While conceding that “incidents involving ammonium nitrate may be among the most severe and highest-profile accidental releases both in the United States and around the world,” the Environmental Protection Agency proposes leaving the highly explosive chemical unregulated as it updates rules covering the storage of hazardous substances. In a report to be released Tuesday, a pair of national environmental organizations points to the Jan. 31 Winston Weaver Co. fire as clear evidence that the EPA’s approach puts lives and communities at grave risk. “Companies should be required to disclose the presence of ammonium nitrate at their facilities and have approved risk management plans in place to protect workers and surrounding communities,” Coming Clean and the Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform note in their 19-page report.
Media
News Archive
Year
Spotlight on Black Environmentalists: Q&A with Michele Roberts
December 23, 2022
Michele Roberts, 62, has worked in the environmental justice space for more than 20 years. Now she advises the Biden administration as a member of the recently-formed White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council, while also serving as national co-coordinator for the Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform. Now a longtime resident of northeast D.C., Roberts also created a community-based special justice arts program based out of her church in her hometown of Wilmington, Delaware.
Read More
White House Equity Screening Tool Aims to Steer Justice40 Funds
November 22, 2022
Environmental justice advocates generally embraced the tool’s release, though they expressed the broad expectation that the administration needs to refine the mapping effort in future iterations.“There is more work to do, but this is a positive step in the administration’s work to advance environmental justice for all,” said Richard Moore, co-coordinator of the Los Jardines Institute in Albuquerque, N.M., and a co-chair of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council. The CEQ screening tool—which draws from other environmental equity mapping efforts long in use by the EPA and states such as California, Michigan, Maryland, and New Mexico—are key to President Joe Biden’s Justice40 effort to steer 40% of the benefits of climate, clean energy, affordable housing, and other investments to disadvantaged communities.
Read More
Improvements to the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool are responsive to Environmental Justice community concerns
November 22, 2022
The CEQ today announced that Version 1.0 of the CEJST includes nine new datasets that expand its criteria for disadvantage, and now capture projected climate risk, lack of indoor plumbing, linguistic isolation, redlining data, legacy pollution, and water pollution. These added indicators help the tool better identify farmworker communities, who often experience unsafe housing conditions, and communities who experience environmental injustices due to the legacy of racist public policy. The CEJST also identifies lands that are within the boundaries of Federally Recognized Tribes and locations of Alaska Native Villages as disadvantaged communities. These improvements to the CEJST directly incorporate several of our recommendations, and reassure us that the CEQ is laying out a more transparent, iterative and democratic process for identifying communities eligible for Justice40 benefits.
Read More
The next Farm Bill can only be “climate-smart” if it reduces agricultural reliance on pesticides, says diverse coalition
November 16, 2022
Today, 50 organizations sent a public letter to the House Agriculture Committee and the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, calling for a transformative 2023 Farm Bill. They urged the legislators to incentivize reductions in pesticide use, include provisions to protect farmworker health, and increase funding and research for organic and regenerative farming, representing fenceline communities, food system workers and farmworkers, family farmers, businesses, scientists, and environmental health and justice organizations.The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that global agriculture contributes 34% of the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for climate change, but the Farm Bill has not explicitly addressed climate change since 1990. An estimated 1 billion pounds of pesticides, manufactured from fossil fuel feedstocks, are used on United States farms each year. The next Farm Bill could decrease agricultural carbon emissions by incentivizing farmers to reduce reliance on pesticides, in favor of regenerative, climate-resilient practices such as certified organic farming, the letter states.
Read More
CEQ Urged To Set Clearer Metrics For Scoring Agencies’ Justice40 Progress
November 11, 2022
The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) is being roundly urged to set clearer metrics and be more transparent in the scorecard it is developing to track EPA and other agencies’ progress implementing the Biden administration’s Justice40 initiative, with dozens of groups submitting comments in response to CEQ’s August request for information (RFI).
“For the Scorecard to be transparent and meaningful, CEQ must clearly define the primary metrics by which success will be measured,” and these should include “reductions in pollution and improvement in health and quality of life,” Coming Clean and the Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform say in joint Nov. 3 comments.
Read More
Coming Clean, EJHA and 80+ Organizations Call on EPA to Prevent Chemical Disasters
November 1, 2022
On Monday, October 31st, 2022, 86 organizations, including Coming Clean and the Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform (EJHA) submitted a joint public comment to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on proposed revisions to its Risk Management Program (RMP) rule. The EPA intends these revisions to “make communities safer by reducing the frequency of chemical releases and their adverse effects.” But in their comment letter, the organizations stress that the proposed rule is too weak to prevent future chemical disasters. “Fenceline communities, facility workers, and a wide variety of experts have demonstrated conclusively to EPA that voluntary measures are not working to prevent chemical incidents,” states the letter. “There is abundant evidence available to EPA of policies and methods proven to reduce and remove hazards. EPA needs to finally deliver the basic and common-sense protections that communities, workers, and safety experts have been seeking for too long.”
Read More
Coming Clean and EJHA networks turn out in force to EPA public hearings, calling for chemical disaster prevention
October 26, 2022
On September 26-28, 2022 the EPA held a set of public hearings on proposed changes to its Risk Management Plan rule, which regulates approximately 12,000 facilities that use or store hazardous chemicals nationwide. Our members, staff, and partners turned out in force to speak in favor of strengthening the rule to prevent chemical disasters. Here’s what they had to say:
Read More
Recent Chemical Disasters Impel Stronger Federal Safety Regs
October 25, 2022
Acrid smoke filling barely breathable air. School buildings shaking as students and teachers sheltered in place. First responders fighting fires over multiple days, and at a disadvantage due to the hazardous chemicals present. This was just some of the havoc wrought by three dangerous incidents at chemical facilities that occurred within a two-week span in January 2022, all of which caused significant harm to workers and communities. A timely joint report by Coming Clean and the Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform (EJHA) analyzes these incidents and uses them as a lens to address the adequacy of the Risk Management Plan (RMP) rule, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) primary regulation intended to prevent chemical disasters. And, as EPA has recently proposed revisions to the RMP rule, Coming Clean and EJHA identify where EPA needs to do better in order to achieve its stated goal: protecting communities and advancing environmental justice.
