More than 100 US environmental and health groups are calling for the chemical industry to curb its greenhouse gas emissions and sharply decrease reliance on oil and natural gas as raw materials.
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December 8, 2021
Plastics, fertilizer, and synthetic rubber: Report calls out chemical industry’s use of fossil fuels
Everyone knows that the fossil fuel industry drives global warming. A new report shows that the chemical industry contributes to the climate crisis, too. But the conversation about solutions to climate change has largely omitted the role that chemicals and petrochemicals play in exacerbating the crisis, and the report says policymakers should start thinking about ways to green the industry.
The chemical sector doesn’t just make products like inks, solvents, glues, and soaps. It also makes products out of oil and gas like plastics, fertilizer, and synthetic rubber. The chemical industry often relies on fossil fuels to power its factories and make its products. And some of these chemicals, like refrigerants, are potent greenhouse gases themselves. All of those emissions add up. Read More
December 7, 2021
Cut greenhouse gas emissions, advocates tell chemical industry
“We can’t solve the climate crisis without significantly reducing and replacing fossil fuels throughout the chemical industry,” Darya Minovi, a policy analyst at the Center for Progressive Reform, says in a statement. Minovi authored a report finding the chemical industry is the largest consumer of fossil fuels for energy and chemical feedstocks among all sectors.
Read More
December 7, 2021
The Chemical Industry: An Overlooked Driver of the Climate Crisis, Says New Report
A new report was released today about how the chemical industry is driving the climate crisis and what should be done about it. The new report - “The Chemical Industry: An Overlooked Driver of the Climate Crisis” - describes how chemicals and petrochemicals used to make plastic, rubber, fertilizers and more are made from fossil fuel feedstocks and manufactured using fossil-fuel based energy, accounting for roughly seven percent of global GHG emissions. Yet somehow the chemical industry is overlooked when it comes to climate solutions. Read More
December 3, 2021
Statement of Solidarity with Environmental Justice communities in Bhopal on the 37th Anniversary of the Agrochemical Gas Disaster
On this 37th anniversary of the world’s worst industrial disaster, we, the undersigned individuals and organizations from across the United States, express our solidarity with the people of Bhopal who, in 1984, were exposed when 27 tons of the highly toxic pesticide intermediary chemical, methyl isocyanate (MIC), leaked due to a preventable incident at the Union Carbide pesticide plant. We stand united to end the harm from toxic chemicals throughout their lifecycle, from feedstock extraction to disposal and persistent contamination in humans and the environment. Read More
November 24, 2021
The EPA Administrator Visited Cancer-Causing Air Pollution Hot Spots Highlighted by ProPublica and Promised Reforms
Veteran environmental activist Christine Bennett, who grew up in Mossville, lost eight of her family members to illnesses that she attributes to “living in a chemical cocktail.” She’s traveled across the United States to speak about pollution. During her meeting with Regan, she asked him for the same things she’d already asked of so many government officials: a health clinic, a memorial, restitution from industry for the lost value of Mossville’s homes and funding for relocation. Her husband, Delma Bennett, said that Regan told them he was “taking this to heart and hearing everything we are saying.” “But we’ve met with so many of them over the years,” Christine Bennett replied. “All we do is be heard.” Read More
November 19, 2021
Now hiring a National Chemical Campaign Organizer!
Coming Clean is seeking a motivated, self-starting individual with proven experience planning and organizing campaigns to join the amazing staff of a diverse, local to national environmental health network working to transform the chemical industry so that it is no longer a source of harm to people or the planet. Read More
November 17, 2021
Louisville Chemours plant plans to curb super pollutants
Earlier this year, Inside Climate News reported the Chemours Louisville Works plant emits more greenhouse gases than all of the cars and light-duty trucks registered in the city combined... New equipment will help the chemical plant reduce its greenhouse gas emissions... But the new equipment will create its own emissions, releasing more than 1,600 pounds of chloroform and other hazardous air pollutants into fence-line communities, records show. The communities that live near the industrial corridor known as Rubbertown already deal with a disproportionate amount of the city’s pollution. Nearly 2,400 people live within a mile of the plant, 62% are people of color and nearly half are low-income, according to an EPA database. “You can’t trade off one bad thing, greenhouse gases, for another bad thing, hazardous chemicals,” said Eboni Cochran, co-director of Rubbertown Emergency Action (REACT), Read More
November 3, 2021
Announcing New Board Leadership
The Board of Directors of Coming Clean is proud to announce the election of Dr. Marva E. King as the new Chair of the Board and the election of Yudith Azareth Nieto, as the new Vice Chair of the Board. Join us in welcoming them to their new roles!
[Letter from Ken Geiser, Board of Directors, outgoing Chair]. Read More
November 3, 2021
The first People of Color Environmental Summit was 30 years ago. How much has changed?
At the panel discussion marking the 30th anniversary of the First National People of Color Environmental Justice Leadership Summit, Moore recalled being moved at the time because he was surrounded by people of color and all of them were working to address environmental issues in their communities just like he was in Albuquerque’s South Valley.
