompesticides. They then wrote Trump, urginghim to meet the highest environmentalstandards. Ignored by Trump, the studentsshowed up at a hearing before a localagency to make their case. Trump’s lawyerclaimed the golf course would meet thestudents’ standards, but one student tolda local paper “I’m not buying that one bit”and demanded proof from an indepen-dent source. The teacher working with thestudents—whose previous classes havewon environmental awards—told a localenvironmental group, “Grassroots move-ments that originate with youngsters helpthem experience empowerment at anearly age.”

LOOKING FOR A HOME?Built several years ago in the evacuated area at Love Canal, this house couldnot be sold and is now being auctioned. There may still be time for you to getyour bid in. Photo by Lois Gibbs.



◆ Community and environmental activ-ists rallied in Manhattan immediately be-fore an EPA hearing to insist that theBush Administration not weaken theEPA’s commitment to dredging HudsonRiver PCBs. In recent months, the de-cades-long campaign for a real cleanup ofthe Hudson has seen support from Gov-ernor Pataki and favorable decisions bythe EPA. Cecilia Gutierrez of the LatinoBusiness Association, one of the speak-ers at the rally, noted that the health im-pacts aren’t limited to the upper Hudson,and that “lower income and minority resi-dents are fishing the river and eating theircatch without fully understanding the dan-gers that PCBs pose to their health andthat of their children.”

◆ Grassroots groups from around NewYork State, working with the Citizens En-vironmental Coalition (CEC), showed upat the office of the Business Council ofNew York State with a mop and advisedthe council to “clean up their act.” Thecouncil—professedly “working to createan economic renaissance for New YorkState and its people”—opposes fees onhazardous waste generators and pollutersto pay for the state’s Superfund. CEC andlocal groups also conducted Toxic Tours inlocations statewide to highlight the con-tinuing need for cleanups.

◆ 3M officials denied that hazardouschemicals from their former chemicaltreatment plant had flowed into the Villageof Brockport’s sewer system. When thevillage government couldn’t find the man-hole where the connection was made,members of Residents EnvironmentallyActive for Change (R.E.A.Ch.) went outwith a metal detector and found it them-selves. R.E.A.Ch. members had previ-ously tracked down and examined oldblueprints, talked to former 3M employ-ees, and reached out to their neighbors toeducate them and get them involved.Because of their efforts, 3M has alreadyremoved over 50 truckloads of contami-nated soil from the area. After a genera-tion of brightly colored, toxic water in thelocal stream, Brockport is on its way tobeing cleaned up—more than twentyyears after 3M closed its operation.

◆ More than 37,000 tons of GE’s PCBsand other hazardous wastes weredumped in the Dewey Loeffel Landfill inthe town of Nassau, but GE has deniedresponsibility. Local residents have orga-nized UNCAGED (United Neighbors Con-cerned About GE & Dewey LoeffelLandfill) and have already gotten newwarning signs put around the site. TimGray, organizer of the Housatonic RiverInitiative, spoke to an UNCAGED meetingin January, making the connection be-tween GE’s dumping in his community inPittsfield, MA and in Nassau.

NORTH CAROLINA◆ In January, for the second time in fourmonths, members of NC Waste Aware-ness Reduction Network (WARN) andthe Coalition Against Nuclear Imports

to the Triangle were arrested while tryingto meet with Carolina Power and Light’s(CP&L) Chief Executive Officer in Raleigh.The activists were seeking a meeting todiscuss CP&L’s proposed unprecedentedexpansion of nuclear waste cooling pondsat its Shearon Harris Nuclear Plant. Justbefore their trial, CP&L dropped chargesagainst the activists who were arrestedlast October, saying that the activists maynot have known they were on CP&L prop-erty when they sat down—in the lobby ofCP&L’s headquarters. When the chargeswere dismissed, Chatham County pastorCarrie Bolton told CP&L, “We’ll be back”— and before long, they were, this timewith two members of the singing group,the Raging Grannies. The local govern-ment of Orange County also opposes ex-pansion, and members of NorthCarolina’s delegation to Congress have

ore than twenty grassroots community organizations receiveda letter in early January from Robert Martin, U.S. EPA na-tional ombudsman, notifying them that the agency had sus-pended all national ombudsman investigations pending theM

WASHINGTON POLITICS:EPA PUTS OMBUDSMAN OFFICEON HOLD

release of new guidelines. The ombudsman is responsible for investigatingcomplaints leveled against the agency. Put on hold were investigationsconcerning some of the most controversial hazardous waste sites in thenation, including the Bunker Hill Superfund site in Kellogg, ID, the RockyMountain Arsenal Superfund site outside of Denver, Co and the WTI haz-ardous waste incinerator in East Liverpool, OH. The new guidelines arelikely to eliminate the most important factor in successfully investigatingcomplaints—independence. The guidelines essentially strip the ombuds-man of his power to decide which cases to investigate and bar inquiry intocases where litigation is pending. Nearly all of the current cases under in-vestigation involve some degree of litigation. The guidelines will also pre-vent the ombudsman from holding public meetings without EPA ap-proval, sharing documents with public officials, or discussing theinvestigation with the media. Although the ombudsman’s recommenda-tions are not legally binding, the agency has almost always followed them.The recommendations have proven to be politically powerful tools for lo-cal communities, who have used them to finally get action.



begun to express concern about CP&L’splans and support from the Nuclear Regu-latory Commission.