Read More
Safety advocates say EPA proposal not enough to protect vulnerable communities like Kanawha Valley from chemical disaster
October 23, 2022
Maya Nye felt the boom that changed her life from a mile away. Then a fire truck went down her one-way street announcing that a shelter-in-place order had taken effect and to shut all doors and windows. Nye, then 16, sheltered in place like she had been taught in school, but the duct tape she put up to cover the cracks around the door and windows didn’t work. The smell infiltrated her house. An explosion at the Institute chemical plant then owned by former French chemical company Rhône-Poulenc killed one worker and injured two others who were in a unit for the insecticide methomyl. It was Aug. 18, 1993 — nearly nine years after a leak of highly toxic methyl isocyanate from a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, killed thousands of people and caused permanent disabilities or premature death for many thousands more. “My life was forever changed,” recalled Nye, who became a chemical safety advocate and is now federal policy director for Coming Clean, a chemical industry-focused environmental health nonprofit.
Read More
Inside the environmental justice movement’s big win
October 11, 2022
There was an “emotional response,” said Michele Roberts, national co-coordinator of the Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform, but also anxiety and rage. "When people realized their very civil rights were on the line — their own participation within a process like NEPA, that was on the line, and their right to not be polluted on and have more pollution dumped on them — they weren’t having it,” Roberts said. Read More
EPA's chemical safety rule tests the Biden administration’s commitment to environmental justice
October 6, 2022
In christening a new office of environmental justice, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan proclaimed on Sept. 24 that “underserved and overburdened communities are at the forefront of our work.” A stern test of that proclamation began just two days later. On Sept. 26, the EPA held the first of three virtual listening sessions on the Biden administration’s proposal to strengthen its chemical disaster rule. Many safety measures were gutted by the Trump administration’s EPA, which was run by coal and chemical industry lobbyists. During the Trump administration, polluters were relieved of the need to tell the public what chemicals they store, to conduct analyses of safer technologies, to seek third-party audits after accidents, or conduct root-cause analyses of any underlying, systemic reasons an accident occurred.
Read More
NGOs call on US EPA to tighten rules on storage of hazardous chemicals
September 28, 2022
Environmental groups have released a report saying that the US EPA’s proposed changes to its Risk Management Program (RMP) regulations don’t do enough to prevent accidents at facilities that store and use hazardous materials.
The proposed rule – which applies to facilities that store, manufacture, use or handle certain quantities of hazardous chemicals – aims to strengthen the RMP through amendments including assessing climate change and loss of power in hazard reviews. Read More
Groups Say RMP Proposal Would Have Failed To Prevent Past Disasters
September 23, 2022
A pair of environmental groups is touting a new report that it says shows that EPA’s proposed risk management program (RMP) rule would not have prevented several recent, high-profile incidents, renewing their push for the agency to tighten key provisions just days before a series of public hearings on the rulemaking. “Overall, we conclude that EPA’s draft rule, rather than adopting common-sense prevention requirements, continues to rely on voluntary actions by high-risk facilities. . . . If the draft rule is not strengthened, facility workers and neighbors across the country will continue to bear the human, environmental, and financial costs of more preventable disasters,” reads a Sept. 20 report from the groups Coming Clean and Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform. Read More
Qualco chemical plant lacked federal oversight at time of giant Passaic fire
September 21, 2022
Despite housing millions of pounds of hazardous chemicals, the Passaic chlorine plant that was almost engulfed in a massive fire earlier this year was not required to register its stockpile with the federal government or develop a special safety plan, according to a report released Tuesday by a watchdog group. The Qualco chlorine plant falls outside the purview of the Environmental Protection Agency's Risk Management Plan and its most recent revisions designed to prevent chemical disasters like the one that nearly unfolded in January. "A stronger rule is needed to ensure that hazards are removed, or we will continue to see more chemical disasters," said Steve Taylor, a director at Coming Clean, an environmental nonprofit group based in Vermont. Elias Rodriguez, an EPA spokesman, confirmed that Qualco is not in the EPA's program because it "does not meet threshold quantities of RMP-regulated substances." Read More
Report recommends safety measures to prevent chemical disasters
September 21, 2022
(KPLC News) Some think more needs to be done to reduce risk from chemical leaks and explosions from industries. The explosion at Westlake Chemical in January is one of three featured in a report profiling explosions and safety measures that authors said EPA can require right now to prevent future chemical disasters. Authors of the report wrote six workers were injured and 7,000 students in a dozen schools had to shelter in place. Steve Taylor said their report includes three case studies of serious chemical incidents, including Westlake. “That happened within two weeks of each other, in January of this year, and each of those incidents and the failures that led up to them provides important insights for how EPA needs to strengthen this rule to prevent chemical disasters,” Taylor said. Read More
EPA’s proposed changes to its chemical disaster prevention rule don’t do enough to protect Louisiana communities
September 20, 2022
Today, Coming Clean and the Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform released a report that profiles three chemical incidents that occurred within two weeks this January, and recommends specific safety measures that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should require in order to prevent future chemical disasters. On August 31, 2022, the EPA published proposed revisions to the Risk Management Program (RMP), which regulates approximately 12,000 high-risk facilities in the U.S. that use or store highly hazardous chemicals. EPA was specifically directed by Congress to use this program to prevent disasters, yet more than 140 harmful chemical incidents occur on average every year. On January 26, 2022, an explosion at the Westlake Chemical South plant caused 7,000 students to shelter in place in the Lake Charles area, and sent a plume of foul-smelling smoke into the air. This facility has reported at least 14 other chemical incidents to the EPA. But under the agency’s newly proposed RMP rule, it would be exempted from requirements to consider and document safer technology and chemical alternatives, and it would not require that safer chemicals or processes be implemented. Read More
EPA takes no steps to prevent future ammonium nitrate explosions in proposed changes to its chemical disaster prevention rule
September 20, 2022
On January 31, 2022, a fire at the Winston Weaver Fertilizer plant in Winston-Salem North Carolina caused 6,500 people to evacuate, emitted unsafe levels of air pollution, and nearly triggered a deadly ammonium nitrate explosion. Ammonium nitrate is not currently covered under the RMP rule, and EPA’s newly proposed changes do not expand the Program to cover any new chemicals, ignoring the recommendations of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board and the National Fire Protection Association.