[Charlotte Observer] Read More
October 18, 2021
Biden administration moves to curtail toxic ‘forever chemicals’
The Biden administration moved Monday to regulate a group of long-lasting, human-made chemicals that pose health risks to millions of Americans, even as they continue to be used in an array of products such as cosmetics, dental floss, food packaging, clothing and cleaning supplies. But Monday’s actions addressed only some of the recommendations submitted by a national environmental justice group in 2019.
[Washington Post] Read More
October 14, 2021
As masses of plaintiffs pursue Roundup cancer compensation, migrant farmworkers are left out
In 2018, a California school groundskeeper took Monsanto Company to court, alleging that Roundup, one of America's most popular weed killers, caused his Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma cancer. The jury agreed and ordered Monsanto to pay the man $289 million in damages, concluding the world's first Roundup cancer trial. Since then, more than 100,000 plaintiffs exposed to Roundup have sought retributions in the courts. While Bayer... has agreed to pay billions of dollars to put these cancer lawsuits to rest, legal experts say migrant farmworkers, who are at the forefront of pesticide and herbicide exposures—including Roundup—are expected to be left out.
[Environmental Health News] Read More
October 13, 2021
EPA Failed to Correct Industry Misinformation About Deadly Air Pollution at Public Meetings
At several recent information sessions on the risks posed by the carcinogenic air pollutant ethylene oxide, the Environmental Protection Agency invited local polluters to participate and failed to correct the companies’ false assertions that the chemical poses no danger. “The rich community can shut theirs down because they got the mighty dollar,” Christine Bennett, a resident of Mossville, Louisiana, said at the community meeting, referring to the Illinois plant that was shut after emitting ethylene oxide. “But here in a low-income, poor community, we can’t do nothing about it.”
[The Intercept] Read More
October 4, 2021
Here’s how Congress could hold the EPA accountable for its ‘dereliction of duty’
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, the EPA announced a policy that relaxed federal environmental monitoring and reporting requirements for polluting industries across the country. Now, in an effort to address long-standing systemic environmental inequities as well as the implications of the 2020 EPA decision to relax enforcement of the country’s environmental protection laws, the House Committee on Natural Resources is leading an effort to hold congressional hearings that would publicly acknowledge and examine the effects of that decision. The ultimate goal is to promote legislative solutions that tackle the cumulative effects of environmental injustices that have been magnified in vulnerable communities during the public health crisis.
[Grist] Read More
October 4, 2021
Latina Farmworkers Speak Out about the Hazards of Life in California’s Fields
Araceli Ruiz has been harvesting fruits and vegetables in California’s Salinas Valley, a region known as “the salad bowl of the world,” since she arrived in California from a small town in central Mexico at 19. While the 43-year-old mother of three is proud of her hard work, the job’s hazards have taken a toll. About six years ago, she decided to share her story with other farmworkers. After linking up with the Greenfield chapter of Líderes Campesinas, a network of about 500 women and girls spread among 14 local chapters in California’s biggest agricultural centers, she began warning the community about the dangers of pesticide exposure.
[NRDC Blog] Read More
November 9, 2021
We're hiring an IT Support Specialist!
Coming Clean is seeking an Information Technology Support Specialist to optimize the IT activities and systems for the organization. Read More
September 29, 2021
Chemical Hazards in the Wake of Hurricane Ida, One Month Later
New Report Profiles Three Toxic Chemical Incidents Caused by Ida and the Need for Stronger Federal Protections to Prevent Further Public Health Risks Read More
September 24, 2021
We need to protect communities hit 'first and worst' by climate change, state lawmakers say
Low-income and indigenous communities as well as communities of color are hit "first and worst" by climate change, whether it's destructive hurricanes, droughts, or extreme heat, policymaker panelists said during a Climate Week NYC event Thursday — and holistic environmental-justice solutions are needed.
[Business Insider] Read More
September 1, 2021
Climate Change is Increasing Chemical Facility Hazards
A fertilizer plant battered by Hurricane Ida belched highly toxic anhydrous ammonia into the air. Two damaged gas pipelines leaked isobutane and propylene, flammable chemicals that are hazardous to human health. And a plastic plant that lost power in the storm’s aftermath is emitting ethylene dichloride, yet another toxic substance.
[New York Times] Read More
August 31, 2021
New Report Shows EPA Negligence in Protecting People of Color, Indigenous Peoples, and Low-income Communities From Disproportionate Impact of COVID-19
"This is another example of environmental racism that our communities are consistently impacted by,” added Richard Moore, co-coordinator, Los Jardines Institute. “Now is the time to begin to dismantle systemic racism within all levels of government."
[Vermont Law School] Read More
August 1, 2021
The Biden Administration’s Embrace of Environmental Justice Has Made Wary Activists Willing to Believe
Decades after emerging from the broader civil rights movement, setting itself apart from traditional environmentalism, flourishing in academia and wending through public discourse, the environmental justice movement has now achieved unprecedented prominence as activists work to entrench their gains within the federal government.
[Inside Climate News] Read More