◆ Rowan Citizens Against Pollution(RCAP), concerned about emissions froman asphalt plant in Salisbury, got the cityto commit $3,000 for emissions tests.Blue Ridge Environmental DefenseLeague has offered the group training inthe “bucket brigade” method of gatheringair samples developed by Citizens for aBetter Environment in California. RCAPhas also asked the city to downzone theplant site so that the plant can no longeroperate.

OHIO◆ Concerned Citizens of Central Ohioand Concerned Citizens of LickingCounty have been fighting for years for acleanup of Buckeye Egg Farm, a notori-ous factory farm operation. Last year, af-ter a local prosecutor considered actionagainst Buckeye, Ohio’s attorney generalstepped in and prosecuted Buckeye forviolating Ohio EPA regulations. Buckeyesigned a consent decree in January. Itmust pay a $1 million civil penalty, devote$366,000 to chicken waste handling im-provements, and invest all profits in envi-ronmental compliance. Ohio’s EPAdirector warned, “We’ve signed agree-ments with Buckeye before.... We will bemonitoring them closely.” Concerned Citi-zens of Central Ohio, while welcoming theconsent decree, agree that Buckeye mustbe watched carefully, and they continue tokeep the pressure on Anton Pohlman,owner of Buckeye. (Pohlman was previ-ously fined and banned from all animal-raising activities in Germany due toviolations there. His plans for an egg pro-duction facility in the Czech Republic,within sight of the German border, havedrawn major protests in both nations.)

◆ “Our neighbors in and aroundCheshire told us they were very con-cerned about the impact of a serious acci-dent involving a major release ofanhydrous ammonia due to their closeproximity to the plant.... We took thoseconcerns to heart.” Thus did American

Electric Power (AEP)—a multinationalenergy company and one of the U.S.’slargest electricity generators—explainabandoning explosive anhydrous ammo-nia and moving to a urea-based processin its pollution control plans. AEP ne-glected to mention the mass meetings,yard signs, and months of hard work bylocal people determined that explosiveanhydrous ammonia would not be storedin their midst. Activists got valuable sup-port from the Buckeye EnvironmentalNetwork. AEP’s statement also ignoredthe outhouse set up alongside Cheshire’smain street with the sign “AEP Headquar-ters” on it. AEP did say that the urea sys-tem will cost it more to construct and torun than the anhydrous ammonia alterna-tive but claimed that “Safety is a primaryconcern in everything we do.” At leastwhen a whole town insists on it.

PENNSYLVANIA◆ Five municipal governments inCumberland, Fulton, and Bedford Coun-ties have adopted anti-corporate farmingordinances to protect family farms. Theseordinances—which prohibit non-familyowned corporations from owning farmlandor engaging in farming—are modeled af-ter laws in nine midwestern states. ThePennsylvania Farm Bureau and a stateassociation of municipal officials are work-

ing to prevent adoption of these ordi-nances by more local governments, and alarge corporate agribusiness has threat-ened to sue Belfast Township. The LegalDefense Fund and local activists are hop-ing to build a movement with these ordi-nances that could fundamentally alter thecorporatization of Pennsylvania’s farmingindustry.

◆ U.S. EPA shut down Harrisburg’s mu-nicipal incinerator in December for failingto meet new air pollution standards. Themove was in response to demands fromover 400 individuals and groups from 39states and 10 nations, who joined withHarrisburg’s Coalition Against the Incin-erator and the Pennsylvania Environ-mental Network. Activists said theincinerator was perhaps the dirtiest in theU.S. and that it was a significant source ofdioxin as far away as the Canadian Arctic.The city of Harrisburg, however, used aloophole to redefine the incinerator as“small” and reopened it in January. Thecoalition and its supporters continue topress for permanent closure of the incin-erator, which burns out-of-state trash in acommunity of color and then spews dioxinand other pollutants across NorthAmerica.

◆ In the western Pennsylvania coal-fields, giant longwall coal mining ma-chines continue to undermine homes and

oDonella H. Meadows died in February in New Hampshire.She was the lead author of the groundbreaking 1972 study TheLimits to Growth, as well as a professor, manager of a smallfarm and a local activist. Her widely published newspaper col-

ACTIVISTS LOSE TWO STRONGVOICES

Bumn, “The Global Citizen,” drew on her personal and professional experi-ence in a warm and inspiring way.