Read More
EPA’s proposed changes to its chemical disaster prevention rule don’t do enough to keep New Jersey communities safe
September 20, 2022
Today, Coming Clean and the Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform (EJHA) released a report that profiles three chemical incidents that occurred within two weeks this January, and recommends specific safety measures that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should require in order to prevent future chemical disasters. On January 14, 2022, a fire at a warehouse in Passaic, New Jersey came dangerously close to igniting the adjacent Qualco Inc. facility where an estimated 3 million pounds of hazardous chemicals were stored. According to fire officials, this could have caused “one of the most catastrophic chemical disasters in the region in recent history.” Facilities like Qualco Inc. are not currently covered by the EPA’s Risk Management Program despite storing large chemical stockpiles. The facility was therefore not required under the RMP rule to report the hazardous chemicals on site to EPA, conduct a worst-case release scenario analysis, coordinate incident planning with local first responders, or consider measures to prevent a chemical disaster. Read More
EPA’s proposed changes to chemical disaster prevention rule don’t do enough to keep communities safe
September 20, 2022
Today, Coming Clean and the Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform released a report that profiles three chemical incidents that occurred within two weeks this January, and recommends specific safety measures that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should require in order to prevent future chemical disasters. Preventing Disaster offers actionable recommendations the EPA should include in its final rule that could prevent similar incidents from happening in the future, including: requiring all RMP facilities to consider, document, and implement safer chemicals and technologies; expanding the Risk Management Program to cover ammonium nitrate and other hazardous chemicals which remain excluded in the proposed rule; requiring RMP facilities to not only consider the risks posed by natural hazards, as proposed in the draft rule, but to take meaningful steps to prepare for those risks, such as implementing backup power for chemical production and storage processes. Read More
Louisiana plant's 'egregious' record highlighted in national push for new chemical safety rules
September 20, 2022
A new report points to a chemical explosion in Louisiana this year as a prime example of why the federal government should toughen national safety standards at petrochemical plants. The Jan. 26 blast that injured six workers at Westlake Corp.’s Lake Charles South complex and forced thousands of students to shelter at their schools was one of three chemical incidents highlighted in the report, produced by Coming Clean and the Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform. Read More
Report slams EPA's approach to chemical disasters
September 20, 2022
EPA is relying too much on voluntary industry actions to address the risks certain chemical facilities pose to the public, advocates say in a scathing new report that pushes for changes to a draft rule. Two coalitions composed of environmental justice groups, Coming Clean and the Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform, in a report released Tuesday say that while EPA is seeking regulatory revisions to address the risks, more must be done. The groups lay out specific recommendations and point to recent chemical disasters in pressuring the agency for changes to its approach. Industrial and commercial facilities storing highly hazardous chemicals, the groups argue, "disproportionately endanger communities of color and low-income communities." Those areas, they continue, "also often experience disproportionate levels of toxic air pollution and other health and environmental hazards." Read More
EPA will restore an Obama-era chemical disaster safety rule, but advocates say it doesn’t go far enough
September 14, 2022
The EPA is planning to reinstate a rule meant to prevent fires, leaks, spills, explosions, and other disasters at more than 12,000 facilities nationwide, including many oil and gas and petrochemical plants. But many safety advocates say it’s still missing crucial protection for people living nearby. Maya Nye, federal policy director with environmental health and justice group Coming Clean, said that nearby air monitors are often disabled or turned off before and during emergencies. “We think they need to have fenceline monitors and ensure that they have backup power and are never turned off,” Nye said. Read More
EPA proposes changes to chemical disaster prevention rule that looms large in Kanawha Valley
September 8, 2022
The Environmental Protection Agency has revealed, and is taking public comment on, its revisions to the Risk Management Program rule that requires facilities using hazardous substances to develop programs to prevent and limit releases of chemicals into the environment. The rule looms large in the Kanawha Valley, which has long been called "Chemical Valley" for its disproportionately high number of chemical plants. Maya Nye, federal policy director at Coming Clean, a chemical industry-focused environmental health nonprofit, grew up a mile from Union Carbide's Institute facility and believes that too many of the rule's provisions are voluntary.
"We've just seen in the past that voluntary measures don't work," Nye said. "Voluntary measures are not adequate to protect workers and the public."Nye pointed to a provision that says natural hazards, such as floods, wildfires and extreme temperatures, should be included in chemical facility hazard reviews. The rule should go further, Nye argued, to ensure that facility operators act to guard against natural hazards beyond reviewing the potential for those crises. Read More
Biden promised billions for environmental justice. Will it get into the right hands?
September 1, 2022
Eboni Cochran, an advocate with Rubbertown Emergency ACTion, has a family go-bag ready in case of an industrial disaster. Chickasaw Park and other areas of Cochran's neighborhood are in the 98th percentile nationally for proximity to Risk Management Program facilities — facilities where the handling of "extremely hazardous materials" necessitates emergency response procedures. West End residents don't even know what they're breathing, and Cochran said that's been a big part of REACT’s focus. Federal funding could go a long way toward establishing a comprehensive, real-time air monitoring system that would allow those residents to know what they’re breathing and whether it’s safe to go outside, Cochran said.
Read MoreUpdated RMP rule is an opportunity to prioritize Environmental Justice, take bold action on climate change, and stand with workers- if it includes key provisions
August 19, 2022
The Risk Management Plan (RMP) rule is of the utmost importance to fenceline communities like those who make up the Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform (EJHA) and we look forward to reviewing it alongside our strategic partner Coming Clean and other allies. Ensuring that this RMP Rule is strong enough to protect workers and communities has been a top priority for EJHA for years. President Biden has promised to prioritize Environmental Justice and protect EJ communities, take bold action on climate change, and stand with workers. In this rule his administration has the opportunity to do all three at once. We are counting on this Administration to deliver on their promises to EJ communities and workers by using EPA’s full authority to deliver a final RMP rule that lives up to what the moment and our communities demand, to truly prevent chemical disasters.
