Contact: Riptide Communications: 212-260-5000

REPORT: EPA INSPECTOR GENERAL SAYS AGENCY HAS NOT COMPLIED WITH REQUIRED ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE REVIEWS

Report Echoes Demands of Fenceline Community Groups Across America that Environmental Justice Must Be Enforced

New York, NY, September 21, 2006 – National organizers associated with Environmental Justice for All, Tour '06, commented on a report issued by the Office of the Inspector General, which called for the EPA to conduct Environmental Justice reviews of all of agency programs, policies, and activities. Tour spokesperson and New Orleans resident, Monique Harden said, “The fact that EPA has not performed environmental justice reviews is only the tip of the iceberg. The real problem is Congress pretending ‘environmental protection’ exists when it has established laws that authorize toxic dumping in our communities. Across America, poor communities and communities of color are organizing a national tour to send a message to Congress that it must fix the broken system of environmental protection in order to stop environmental racism and the injustice of allowing toxic threats to our health and future generations.”

The tour which begins on Sunday, September 24th is made up of a coalition of over 70 environmental justice, social justice, public health, human rights, and worker’s rights groups. The tour will highlight the devastating impact of toxic contamination on people of color and in poor communities across the United States. Three bus caravans carrying activists, health researchers, environmental scientists, and public policy experts will tour communities in the Northeast, South, and West Coast, where people are suffering serious health effects associated with toxic pollution. Organizers say the tour will provide advocacy tools to affected communities and put pressure on Congressional leaders to make the elimination of environmental hazards a priority issue in the upcoming elections.

The tour will stop in communities around the country that are engaged in solution-driven efforts that draw attention to a broken U.S. environmental protection system that defends old polluting industries instead of requiring innovative and safer technologies, and establishing safeguards for protecting human health from industrial toxins and hazards.

The Environmental Justice for All, Tour '06 was inspired at a meeting of environmental justice and public health groups from across the country who joined together to draw attention to the work of local activists in West Louisville, KY, dubbed by industry as “Rubbertown.” The collaboration of these groups brought light to the one-half mile stretch adjacent to an African American neighborhood where 12 toxic industrial facilities have left the area polluted, and people sick and dying.

Below, please find a copy of the tour routes. For more information about The Environmental Justice for All Tour, visit the website at: http://www.EJ4all.org. Please direct all media inquiries or requests for interviews to Riptide Communications, Inc.

 

Tour Routes

Northeast
Sunday, September 24, 12:00pm: Buffalo, NY
Monday, September 25, 9:00am – 12:00pm: Syracuse, NY; 2:30pm – 5:00pm: Endicott, NY
Tuesday, September 26, 10:00am – 11:00am: Albany, NY; 2:30pm – 4:30pm: Hartford, CT
Wednesday, September 27, 10:00am – 4:00pm: Boston, MA
Thursday, September 28, 10:00am – 12:00pm: New York, NY
Friday, September 29, 9:30am – 12:00pm: Newark, NY (Ironbound) and Northern New Jersey; 2:00pm – 4:00pm: Camden, NJ
Saturday, September 30, 10:00am – 1:00pm: Linden, NJ
Sunday, October 1: Washington, D.C.

South
Sunday, September 24, 12:00pm: Port Arthur, TX
Monday, September 25, 9:00am: Mossville, LA; New Orleans, LA
Tuesday, September 26: Gulfport, MS
Wednesday, September 27, 2:00pm – 6:00pm: Anniston, AL
Thursday, September 28, 9:00am – 2:00pm: Dickson and Nashville, TN; 6:00pm – 8:00pm: Knoxville, TN
Friday, September 29, 9:00am – 12:00pm: Berea, KY; 3:30pm – 7:00pm: Louisville, KY
Saturday, September 30, 11:30:0pm – 3pm: Whitesville, WV
Sunday, October 1: Washington, D.C.

West Coast/California
Sunday, September 24, 12:00pm – 8:00pm: Bay Area, Hunter’s Point, Midway, Oakland
Monday, September 25, 12:00pm – 2:00pm: San Jose; 6:00pm– 8:00pm: Fort Ord
Tuesday, September 26, 8:30am – 11:00am: Fort Ord, Salinas; 3:00pm – 7:00pm: Fresno
Wednesday, September 27, 9:00am – 1:00pm: Earlimart
Thursday, September 28, 12:00pm – 3:00pm: Temecula and Pala Reservations
Friday, September 29, 12:00pm – 3:00pm: Calexico
Saturday, September 30, 10:00am – 4:00pm: Wilmington, San Pedro, Lennox, Del Amo, South Los Angeles
Sunday, October 1, 12:00pm – 6:00pm: Pacoima, City of Industry, City of Maywood
Northwest: Saturday, September 30, 9:00am – 4:30pm: Seattle, WA