Bob McCray of Globe, Arizona passed away in December. In 1969, he,his family and his neighbors were sprayed with pesticide. Despite a settle-ment with Dow, McCray kept investigating and networking nationwideon longterm pesticide and dioxin effects. Debbie McQueen has created amemorial web site for Bob at www.geocities.com/bobmccray



highways, harm streams and private wa-ter supplies, and damage historic trea-sures. On January 19, these losses weremourned by members and friends of theTri-State Citizens Mining Network, Citi-zens for Pennsylvania’s Future, CleanWater Action, and Pennsylvania PublicInterest Research Group. Over 80 gravestones formed a ceremonial graveyardoutside of the Pennsylvania State OfficeBuilding in Pittsburgh, home of the De-partment of Environmental Protection’sBoard of Appeals. At the funeral,homeowners, residents, and concernedcitizens gave testimony to the horrors theyhave experienced and called for muchstricter controls on longwall mining.

PUERTO RICO◆ Resistance to Navy bombing andpressure for a cleanup continues on theisland of Vieques. On December 21,members of the Peace and JusticeCamp in Vieques stopped a U.S. Navyconstruction project on civilian land. Resi-dents believed the Navy planned to makea new entrance to the base to avoid theconstant protests by the community andcharged the Navy with lacking construc-tion permits. Growing opposition forcedthe Navy to back off.

The new governor of Puerto Rico hasrepudiated the prior governor’s agreementwith President Clinton and has called forthe Navy to leave Vieques. As EBY wentto press, the U.S. Secretary of Defenseannounced that, following discussionswith the governor, Navy bombing of theisland would be suspended indefinitely.

SOUTH CAROLINA◆ The South Carolina — More Than aPort (SCMTAP) coalition was created inthe fall of 1999 to oppose plans for a portterminal on Daniels Island in Charlestonharbor. Staffed by the Sierra Club,SCMTAP brought together residents ofDaniels Island, recreational, environmen-tal and natural history groups in a con-certed campaign that won the support ofthe most affected counties, cities andtowns in the Charleston area. Eighteen

hundred people came out to a hearing bythe Army Corps of Engineers, most ofthem opposing the project. Residents ofDaniels Island, including a long-time Afri-can-American community and a recentlysettled mostly white community, are work-ing together to oppose the disruption theport would bring. Recognizing this winter

that its original plans would have to bescaled back, the South Carolina StatePort Authority is now targeting DanielsIsland for a smaller-scale terminal—whichSCMTAP continues to oppose.

TENNESSEE◆ A multi-year campaign by RecyclingAdvocates of Middle Tennessee (RAM)against Nashville’s trash incinerator sawsuccess this winter. Nashville’s new mayorannounced that the incinerator will closeby 2003 and that Nashville will triple itsrecycling rate. RAM’s campaign hadstressed economics—recycling benefitsversus incineration costs—and the mayorcited the fact that Nashville-area taxpay-ers were subsidizing the incinerator as thereason for closure. RAM, Bring UrbanRecycling to Nashville Today (BURNT),and other local community groups havebeen fighting for years to shut this incin-erator down. Good work!

TEXAS◆ Friends of Ward County (FWC) iscelebrating Envirocare’s decision to dropplans to put a radioactive waste dump intheir community. Envirocare has with-drawn its application and sold the site.The proposal began with strong support

from local officials, who argued that itwould create at least 30 local jobs. Onelocal official claimed that yard signsagainst the dump were illegal. A local ra-dio talk-show host was fired for denounc-ing the dump and a public officialbelonging to FWC was sued for anti-dumpstatements. (The suit was dropped.)

FWC kept pressure on officials throughpetitions, letters to the editor, and an or-ganized presence at public meetings.They also organized opposition in neigh-boring counties, warning that “Nuclearwaste is not gonna stop at the countyline.” They asked their neighbors whetherthey wanted their community to be knownfor its “perfect glow in the dark souvenirsat the National Nuclear Dump Museum.”Envirocare had characterized the WardCounty dump as a “storage” facility, but itsapplication indicates that the waste wouldhave been stored for the next 500 years.

While fighting the Envirocare dump in

T

PUERTO RICO REJECTSINCINERATION

he legislature of Puerto Rico recently approved Resolution 9 re-jecting incineration as a method to dispose of solid waste. Eventhough a new gasification process that burns waste was not in-cluded in the final resolution, Resolution 9 does represent the

long standing position on incineration of Puerto Rico’s civil society and itsgrassroots environmental leadership. Activists and community organiza-tions have had a decade of victories, successfully stopping every incinera-tor proposal they’ve opposed. Felicitaciones to the Misión Industrial dePuerto Rico, the Alianza para el Manejo Sustentable de los Residuos andparticularly to the community groups in the municipalities of Aguada andArecibo, which have been in the front lines of the fight against the buildingof incinerators in their own communities.



their community, FWC learned of plans fora nuclear dump at a radioactive wasteprocessing and storage facility in AndrewsCounty and got involved in state-level leg-islative battles over nuclear waste. FWChas been working with the Texas Radio-active Waste Defense Coalition andplans to stay involved in the struggle toprotect west Texas from nuclear waste.

◆ The San Antonio Sustainable Energyand Economic Development Coalition(SEED) went to the offices of City PublicService, the city’s municipal electric andgas utility, to demand that the utility shutdown old, dirty power plants. The coalitioncited a study that dirty power plants killmore Texans than drunk driving or homi-cides.