Las principales voces climáticas se reunieron hoy para discutir los beneficios de la Ley de Reducción de la Inflación
July 30, 2022
La coordinadora nacional de The Environmental Justice Health Alliance, Michele Roberts, destacó la importancia de centrar la justicia ambiental en la implementación del marco.“No queremos que nuestras comunidades de ninguna manera sean el canario continuo en la [mina de carbón]. Debemos pensar en estas cosas, tenemos serios desafíos de salud y disparidades dentro de nuestras comunidades, disparidades de infraestructura, disparidades de desechos, y muchas de estas disparidades aún no se han abordado. Necesitamos estar en una conversación de ‘no hacer daño a nadie.’ Es importante que entendamos que la fiesta no ha terminado, la lucha acaba de comenzar, apenas estamos llegando… tenemos la oportunidad de transformar corazones, no sólo mentes e ideologías políticas, estamos transformando corazones. Imagínense lo que eso hace por nuestra humanidad”. Read More
Coming Clean and the Environmental Justice Health Alliance Celebrate Historic Investments in Environmental Justice, Warn Against Harmful Trade-Offs Included in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022
July 29, 2022
The proposed Inflation Reduction Act takes significant steps to address the climate crisis and to redress legacy pollution in communities facing multiple, cumulative chemical and health hazards every day. We celebrate the bill’s inclusion of $60 billion in investments to support Environmental Justice, which rests on decades of advocacy by the communities most harmed by toxic chemicals, climate change, and systemic racism.
Read More
Internship Opportunity! Communications & Member Engagement
July 29, 2022
Coming Clean is seeking a Fall 2022 Communications and Member Engagement Intern to assist with strategic external communications, develop internal communications materials in collaboration with members of the Coming Clean network, and assist with compiling a visual database of Coming Clean member activities. The application deadline for consideration is August 24, 2022. Read More
Environmental justice and health organizations urge House of Representatives to swiftly pass the Environmental Justice For All Act
July 27, 2022
Over 90 organizations joined Coming Clean and the Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform in expressing strong support for the Environmental Justice for All Act (H.R. 2021), as it goes before the House Committee on Natural Resources for markup today, urging committee members to “advance this important legislation swiftly to a vote on the House floor.”
Read More
Items with lead are easy to find at antique shops, discount stores. They’re also toxic
July 25, 2022
Campaign for Healthier Solutions, which works to reduce lead and other toxic elements in items purchased at discount stores, has conducted studies over the years on the lead levels in things like tablecloths, jewelry and toys sold at discount stores. Its most recent study found that of 226 items tested, the level with toxic chemicals, including lead, dropped from 81% in 2015 to 53% in 2022. While the lead levels were improved, lead soldering in toys and headphones targeted towards children were found to have high levels of the toxic metal. The group wants discount stores to demand manufacturers produce products with no lead, said José Bravo, national coordinator for the Campaign for Healthier Solutions. “Lead is such an easy lift for stores or retailers to go upstream to their suppliers and say, ‘Guess what? No lead is safe lead, right,’” he said.
Read More
"Extremely dangerous path": Supreme Court decision on EPA is a step backward in fighting climate change, experts warn
June 30, 2022
A 2021 study found that fossil fuel air pollution is responsible for causing nearly 1 in 5 deaths worldwide every year. This year, the World Health Organization found that 99% of the world is breathing poor-quality air, mostly because of fossil fuel emissions. In the U.S., the impacts of climate change have historically impacted low-income communities and people of color the most. Industrial facilities are often located in these areas, polluting the air and causing health problems for people who live nearby. Roberts said she hopes the setback from the court will be an "extra push" for change. "We came together because of the failures and the inconsistencies with the climate and with the climate polices that really were not impacting everyone," she said. "…After decisions like the one have been made, now it's time for us to organize, educate, mobilize and take action. And that's what we're ready to do." Read More
Green Chemistry Experts and Environmental Justice Advocates Call on OSTP to Center Environmental Justice and Fully Reflect Office’s Equity Action Plan in Efforts to Define and Advance Sustainable Chemistry
June 8, 2022
Coming Clean, the Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform (EJHA) and the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production at the University of Massachusetts Lowell urged The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to inclusively engage and address the harms faced by communities disproportionately affected by current practices of chemical use, production and disposal, as the Office develops a definition of Sustainable Chemistry. “Arriving at a new understanding of Sustainable Chemistry is an opportunity to rethink our attitudes about whether we are willing to permit the chemical industry to cause any level of ‘acceptable harm,’” said Judith Robinson, Executive Director of Coming Clean. “Truly sustainable chemistry that doesn’t harm human health, future generations, or the planet will require an intentional focus on those most injured by the current system and a complete transformation away from fossil carbon-based chemicals and other inherently toxic chemistries.”
Read MoreDollar General to phase out 11 more substances by next year
May 27, 2022
Major US discount store Dollar General has updated its chemicals policy, adding 11 substances to its restricted substances list (RSL) and applying this to more product brands that it owns and sells in its outlets. The company said, in an 18 May statement, that it has added the following substances to its RSL: 1-bromopropane; asbestos;1,4-dioxane; hexabromocyclodecanes (HBCD); octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D4); lead and its compounds; cadmium and its compounds; bisphenol A (BPA); diethyl phthalate (DEP); dibutyl phthalate (DBP); and tetrachloroethylene (Perc). The update follows the company’s commitment in 2019 to phase out eight ‘high priority chemicals’ from its own label cleaning and beauty products by 31 December this year, including formaldehyde, butylparaben and trichloroethylene. The company said it is "on target" to do so. In April, US non-profits the Campaign for Healthier Solutions and the Ecology Center Healthy Stuff Lab said they found at least one chemical of concern in 53% of consumer products tested from five major discount retailers, including Dollar General.
