Our Work
Safe Fields & Food
Protecting our health, environment, and those who feed us.
Safe Products & Stores
Defending customers and our families from toxic chemicals in products.
Safe Chemicals & Facilities
Protecting fenceline communities and facility workers from chemical disasters.
Building Power
Grassroots organizing and leadership for just and effective chemical policies.
Latest News
July 29, 2022
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
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
July 29, 2022
Internship Opportunity! Communications & Member Engagement
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
July 29, 2022
We're hiring a Development Associate!
The nonprofit environmental health network, Coming Clean, is seeking to hire a full-time Development Associate to join our team. The Development Associate’s primary role and responsibility is actively supporting the resourcing strategy, goals, and objectives of Coming Clean including managing donor tracking, outreach, reporting systems, and activities for the organization. Read More
July 27, 2022
Environmental justice and health organizations urge House of Representatives to swiftly pass the Environmental Justice For All Act
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
July 25, 2022
Items with lead are easy to find at antique shops, discount stores. They’re also toxic
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
July 19, 2022
Group urges chemical industry to move away from petrochemicals
Activists say the chemical industry needs to switch from petrochemical building blocks such as methanol to safer, biobased substances, Chemical & Engineering News reports. Substances that are not derived from fossil fuels should replace benzene, butadiene, ethylene, methanol, propylene, toluene, and xylene, according to a report by the group Coming Clean, a U.S.-based network of community activists, environmental justice organizations, and policy, science and market experts. Such a shift would be a major change for south Louisiana, where the petrochemical industry has grown over the past decade. In Baton Rouge, for example, ExxonMobil is in the middle of a $500 million production capacity upgrade at its polyolefins plant. Read More
July 13, 2022
A Radical Transformation of the Chemical Industry: Ten Fundamental Changes Needed
Today, Coming Clean released a paper outlining ten steps needed to transform the chemical sector by replacing hazardous petrochemicals with safer alternatives. Fundamental changes to the chemical sector are needed because, as scientists recently confirmed, chemical pollution has crossed a “planetary boundary,” threatening the stability of Earth’s life-supporting ecosystems. The chemical sector is also a major contributor of greenhouse gasses that fuel the climate crisis. Seven high-hazard and fossil fuel intensive “platform” chemicals - methanol, ethylene, propylene, butadiene, benzene, toluene, and xylene - which are the basis for 90% of the chemicals on the market today, must be replaced with lower hazard, non-fossil-fuel derived substitutes, the paper urges. Benzene and butadiene, for example, are commonly released from chemical production sites in the US with devastating impacts on environmental justice communities in Louisville, Houston and beyond. Read More
Coming Clean is a nonprofit collaborative of environmental health and environmental justice experts working to reform the chemical and energy industries so they are no longer a source of harm. We coordinate hundreds of organizations and issue experts—including grassroots activists, community leaders, scientists and researchers, business leaders, lawyers, and advocates working to reform the chemical and energy industries. We envision a future where no one’s health is sacrificed by toxic chemical use or energy generation. Guided by the Louisville Charter, Jemez Principles of Democratic Organizing, and the Principles of Environmental Justice, we are winning campaigns for a healthy, just, and sustainable society by growing a stronger and more connected movement.