UTAH◆ At the request of Navajo Nation mem-bers, uranium miners, and downwinders’groups, the state declared a Day of Re-membrance to recognize the thousands ofarea residents harmed by radiation duringa half-century of nuclear testing and ura-nium mining and processing. Amongthose present at the commemoration inSalt Lake City were uranium workers, Na-vajo, and others who lived and worked inthe area, none of whom had been warnedof the risks at the time. Last year, the Ra-diation Exposure Compensation Act(RECA) was amended to better reach eli-gible victims. The Day of Remembrancewas an occasion to recall that many whowere exposed have already died, as wellas to urge those living to contact the U.S.Justice Department Radiation ExposureCompensation Program.

WASHINGTON◆ Facing rising electricity costs from itsusual suppliers, Georgia-Pacific West de-cided to use cheaper but dirtier dieselgenerators at its Bellingham facility.Though state and local officials said theplan posed no risks to local residents, theCampaign for a Healthy Community leda march of about 100 mostly youngpeople opposing the diesel plans. Afterthe television news cameras left, police

arrested several marchers, including alocal alternative reporter. The city councilthen canceled a planned public presenta-tion on the generators, saying there werethreats to disrupt the event. Instead, thepresentation was broadcast from an un-disclosed location before a carefullyscreened audience, while protestersstood outside the original site on a coldrainy night. When the Campaign for aHealthy Community and ReSources or-ganized a People’s Health Forum, withover 150 residents attending, the mayorwould not allow it to be broadcast onBellingham’s municipal TV channel. Resi-dents wore duct tape over their mouths tosymbolize the silencing of protest at citycouncil meetings.

When the diesel generators finallywent into operation in late February, itturned out the protesters were right. Com-plaints poured in to local and state regula-tors, and after about a week the city filedsuit to shut down the generators as a pub-lic nuisance. Having lost its city govern-ment allies, Georgia-Pacific decided toshut down the generators.

WEST VIRGINIA◆ The Funeral for the Mountains brought150 people in mourning garb to the Fed-eral Office of Surface Mining in Charles-ton to denounce the agency’s neglect ofits responsibilities. Bearing coffins, im-ages of mountains, and cardboard fish,marchers proceeded to the state capitol,where speakers from Ohio Valley Envi-ronmental Coalition, Coal River Moun-tain Watch, and other groups urgedeveryone to “reaffirm our resolve to de-fend [the mountains] that remain.” Theyalso urged defense of democracy from“big special interests, like Big Coal, thatcontribute huge sums to our politicians inexchange for easy access and favorablelegislation.”

ONTARIO, CANADA◆ Local activism in the Kirkland Lakearea recently prevented a PCB treatmentfacility from importing U.S. military PCBsfrom Japan and after a long fight killed a

proposal to dump Toronto’s garbage in alocal mine. Now Bennet Environmental isproposing another PCB facility in thetown. Kirkland Lake’s mayor, concernedthat activists will stop this project too, hasstarted his own letter-writing campaign infavor of the project. The mayor haswarned local social service agencies thattheir budgets could be cut if the Bennettproject were blocked. According to themayor, the Bennet operation would bringin “thirty-five jobs and ... almost $1 millionannually.” Thirty-five jobs represent lessthan 1% of Kirkland Lake’s labor force.Recently, a PCB-contaminated site inOntario cost more than $9 million just toclean up— without considering health ef-fects, impact on wildlife, or lost productiv-ity.

INDIA◆ Environmental activists anddockworkers in India, working with activ-ists in Maine and throughout the U.S.,blocked shipment of a cargo of mercury.The mercury came from the HoltraChemManufacturing Co. plant in Orrington,Maine, which closed last fall. After Indiantoxics activists protested and dockworkersresisted unloading the shipment, officialsruled that the shipment was illegal andmust be returned. As a New Delhi ToxicsLink member wrote, “What is harmful forthe workers, people, and the environmentof the United States is harmful for Indianworkers, people and the environment.”Indeed, since India is a major supplier ofmercury thermometers to the U.S., accep-tance of the shipment would likely haveresulted in mercury contamination in bothcountries.

UNITED KINGDOM◆ Britain’s biggest incinerator, inEdmonton, North London, was shut downfor a week when Greenpeace activistsoccupied the cranes that feed the incin-erator trash and capped the chimneyflues. Greenpeace opposes not only thecontinued operation of the trash-burnerbut government plans to treat incinerationas “renewable energy.” Activists calculated



drián Boutureira is the most recent addition to CHEJ’s staff andjoins our organizing team. Before joining CHEJ, Adrián worked forthe Environmental Research Foundation in Annapolis, Maryland,where he coordinated the organization’s bilingual and communityresources. Prior to that, he lived and worked in Austin, Texas,

A

ABILINGUAL STAFF AT CHEJ

CORRECTIONIn last issue’s Action Line,

we mentioned that parents inMaryland had formed Parentsfor Safe Schools (PFSS) to closedown an elementary schoolnear a landfill. PFSS wrote totell us that the organization “isnot working to get WorthingtonElem. School closed but is cur-rently reviewing environmentalstudies to assess the safety ofthat site.” EBY regrets the error.

where he was involved in community activism and organizing around environ-mental, labor, and immigrant rights issues. In his new position at CHEJ as com-munity organizer and bilingual resource coordinator, Adrián provides organiz-ing assistance to Spanish and English speaking communities, and develops ourSpanish language environmental health and grassroots organizing resourcesand contacts.