Read More
Faith leaders call on EPA to strengthen chemical disaster rule
May 10, 2022
Over 100 faith leaders and organizations sent a letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan today, urging the agency to strengthen and expand its Risk Management Plan (RMP) rule, which is intended to prevent chemical disasters at high-risk facilities nationwide and is currently being updated. Chemical releases, fires, and explosions are shockingly common in the United States. In just ten years, there have been over 1,500 reported chemical releases or explosions at facilities regulated under the RMP rule, causing 17,000 reported injuries and 59 reported deaths. But deadly chemical incidents could be prevented if RMP facilities were required to transition to safer processes, faith leaders state in the letter. Their calls echo those of health professionals, security experts, and members of Congress who have also demanded meaningful reforms to the RMP rule in recent months. Read More
EPA Proposal Too Tepid to Address Dangerous Chemical Spills
May 6, 2022
Thirty years after it was first required to do so, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finally proposed a rule to fill part of a gaping hole in the regulations meant to protect our nation’s waters from chemical spills. As the saying goes, better late than never – except that in this case, EPA’s delay has had severe consequences. For example, Hurricane Harvey, which struck Houston’s dense zone of flood-susceptible facilities storing hazardous substances, caused numerous facilities to release harmful chemicals, harming first responders, the surrounding community, and the environment. A few years earlier, a leak at a chemical storage facility along the Elk River in West Virginia left 300,000 people without drinking water for days. It didn’t need to be this way. Since 1972, the Clean Water Act has required EPA to issue regulations requiring industrial facilities that store toxic chemicals near water bodies to take measures to prevent chemical spills. After decades of inaction by EPA, NRDC, the Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform (EJHA), and People Concerned About Chemical Safety sued. Although EPA agreed to issue the required regulations, it unlawfully abdicated its responsibility. Read More
EPA faces pressure to tighten chemical disaster rules
April 26, 2022
Pressure is mounting on EPA to strengthen oversight of chemical facilities to better prepare them for disaster risks at the sites. Experts, former agency leaders and lawmakers are calling on EPA to tighten loopholes and beef up its risk management plan, or RMP, which instructs certain facilities to develop contingency plans in case of a crisis. Those sites, which handle high-risk chemicals, are vulnerable to climate impacts and other events that can imperil their surrounding communities and environment. EPA Administrator Michael Regan said last month that the agency plans to update the RMP and issue a new rule by this September. Now, EPA is seeing an uptick in calls for the regulations to address a range of concerns, stemming from environmental justice to national security. Read More
More Than Half of Dollar Store Items Tested Contain Toxic Chemicals
April 22, 2022
In the seven years since the Campaign for Healthier Solutions published their initial report on toxic chemicals in dollar store products, Bravo has seen “light years” worth of progress in addressing the issue. While 53 percent of products tested still contained chemicals of concern in 2022, that number was 80 percent of 164 products tested in 2015. Further, when the campaign has gone back and tested items that previously tested positive for lead, they have found that they tested negative the second time.“They are not going to claim that it was us,” Bravo said, “we’ll claim that it was us.”
The cost of toxic products? Just $1
April 21, 2022
Discount retailers often promise shoppers they can buy household necessities for under a dollar, but too often there’s a toxic price to pay, according to a report released last week. More than 225 products — from baby toys to microwave popcorn to non-stick cookware — purchased from so-called “dollar stores” in 2021 were tested for adverse chemicals. Researchers with the Campaign for Healthier Solutions and the Ecology Center’s Healthy Stuff Lab found chemicals of concern in more than half of them. Since 2015, the Campaign for Healthier Solutions has been testing dollar store wares for chemicals like lead, which can damage children’s brains and harm their growth and development, and phthalates, which are endocrine-disruptors that can harm reproductive and cognitive development and have been linked to higher rates of childhood cancer. Read More
Groups push Congress to pass climate package before Memorial Day
April 21, 2022
A coalition of more than 20 climate, labor and social justice groups is planning a nationwide mobilization to push Congress to pass robust climate legislation before Memorial Day, according to details shared exclusively with The Climate 202. Manchin, who chairs the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said in late December that he could not support the roughly $2 trillion package amid rising consumer prices and growing federal debt...But Michele Roberts, national co-coordinator of the Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform, urged lawmakers not to let Manchin strip any of the climate provisions from the version of the bill that passed the House in November. "All of these pieces in totality … must be voted on and passed and not negotiated at all," Roberts told The Climate 202. "Enough is enough." Read More
Health Experts and Healthcare Workers Call for Strong Chemical Safety Safeguards
April 20, 2022
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is updating the Risk Management Plan (RMP) Rule, a policy meant to protect community members who live and work near high-risk chemical facilities. In a new letter, hundreds of health professionals are calling on EPA to set the strongest possible standards, demanding reforms that bring chemical-safety rules in line with the demands of both science and justice. While more than 200 million people in the U.S. live, work, or attend school near an RMP-covered facility, the threat these facilities pose is more severe for low-income households and communities of color, who are more likely to live near the fence line of one or more hazardous facilities.
Read More
Hazardous Chemicals Present in Kids’ Products at Dollar Stores, Report Finds
April 12, 2022
A new product screening report released today by the Campaign for Healthier Solutions and the Ecology Center Healthy Stuff lab found hazardous chemicals of concern in children’s products sold by the leading dollar store brands in the US. “Many families rely on dollar stores for affordable toys and other products for kids. With their high profit margins, dollar stores must do more to ensure that all of these products are safe,” said José Bravo, National Coordinator of the Campaign for Healthier Solutions. Tests revealed the presence of lead, phthalates, toxic flame retardant chemicals, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) components in colorfully-labeled children’s products at Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, Dollar General, and Five Below. Lead was found in Disney and Marvel themed kids’ headphones at Five Below and Dollar Tree, a plastic baby toy at Dollar Tree, and 99 Cents Only Stores’ private-label earbuds. Ortho-phthalate plasticizers were found in children’s hair accessories and toys at Five Below. Fake teeth and lips sold at Dollar Tree and Dollar General were found to contain PVC, a dangerous plastic that can leach multiple hazardous chemicals, such as phthalates and heavy metals.
