The chemical industry needs to switch away from its major building-block petrochemicals so it can transform into a sector that no longer harms people’s health or the environment, according to a July 13 report from activists. Lower-hazard substances that are not derived from fossil fuels should replace benzene, butadiene, ethylene, methanol, propylene, toluene, and xylene, says the report by the group Coming Clean. It is a US-based network of community activists, environmental justice organizations, and policy, science, and market experts. “The petrochemical sector’s reliance on fossil-fuel feedstocks and manufacturing processes that have evolved little in a hundred years is a massive barrier for change,” Beverley Thorpe, program manager at Clean Production Action and author of the report, says in a statement.
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News Media Coverage of Coming Clean and our affiliates
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
June 30, 2022
"Extremely dangerous path": Supreme Court decision on EPA is a step backward in fighting climate change, experts warn
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
May 27, 2022
Dollar General to phase out 11 more substances by next year
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
May 6, 2022
EPA Proposal Too Tepid to Address Dangerous Chemical Spills
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
April 21, 2022
The cost of toxic products? Just $1
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
April 12, 2022
Testing finds toxic chemicals in 50% of dollar store goods
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
April 12, 2022
Harmful chemicals found in toys and canned food at US discount stores
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
April 8, 2022
The Promise of the Environmental Justice For All Act: NRDC Expert Blog
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
March 31, 2022
Environmentalists Clash With Industry Over EtO Risk In Chemical Rule
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.”
March 7, 2022
Congressional watchdog warns of climate threats to chemical plants
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
January 28, 2022
Strengthening this one rule could keep frontline communities safe from their toxic neighbors
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
January 29, 2022
Local officials call for tougher chemical safety regulation
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
January 27, 2022
EPA Under Renewed Pressure To Strengthen Chemical Facility Safety Rule
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
January 27, 2022
On anniversary of Biden’s EJ order, is Justice40 delivering?
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
January 27, 2022
Louisville officials sign letter to strengthen chemical disaster prevention rules
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
January 27, 2022
Advocates ask EPA to tighten chemical disaster prevention rule to rein in possible polluters, including Suncor
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
January 18, 2022
It’s Time to Stop Rolling the Dice on Chemical Disasters
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
January 13, 2022
Environmental Justice Advocates Raise Alarm After White House Exits
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