PERSONAL BILINGÜE EN CHEJdrián Boutureira es la última adición al personal de CHEJ y entra alas filas del equipo organizador. Antes de incorporarse a CHEJ,Adrián trabajó en la Fundación para Investigaciones Ambientales deAnnapolis, Maryland, desarrollando los recursos bilingües y

comunitarios de dicha organización. Anterior a esto, trabajaba y vivía en Aus-tin, Texas, donde se dedicó al activismo comunitario y a organizar sobrecuestiones ecológicas, de derechos laborales, y de derechos del inmigrante. Ensu nuevo puesto como organizador comunitario y coordinador de recursosbilingües para CHEJ, Adrián ofrece asistencia organizativa a comunidades dehabla española e inglesa y desarrolla nuestros recursos y contactos en castellanotratando con los temas de la salud ambiental y de organización a nivel debase.◆

◆ BRUSSELS - In January, the European Commission issued a list of 11 hazardous chemicals it wants industry tophase out as part of a long-term plan to clean up Europe’s rivers, lakes and seas. The list includes somewell-known substances like lead and cadmium, often used in thermometers and batteries, as well as some chemi-cals unfamiliar to the public but which are nonetheless common in products from wood preservers to insecticides.If national governments and the European Parliament approve the list, the Commission will draft measures tophase out the chemicals over a 20-year period.

n March 12, the European Commissioners reviewed a Green Paper outlining the impact of PVC wasteon the environment. The Green Paper is based on three years of study and looks at the entire PVC lifecycle: the industry and its products, additives, and the management, recycling, incineration, and dis-posal of PVC wastes. Among the findings of the paper are that PVC waste incinerated in Europe would

OEUROPE AGAIN AHEAD OF U.S.

increase more than fourfold over the next twenty years if current trends continue, that incineration of PVC createsenormous amounts of hazardous waste, and that PVC is the largest contributor of chlorine to incinerators.

This report is an important tool for all of us in the U.S. working on dioxin since the U.S. EPA has refused to drawa direct link between the production and disposal of PVC and dioxin. Not only can we can use this Green Paper topressure the current administration to address the issues of PVC and dioxin, but we can also use it as an importantpolicy-setting tool on the state and local levels.

The most recent version of the Green Paper is available at www.europa.eu.int/comm/environment/pvc/index.htm

that the shutdown prevented 15 tons ofacid gasses and a kilogram of arsenicfrom being dumped on Londoners.

◆ Community action defeated trash in-cinerator plans for the town of Goole inYorkshire. Goole Against Refuse Burn-ing and Gaseous Emissions (GAR-BAGE) fought the incinerator—whichwould have received the region’s trash—for three years despite strong supportfrom local officials. GARBAGE was as-sisted by the national organization, Com-munities Against Toxics. ◆



n Monday night, March26, public broadcastingstations across the coun-try aired TRADE SE-CRETS: A MOYERS RE-

TRADE SECRETS AND COMING CLEAN

OPORT. Correspondent Bill Moyersand producer Sherry Jones reportedon how the chemical revolution of thepast 50 years has produced thou-sands of man-made chemicals thathave not been tested for their effecton the public’s health and safety. Theprogram was based on previouslyundisclosed industry documents andon interviews with historians, scien-tists and physicians studying howchemicals affect the body.

To take advantage of this oppor-tunity—a prime time television spe-

cial on the issues we care about!— theCenter for Health, Environment andJustice, Women’s Voices for the Earth,Environmental Health Fund, and theEnvironmental Working Grouplaunched Coming Clean. The ComingClean campaign is aimed at puttingthe spotlight on the chemical industryand exposing unacceptable acts ofcorporate irresponsibility that haveleft communities with polluted envi-ronments, citizens and workers withsevere health problems, and our chil-dren with a legacy of polluted air, wa-ter, land and food. Coming Clean’sfirst goal was to help groups acrossthe country use the program to boosttheir ongoing work. Health CareWithout Harm member organizations

were among the many groups host-ing viewing events for the PBS broad-cast throughout the United States andCanada. HCWH groups focused theirevents on phasing out the health careindustry’s use of mercury, and oneliminating PVC and the incinerationof medical waste.

Coming Clean is also focused ondoing whatever we can to ensure thatafter March 26, there are more peoplein more communities from even morediverse backgrounds working to stopthe chemical contamination of ourfood, our bodies, and our environ-ment.

For more information visitwww.comeclean.org ◆

HEALTH CARE WITHOUT HARMC A M P A I G N P A G E

ince its founding in 1996,Health Care WithoutHarm—the Campaignfor Environmentally Re-sponsible Health Care,

MAKING MEDICINE MERCURY FREE

Shas included a focus on eliminatingmercury from health care practices.Mercury is a potent neurotoxin thatenters our bodies through food weeat—fish, above all—that has beencontaminated by mercury pollution.