Read MoreTesting finds toxic chemicals in 50% of dollar store goods
April 12, 2022
Products sold at dollar stores may be inexpensive, but a new report from the Campaign for Healthier Solutions also found high rates of toxic chemicals in the budget brands, raising questions of environmental justice. The consumer advocacy group purchased 226 products from Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, Dollar General, Five Below and 99 Cents Only Stores in seven states and Ontario, Canada, and tested a total of 635 product components for toxic metals and endocrine-disrupting chemicals like flame retardants, bisphenol A and its substitutes, phthalates and PFAS, also known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.The results showed that half of the items had one or more chemicals of concern.“Many families rely on dollar stores for affordable toys and other products for kids,” said José Bravo, national coordinator of the Campaign for Healthier Solutions. “With their high profit margins, dollar stores must do more to ensure that all of these products are safe.” One of the more surprising products where tests revealed the presence of toxic chemicals was children’s headphones. Read More
Harmful chemicals found in toys and canned food at US discount stores
April 12, 2022
An alarming number of products purchased at US dollar stores, including many children’s toys, contain harmful chemicals, according to a report released today. Researchers tested 226 products purchased at five popular retailers for chemicals, including phthalates and lead, and found that 120, or more than half, had at least one chemical of concern. Among the products that tested positive were colorful baby toys and Disney-themed headphones.“As a parent, I should be able to buy a product without expecting to poison my child,” said Jose Bravo, national coordinator at the Campaign for Healthier Solutions, a coalition that calls on dollar stores to phase out hazardous chemicals from their products. Read More
The Promise of the Environmental Justice For All Act: NRDC Expert Blog
April 8, 2022
The Environmental Justice for All Act (EJ for All Act) is an essential federal legislative effort to begin remedying the long history of environmental racism and injustice in the United States, including the cumulative and disproportionate pollution burdens threatening communities of color, low-income communities, and Native/Indigenous nations and communities across the country. Importantly, this landmark bill has been developed in close partnership with leaders in the environmental justice movement. The extensive public input process that informed the EJ for All Act’s creation has produced legislation uniquely shaped by the same people and communities that will benefit directly from its policy improvements. Accordingly, the EJ for All Act recognizes that meaningfully improving the lives of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color requires transformative change led by those on the frontlines. As described by Michele Roberts, National Co-Coordinator of the Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform, “This is legislation that our affiliates see themselves in.”
Read More
The Just Transition Alliance is hiring a Program Assistant!
April 4, 2022
JTA is seeking a self-motivated and committed Program Assistant to join our team. The Program Assistant will play a key administrative support role, supporting our programs and providing general administrative support. Strong candidates will demonstrate exceptional time-management and enjoy working within a small, team that is mission- and results-driven and community oriented. This is a full-time position that can be remote or based in San Diego, CA. Read More
Environmentalists Clash With Industry Over EtO Risk In Chemical Rule
March 31, 2022
Environmentalists and state regulators are clashing with industry over the legality of EPA’s plan to reaffirm a stringent risk assessment for the solvent ethylene oxide (EtO) in a chemical sector air toxics rule, with environmental groups defending the assessment and warning industry’s preferred use of a weaker Texas alternative would be unlawful....The IRIS analysis found health risks from EtO far greater than previously thought... The Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform in its March 24 comments also supports use of the IRIS risk assessment, but further presses EPA to address issues it has placed outside of the scope of the current rulemaking.“It is time for EPA to fully follow the science and strengthen the MON emission standards to finally protect communities who live, work, worship, go to school, and breathe air near these chemical plants as the Clean Air Act requires,” the group says. EPA should tighten the rule “by reducing flaring, leaks, and other fugitive emissions to eliminate unacceptable cancer risk and provide an ample margin of safety to protect public health from the cumulative health risks and impacts caused by MON and collocated and nearby chemical and petrochemical sources,” it says. The group also urges EPA to update its “outdated cancer risk policy benchmark and the risk assessment approach to account for the real-world cumulative health harms experienced by communities.”
Congressional watchdog warns of climate threats to chemical plants
March 7, 2022
Chemical companies are required by the Environmental Protection Agency’s Risk Management Plan rule, or RMP rule, to develop programs that help reduce the risk of accidents. There are 10,420 facilities nationwide that are required to submit plans under the rule. A growing threat to these facilities is coming into focus: climate change. More than 3,200 of these sites are in areas where natural hazards like storm surges, wildfires, and flooding are being exacerbated by global warming, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office, or GAO, the U.S. Congress’ investigative arm. In January, more than 70 state and local officials sent a letter to the EPA administrator citing these facts and calling for stricter RMP rules. Read More
CEED and EJHA welcome the release of the beta version of the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST).
February 22, 2022
The Center for Earth Energy and Democracy (CEED) and Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform (EJHA) welcome the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ)'s release of the beta version of the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST). This tool is an important step towards ensuring that environmental justice communities are able to receive real benefits from federal programs under the Administration’s Justice40 Initiative. Read More
Diverse Organizations Across the Country Mobilize in Support of the Environmental Justice for All Act
February 15, 2022
28 organizations today joined Coming Clean and the Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform in expressing strong support for the Environmental Justice for All Act (H.R. 2021), sponsored by Representatives Raúl Grijalva and Donald McEachin. In a letter, they urged the U.S. House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee to “advance this important legislation quickly to begin remedying the long history of environmental racism and injustice, and cumulative and disproportionate health and environmental impacts, that affects communities across the country.”
Read MoreDelaware offers litmus test for Biden’s EJ plan
February 3, 2022
When Dora Williams started wearing a mask last spring to stop the spread of the coronavirus, she noticed a side effect: She could breathe more easily. The 73-year-old retiree has spent most of her life in a 5-mile stretch of Delaware known as the Route 9 corridor. Home to several historic African American communities, the area is circled by interstate highways, a chemical manufacturing plant and other industrial facilities, which residents like Williams say have contributed to persistent health problems. “My granddaughter said to me, ‘When Covid is gone, we’ll still be wearing masks.’ I said, ‘Yeah, we will,’” said Williams, a soft-spoken community activist with Delaware Concerned Residents for Environmental Justice. Last year, President Biden’s home state became the first in the country to set up a committee to carry out the Justice40 Initiative, the president’s signature environmental justice policy calling for 40 percent of federal benefits from climate and energy programs to reach disadvantaged communities. How Delaware implements the plan may set a national precedent, considering that the fate of Justice40 — which was announced through an executive order — and its effects on the energy sector hinge in part on states.