HCWH’s mercury strategy com-prises four major initiatives. The firstincludes education on the risks ofmercury thermometers and encour-aging thermometer exchanges.HCWH is now distributing the book-let “How to Plan and Hold a MercuryThermometer Exchange.” This book-let has been successful in assisting

mercury thermometer round-ups inChicago, Minneapolis, San Francisco,Boston, New York, and Washington,D.C. We continue to reprint “MercuryThermometers and Your Family’sHealth” and have distributed a totalof 103,000 copies to date in English,Spanish, and Hmong.

The second initiative focuses ongetting local legislation passed ban-ning the sale of mercury thermom-eters. The first citywide ban waspassed in Duluth, Minnesota, andwas followed by bans in San Fran-cisco and Ann Arbor. Just last fall, theBoston City Council voted unani-mously to ban the sale of mercurythermometers. Subsequently, the gov-ernor of Massachusetts announcedthat he would propose legislation

banning the sale and distribution ofmercury thermometers across theCommonwealth. At this writing, theChicago City Council is reportedlyconsidering a similar ban. Finally, theEPA Region 1 administrator recentlywrote a letter to all the cities andtowns in New England encouragingthem to follow the example of Bostonand ban the sale of mercury ther-mometers. In February, Cambridgevoted for a ban, and twenty otherNew England cities have expressedserious interest in enacting such anordinance.

The third initiative involvesworking with retailers to persuadethem to voluntarily end their sale ofmercury thermometers. As a result of

continued on page 21



STOP DIOXIN EXPOSURE

OCHEMICAL INDUSTRY EXPOSED NATIONAL

TOXICOLOGYPROGRAM LISTSDIOXIN ASKNOWN HUMANCARCINOGEN

O

n April 3—one week after Bill Moyer’s documentary Trade Secretsaired on PBS—dioxin communities around the country released Be-hind Closed Doors, a report outlining the chemical industry’s influenceon dioxin policy. Events were held at incinerators, at city halls, and at

the executive offices of dioxin polluting companies. The report documents theefforts of the American Chemistry Association, the Chlorine Chemical Council,and the Vinyl Institute to prevent the release of the EPA’s reassessment that di-oxin causes cancer in humans. In addition, the report looks at the contributionsthe chemical industry made to the campaigns of President Bush and EPA Ad-ministrator Whitman during their last elections and gives examples of policydecisions they made that favor the chemical industry over public health.

The report is available on our web site at www.chej.org. For a print copy,call CHEJ at 703-237-2249.

n February 5, the Stop Dioxin Exposure Campaign sent a letterto President Bush, EPA Administrator Christine Whitman, andthe White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ)signed by 413 community leaders including religious leaders,

COMMUNITY LEADERS PRESSBUSH TO SHOW LEADERSHIP ONDIOXIN

Ohealth professionals, health-impacted groups, and environmental justiceleaders. The letter requested that Administrator Whitman and the CEQmeet with a campaign delegation to discuss how to move forward onstrong dioxin policies that protect the public’s health.

On Monday, March 12, a delegation representing the Great Lakes,Alaska, Louisiana, Native people, and health-impacted groups met withkey staff from the administrator’s office and the CEQ. At the meeting,leaders stressed the importance of keeping the dioxin reassessment pro-cess moving and ensuring that the final document gets released within thenext few months. The delegation also asked for strong leadership fromthis administration to ensure that policies on dioxin are forthcoming thattruly protect the public’s health.

A copy of the February letter is available on our web site atwww.chej.org.

C A M P A I G N P A G E

Visit our website atwww.chej.org

n January 19, the NationalToxicology Program (NTP)announced an addendumto its Ninth Report on Car-

cinogens adding dioxin to the list ofsubstances “known to be a humancarcinogen.” The NTP had planned toreclassify dioxin as a “known carcino-gen” in the original report, releasedin May, 2000, but was prevented fromdoing so by a lawsuit filed by JimTozzi, former OMB staffer and fre-quent industry consultant. The publi-cation of the addendum follows a rul-ing by the U.S. Court of Appeals forthe District of Columbia Circuit dis-missing the injunction that had heldup the listing. The NTP’s listing ofdioxin in the “known” category isbased on significant scientific studieswith humans, involving both epide-miological and mechanistic evidence,that indicate a causal relationship be-tween exposure to dioxin and humancancer.

This is a huge victory for every-one working to eliminate dioxin. In-dustry has been fighting hard againstthe EPA’s key finding linking dioxinand cancer in people. State and localofficials can hang their hat on thiswhen setting policies to protect hu-man health. ◆



n March 21, Child Proof-ing Our Communities, alocally based, nationally-linked campaign to pro-tect children from expo-

CHILD PROOFING OUR COMMUNITIES

POISONED SCHOOLS: INVISIBLE THREATS,VISIBLE ACTIONS

Osure to environmental health hazardsin schools, released a new report—Poisoned Schools: Invisible Threats, Vis-ible Actions.