Read More
Local officials call for tougher chemical safety regulation
January 29, 2022
More than 70 elected officials from 16 states and territories are urging the US Environmental Protection Agency to toughen and issue a stalled regulation intended to protect communities, workers, and chemical companies from chemical disasters. The risk management plan (RMP) regulation requires 12,000 high-risk chemical producers to examine and institute safe manufacturing processes to prevent accidents and aid emergency responders. The RMP provisions were modified by the Barack Obama administration but weakened by the Donald J. Trump administration. Read More
Strengthening this one rule could keep frontline communities safe from their toxic neighbors
January 28, 2022
We grew up in or near predominantly Black communities surrounded by heavy industry. As children in Louisville, Kentucky, and Claymont, Delaware, we knew something was amiss when so many friends and family members developed dense coughs, asthma, cancer, and other diseases. What we didn’t know at the time is that we were among many low-income communities of color across the country suffering from toxic chemical exposure. For decades our constituents have lived under the constant threat of explosions or toxic releases in our neighborhoods, never knowing what or when the next disaster will be. Parents must weigh the benefits of allowing their children to go outdoors with the risks of being exposed to harsh chemicals. We recently saw air pollution in our communities lead to disproportionate rates of severe illness and death during this pandemic, a trend that has been observed across the country. Read More
Louisville officials sign letter to strengthen chemical disaster prevention rules
January 27, 2022
Elected officials in Louisville are joining lawmakers from around the country in calling for stronger federal rules to prevent disasters at high-risk chemical facilities. The Environmental Protection Agency is reviewing Risk Management Plan (RMP) rules for more than 12,000 high-risk facilities around the country. The facilities covered by the rules contain highly corrosive, explosive and toxic chemicals that present a danger to the public when disasters strike. Kentucky has more than 200 RMP facilities, according to a Houston Chronicle database. Around two-thirds of Louisville residents live within three miles of one, according to a 2018 study from the Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform. Read More
EPA Under Renewed Pressure To Strengthen Chemical Facility Safety Rule
January 27, 2022
EPA is under renewed pressure to significantly strengthen protections under its chemical facility safety rule for communities living near industrial facilities, with state and local lawmakers from more than a dozen states citing environmental justice (EJ) concerns and urging measures beyond those established by the Obama administration. In a Jan. 26 letter, more than 70 state and local lawmakers urge EPA Administrator Michael Regan to revamp EPA’s Risk Management Program (RMP) rule in order to better protect communities near chemical facilities. “As elected officials representing many communities across the U.S., we are writing to urge [EPA] to adopt a strengthened [RMP], or chemical disaster prevention rule, to protect communities across the United States,” the legislators from 16 states, territories and local governments write. Stephanie Herron, national organizer with Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform (EJHA) -- which is an advocacy group that organized and distributed the lawmakers’ letter -- told Inside EPA in response to a question that the lawmakers are weighing in now in order to influence EPA before it proposes the rule. “Now is a critical time to weigh in with EPA on these key provisions” needed to make the rule more stringent, she said. Read More
On anniversary of Biden’s EJ order, is Justice40 delivering?
January 27, 2022
Today is the one-year anniversary of Justice40, President Biden’s landmark environmental justice commitment to funnel an unprecedented level of federal investment to communities injured by decades or centuries of neglect. In an executive order released only one week after he took office, the president promised that disadvantaged communities would see 40 percent of the total benefits of climate and infrastructure spending — an influx of capital that would go toward redressing past imbalances that have left marginalized communities without basic services and disproportionately exposed to harms from pollution and climate change. “It’s still a work in progress,” said Michele Roberts, National Co-Coordinator at the Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform. “But the thing is that it has been created, and you have credible people working on that.” Roberts credited Biden’s creation of a senior CEQ position devoted to environmental justice as an encouraging step. Read More
Advocates ask EPA to tighten chemical disaster prevention rule to rein in possible polluters, including Suncor
January 27, 2022
More than 70 elected officials in states including Colorado are urging the Environmental Protection Agency to strengthen the chemical disaster prevention rule in order to protect communities from toxins at high-risk facilities, like the Suncor oil refinery in Commerce City. The EPA’s “Risk Management Plan,” or RMP, rule is meant to prevent disasters at chemical facilities across the country — more than 200 exist in Colorado — but advocates say the rule is lacking. “Chemical releases, fires, and explosions occur across the United States almost constantly,” the letter said. “In just ten years, there were over 1,500 reported chemical releases or explosions at RMP facilities nationwide. These caused over $2 billion in property damages; evacuation or ‘shelter in place’ of half a million people; over 17,000 reported injuries; and 59 reported deaths.” Read More
Delaware Legislators Join More than 70 Other Elected Officials Calling on EPA to Prevent Chemical Disasters, Protect Workers and Prioritize Environmental Justice
January 26, 2022
A letter was sent today by over 70 elected officials from 16 states and territories, including 5 from Delaware, to EPA Administrator Michael Regan urging meaningful reform of the federal policy that is intended to prevent chemical disasters.“As a New Castle resident, it is terrifying to hear about huge releases of cancer-causing chemicals in our backyard. Even worse, we don’t find out about them until hours or weeks later due to lack of community notification, so we can’t take action to protect our families,” said Miss Dora Williams, a volunteer with Delaware Concerned Residents for Environmental Justice. "The EPA must do more to hold companies like Croda accountable and prevent chemical disasters from happening again." Williams lives along the Route 9 corridor, an area in New Castle, Delaware that is overburdened by the cumulative impacts of pollution from several industrial facilities, legacy contamination and a history of disinvestment due to racism.