The report addresses those fac-tors that put children at increased riskfrom environmental toxins. Becausetheir organ systems are still develop-ing, children absorb and handle tox-ins differently from adults. Childrenconsume more calories, drink morewater, and breathe more air perpound of body weight than adultsdo, increasing their exposure to envi-ronmental threats. In addition,children’s curiosity and lack ofawareness of dangers make themmore likely to come into contact withcontaminants.

Poisoned Schools contains threemajor findings and associated recom-mendations:

◆ Record enrollments nationwidehave led to a search for the cheapestland to build new schools—whichsometimes turn out to be toxic sites.In low income and minority districts,purchasing contaminated land forschools has become the norm. Thereport’s guidelines would prohibitnew school construction on aban-doned landfills or contaminated sites,or next to heavily polluting indus-tries.

◆ Poisoned Schools highlights ex-amples of schools around the U.S.that have already been built on con-

taminated land, seriously endanger-ing the health of children and ofteachers and other school employees.Dozens of schools have been identi-fied as being on or near a contamina-tion source. Some of the schools havelarge numbers of students with can-cer and other diseases. School offi-cials say they didn’t know the risksforty years ago, and health authori-ties today say they still don’t know ifyou can directly connect the students’diseases with the toxic sites. Thereport’s conclusion, however, is clear:these schools need to be cleaned upor closed.

◆ The report also looks at the in-creasing problem of pesticide use inschools. Pesticides have been linkedto hyperactivity and damage to thebrain and nervous system. The reportrecommends community participa-tion in integrated school pest man-agement programs and the use ofpreventative and alternative pest con-trols that block pests from schoolproperty and prevent pest infesta-tions. Pesticides should only be usedif pests present a documented healthor safety hazard. Even then, only theleast toxic pesticides should be used,and parents, students, teachers andother school workers should be in-formed in advance.

Seventy community and parentsgroups from thirty states co-releasedthis report. Our goal is to raise publicawareness of these urgent issues andto initiate conversations with deci-sion-makers about implementingpolicies that would protect childrenfrom chemicals that poison schools.

For a copy of the report or to jointhe Child Proofing Our CommunitiesCampaign, please call CHEJ at 703-237-2249 or e-mail us [email protected] ◆

HEALTH CARE WITHOUTHARMcontinued from page 19

C A M P A I G N P A G E

HCWH’s campaign, over 20,000 drugstores—nearly two-thirds of thestores represented in the National As-sociation of Chain Drug Stores—nolonger sell mercury thermometers.Big retail chains that have agreed tophase out sales of the thermometersinclude Wal-Mart, KMart, Albertsons,Meijer, Rite-Aid, Walgreens, CVS,Toys R Us, Safeway, Target, and E-Drugstore.

The fourth initiative is the Mer-cury Free Medicine campaign, begunby HCWH in cooperation with theNational Wildlife Federation (NWF)to help health care providers initiateor accelerate programs to eliminatethe use of mercury-containing de-vices and prevent mercury pollution.As of January 2001, 175 hospitals and480 medical clinics nationwide hadtaken the pledge to eliminate mer-cury from their supplies and pro-cesses.

For more information on HealthCare Without Harm, visit our website at www.noharm.org. To orderpublications, contact us by e-mail [email protected]. ◆



◆ Illness and the Environment: A Reader inContested Medicine, edited by Steve Kroll-Smith, Phil Brown, and Valerie Gunter,addresses the role that social move-ments, the scientific and medical pro-fessions, corporations, and govern-ment play in defining therelationship betweendisease and our“manufactured en-vironment.” A cen-tral focus is the wayin which environmental activists have developed theexpertise to successfully challenge traditional scientificassumptions and compel corporations and political au-thorities to address their concerns. Above all, this collec-tion makes clear that the battle over what counts as validknowledge is a critical part of the struggle for social jus-tice. The 25 essays contain a wealth of historical informa-tion; case studies include PBB contamination in Michigan,silicosis in 19th century factory workers, childhood leadpoisoning, endometriosis, Agent Orange and VietnamWar veterans. (New York University Press, 2000; 476 pp;notes, bibliographies, index)

◆ Want to know more about how grassroots groups andfoundations interact? Robert Bothwell, founding Directorand Senior Fellow for the National Committee for Re-sponsive Philanthropy, has published a paper, “Founda-tion Funding of Grassroots Organizations,” based on in-terviews with 26 grassroots groups and 22 foundations.The paper is the most recent of more than a dozen Work-ing Papers on organizing and related topics on theComm-Org web site at comm-org.utoledo.edu/, most ofthem written by experienced organizers working on envi-ronmental justice, housing, and other community issues.Comm-Org includes many other resources for communityorganizations and grassroots activists.

◆ In The Dirty Truth: George W. Bush’s Oil and ChemicalDependency, Rick Abraham, director of the Texas UnitedEducation Fund, exposes George W. Bush’s false claimsabout his environmental record, laying out in abundantdetail how, as governor of Texas, Bush loosened the state’salready weak environmental standards to reward the in-dustries that were bankrolling his presidential campaign.Bush’s key achievements include the “voluntary pollutionabatement program,” crafted by corporate representativesto allow hundreds of “grandfathered” facilities to con-tinue to pour pollutants into the air; cutting the budget ofthe state environmental agency by twenty percent, guttingits ability to investigate citizen complaints; rewriting thestate’s hazardous waste laws to limit corporate liability

and restrict the public’s right toinformation; and tripling the

amount of New York sludgeimported into Texas.Abraham extensivelydocuments his facts andfigures, making this acrucial resource. (Main-stream Publishers, 2000;193 pp.; tables; notes)

◆ Robert Gottlieb’s Envi-ronmentalism Unbound: Ex-

ploring New Pathways for Change examines both the prom-ise and limitations of environmentalism. After a criticalsurvey of the environmental justice and pollution preven-tion movements, Gottlieb discusses three examples ofnew approaches: promoting change in the clothes clean-ing industry, where small businesses have been reluctantto adopt environmentally safer wet-cleaning technology;organizing janitors around the issue of chemical hazardsin the workplace; and challenging the corporate-domi-nated food production system through organic farming,community gardens, and farmers markets. Gottlieb ar-gues that to be at the forefront of a movement for funda-mental social change, environmentalism will need tobroaden its discourse and constituency, integrating issuessuch as workplace safety and food security into itsagenda. (MIT Press, 2001; 396 pp; notes, index.) ◆

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WITH SPECIAL THANKS

The Center for Health, Environment and Justice remains an advocate, educator, organizer and leader in themovement for health and environmental justice through the generous support of our members, Partners,Guardians and key foundations and institutions. CHEJ would like to acknowledge the following individualsand institutions who made critically important donations to support our work between December 1, 2000

and February 28, 2001. Our members number in the hundreds, and are therefore too many to name. However, each gift,no matter what the size, is very much appreciated.

INDIVIDUALDONORS

Several of the donors listed be-low are part of our new Advo-cates’ Circle. Advocates havechosen to make an importantgift for environmental justiceby making a regular contribu-tion on a monthly basis. Wethank them for joining ournewest donor program!

GUARDIAN’S CIRCLE

(gifts of $1,000 or more)…bringing the leadership,vision and support neededto the crucial work of em-powering communities toprotect themselves from ex-posure to toxic chemicals intheir water, food, air, andsoil.

Public GuardiansC. ChangeThe Roy Hunt Foundation

Movement BuildersBeverly Paigen, Ph.D.John Travolta & Kelly

Preston

Community ProtectorsJohn CaulkinsFrances HodsonArie & Linda KurtzigGerrish MillikenClaire Nader

Doris ReedCharlotte ShoemakerLucy Stroock

PARTNERS’ CIRCLE

(gifts of $100-999)…partners in a movementof people and communitiescommitted to protectingpublic health and the envi-ronment.

Neighborhood AdvocatesAnonymous DonorsFrank & Jane BlechmanThomas GrismerKurt KieblerNeedmor FundRobert PregulmanThomas Sisk & Helen

SparrowElise Travers

Family ProtectorsAnonymous DonorDean AmelSteven BranchLuella KennyPaul Nelson, Jr.Louise Pape

Health DefendersAnonymous DonorsKathie ArnoldBruce BaileyClaudia BoninJohn Boyles, Jr., M.D.William & Barbara ChinitzGary & Kristine Chirlin

Vera CohenPaul & Michelle CooperNorris & Elizabeth DaleRobert DeBoltDana DilworthMike FarrellDuncan & Donna Fieldsa-

FowlerKim FortunCathy FreedbergLeonard FremontRobert Ginsburg, Ph.D.William & Laura GlasnerWendy GordonRobert Gould, M.D.Jim HarrisBenjamin & Francine HillerGenevieve HoweNick & Lisa HuffordJeffrey SusuWarren KaplanJohn Koot & Judith MannixJohn LyonPatty LyonsDorothy MacKayJudith MalottBill & Agnes MartinHelen Rose McDowellMyron MehlmanTanya MelichRoger & Anne MetcalfeBarbara MeyerJoseph MillerKenneth & Katherine

MountcastleWilfren Mundy & Eva

LautemannGerald Poje & Mary Ann

Leyko

Timothy & Nancy SampsonRicky Schlesinger & Judy

NakatomiDavid SchlisselAndrew Shapiro & Nina

BauerJodie SiegelLinda SilkaMatt SmithPaul & Susan SternArt & Cynthia StraussKathryn SuchyJeffrey TangelCharlie Tebbutt & Karen

MurphyC. Gomer ThomasClay & Neva WhybarkJim & Jean WilliamsJanet Zerlin FaganRobert Ziegenfus, Ph.D.

COMMUNITYGROUP DONORS

Citizens Opposed to SanTan (AZ)

Citizens Quality of LifeCoalition (PA)

Community of Christ (DC)Methodist Federation for

Social Action (IL)Wyoming Outdoor Council

(WY)

CORPORATEDONORS

EcoPrinteGrants

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