Read MoreColorado Legislator Joins More than 70 Elected Officials Nationwide Calling on EPA to Prevent Chemical Disasters, Protect Workers and Prioritize Environmental Justice
January 26, 2022
A letter was sent today by over 70 elected officials from 16 states and territories, including Representative Judy Amabile from Colorado, to EPA Administrator Michael Regan urging meaningful reform of the federal policy that is intended to prevent chemical disasters. Unfortunately, explosions and toxic leaks occur regularly at high-risk chemical facilities, which disproportionately affect workers, communities of color and low-income communities nationwide, making this a key environmental justice issue.“We and our constituents are unwilling to continue living with the constant threat of chemical disasters that could destroy our neighborhoods, businesses, and communities, when safer chemicals and technologies exist,” reads the letter. “ Injuries, death and disease are not acceptable risks, and our communities are not sacrifice zones.” Read More
Pennsylvania Legislators Join More than 70 Other Elected Officials Calling on EPA to Prevent Chemical Disasters, Protect Workers and Prioritize Environmental Justice
January 26, 2022
A letter was sent today by over 70 elected officials from 16 states and territories, including 14 representing Pennsylvania, to EPA Administrator Michael Regan urging meaningful reform of the federal policy that is intended to prevent chemical disasters. Unfortunately, explosions and toxic leaks occur regularly at high-risk chemical facilities, which disproportionately affect communities of color and low-income communities nationwide, making this a key environmental justice issue. “The EPA has an important opportunity right now to prioritize environmental justice and stop chemical disasters,” said Representative Mary Jo Daley, Pennsylvania House District 148. “We hope Administrator Regan will do the right thing to protect the health and safety of low-income communities and communities of color across the country by updating the RMP in a meaningful way.” Read More
Kentucky Legislators Join More than 70 Other Elected Officials Calling on EPA to Prevent Chemical Disasters, Protect Workers and Prioritize Environmental Justice
January 26, 2022
A letter was sent today by over 70 elected officials from 16 states and territories, including 4 representing Kentucky, to EPA Administrator Michael Regan urging meaningful reform of the federal policy that is intended to prevent chemical disasters. “For decades our constituents have lived under the constant threat of explosions or major toxic releases from industrial facilities in our neighborhoods, never knowing what or when the next disaster will be,” said Representative Attica Scott of District 41. “Disaster prevention, common sense emergency response and management, and effective enforcement are three of the most important measures that go directly to keeping neighborhoods like mine safer,” said Eboni Cochran, Louisville resident and organizer with Rubbertown Emergency ACTion.” Our families need strong protections and the EPA must step up to the plate to do what they know is right. Our communities are under chemical assault daily and just one malfunction away from catastrophe.”
Read MoreWest Virginia Legislators Join More than 70 Other Elected Officials Calling on EPA to Prevent Chemical Disasters, Protect Workers and Prioritize Environmental Justice
January 26, 2022
A letter was sent today by over 70 elected officials from 16 states and territories, including 7 representing West Virginia, to EPA Administrator Michael Regan urging meaningful reform of the federal policy that is intended to prevent chemical disasters. Unfortunately, explosions and toxic leaks occur regularly at high-risk chemical facilities, which disproportionately affect communities of color and low-income communities nationwide, making this a key environmental justice issue. “It’s time that the EPA implements these protections that many people in my home community have been seeking for decades,” said Kathy Ferguson, a spokesperson for People Concerned About Chemical Safety, an environmental justice organization in the Kanawha Valley dedicated to the protection of health and safety to all who reside, work, and study in the vicinity of local chemical plants producing highly toxic chemicals. Read More
Massachusetts Legislator Joins More than 70 Elected Officials Nationwide Calling on EPA to Prevent Chemical Disasters, Protect Workers and Prioritize Environmental Justice
January 26, 2022
A letter was sent today by over 70 elected officials from 16 states and territories, including Senator Michael Moore of Massachusetts, to EPA Administrator Michael Regan urging meaningful reform of the federal policy that is intended to prevent chemical disasters. In Massachusetts alone there are 81 RMP-registered facilities. In January 2016, five people were injured following an explosion of a reactive chemical at the Dow Chemical facility in North Andover, Massachusetts. Although such facilities are not currently covered by the RMP, the letter call. Read More
More than 70 State Legislators Call on EPA to Prevent Chemical Disasters, Protect Workers and Prioritize Environmental Justice
January 26, 2022
A letter was sent today by over 70 elected officials from 16 states and territories to EPA Administrator Michael Regan urging meaningful reform of the federal policy that is intended to prevent chemical disasters. Unfortunately, explosions and toxic leaks occur regularly at high-risk chemical facilities, which disproportionately affect communities of color and low-income communities nationwide, making this a key environmental justice issue. Read More
The Tularosa Downwinders Have Waited 75 Years for Justice
January 25, 2022
It’s been over 75 years—we can’t wait anymore,” states Tina Cordova, cofounder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium. The group, which came together in 2005, is seeking environmental justice for the victims and survivors, called Downwinders, who were contaminated by the testing of the world’s first nuclear bomb on July 16, 1945. Its goal is to extend and expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA). The RECA, which passed in 1990, will sunset in July of 2022. Read More
It’s Time to Stop Rolling the Dice on Chemical Disasters
January 18, 2022
Have you ever watched somebody shake a can of soda, and then get ready to crack open the top? You know it’s going to explode, but you don’t know when, or how bad it will be. That’s what it’s like living near a chemical plant. Except the consequences can be deadly. As a lifelong resident of Kanawha County, West Virginia — an area that has been home to dozens of industrial facilities making everything from pesticides to plastics — I know this uncertain feeling all too well. For the past several decades, I’ve listened to emergency sirens go off in my community, indicating that we need to shelter in place, while virtually no information is shared about what happened or how dangerous it might be. The Environmental Protection Agency can help protect millions of people who live near industrial facilities — but only if it works now to strengthen an important federal chemical policy. Read More
Environmental Justice Advocates Raise Alarm After White House Exits
January 13, 2022
The Biden administration's commitment to the advancement of environmental justice is the target of fresh doubt Thursday following departures in recent days of two key officials focused on the issue. The administration's top environmental justice official, Cecilia Martinez—who served as senior director for environmental justice at the Council for Environmental Quality—announced her resignation last week. As such, the need to work to defend those "on the fencelines of environmental injustices" is as clear as ever, said the Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform (EJHA) and Coming Clean, two groups focused on racial justice and health issues. Read More
Statement of Gratitude for Dr. Cecilia Martinez’s Work at the White House Council on Environmental Quality
January 12, 2022
The Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform (EJHA) and Coming Clean are deeply grateful to Dr. Cecilia Martinez for her service as Senior Director of Environmental Justice to the Council for Environmental Quality (CEQ). Dr. Martinez's profound commitment to the many legacy communities living on the fencelines of environmental injustices is undeniable. As the Biden Administration moves forward, it remains essential to deliver on the promises made to these communities and make certain that no community is left behind. Read More