In the News

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. 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. 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.” 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.  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. 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. 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." 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. 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. Read More

July 27, 2021

Front-line communities bet on Biden. Can his EJ plan deliver?

Environmental justice advocates have gotten used to hearing election-season promises, and so they didn’t get too excited last year when Joe Biden offered them this one: access and input to his political agenda.

The advocates said they were skeptical they could count on the longtime Democratic senator from Delaware, given his state’s poor reputation for environmental inequity. Read More

July 27, 2021

Martinelli’s among brands searching for safer bottle cap options

When the nonprofit Defend Our Health tested bottle caps from 141 beverage brands, they found potentially harmful chemicals in more than a third of them. Two Martinelli’s products were among these brands, but the Watsonville-based apple juice and cider company says it is now in the process of addressing the issue.

Defend Our Health worked with the Campaign for Healthier Solutions to collect and test 273 glass bottle caps for phthalates and vinyl plastics. Read More

July 26, 2021

A path to climate, economic and environmental justice is finally on the horizon

In the next few weeks, congressional leaders have a critical opportunity to join forces with President Joe Biden to turn the tide against climate change, economic inequality, and environmental injustice. 

[Op-Ed in The Hill by John Podesta, Center for American Progress and Michele Roberts, Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform.] Read More

June 23, 2021

Prenatal exposure to ultra-fine particles increases a child’s risk of asthma, study finds

When Rosalind Wright started analyzing data on prenatal exposure to air pollution in mothers and children in Boston, she had a notion that ultra-fine particles could be even more harmful than the slightly larger particles she’d studied before. Read More

June 5, 2021

Environmental justice: From our ancestors to our children

"The fight for a livable planet and the fight for social justice are one and the same. The struggle for a stable climate, for clean air and water must begin in places like South Valley that have long paid the price for others’ wealth and comfort. And its success depends on building the power and prosperity of people in marginalized communities — so that no one’s home is a dumping ground."
- Richard Moore (co-coordinator of the Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform, co-coordinator of Los Jardines Institute (The Gardens Institute) in Albuquerque, N.M., and co-chair of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council) Read More

April 29, 2021

Fighting food inequity

 Agri-Cultura Network is working toward a better system by developing a force of traditional farmers as well as helping strengthen peoples’ connection to the land, water, seed and community, and offering cooking classes with significance to cultures within New Mexico. Read More

April 6, 2021

Dollar stores offer bargain prices - and toxic products.

When dollar stores sell products containing toxic chemicals, that expose only adds to the multiple sources of toxic pollution felt in communities like Mossville, LA, and other communities of color and low-income communities where chemical hazards and pollution are concentrated. These communities - which often must rely on dollar stores - need more action from these chains. Read More

April 5, 2021

Discount stores often sell products with hazardous chemicals. Low-income shoppers deserve better.

In the latest Retailer Report Card on chemical management policies, Dollar Tree and Dollar General improved their grades, but 99 Cents Only Stores once again received an F. If discount retailers care at all about the health and well-being of the communities they operate in, or the environmental racism that they are perpetuating, they should reallocate resources and start cleaning up their supply chains immediately. Read More

December 9, 2020

What a Republican-controlled Senate means for Biden's climate agenda

President-elect Joe Biden has made fighting climate change more of a priority in both his policy agenda and political appointments than any previous US president. But many climate advocates are bracing themselves for a reality check if Democrats don't win both Senate runoff elections in Georgia in January, which would leave the chamber under Republican control. With a divided Congress, there's almost no chance the Biden administration can push through it's most aggressive climate proposals. Read More

October 22, 2020

News: There's A Lot At Stake For The Climate In The 2020 Election

Despite the cascade of other crises this year, climate change has emerged as a key election issue. Two-thirds of Americans want the government to do more about it, and the same share of Biden supporters say it's very important to their vote. While not many Trump supporters overall agree, there's more concern among younger Republicans. The stakes are high as more Americans experience record heat, wildfires, hurricanes and flooding, and the two candidates could not be further apart. Joe Biden calls climate change an existential threat to our health, economy and national security. President Trump continues to question climate science. Here are six takeaways from Trump's first term on climate and energy, and the challenges he or Biden would face if elected. Read More

September 17, 2020

News: The EPA cut back enforcement during COVID. These researchers are assessing the damage

Six months after the agency announced its temporary enforcement policy, a picture of its effects is slowly beginning to emerge. Self-reported data from industrial polluters collected by the EPA shows that these facilities conducted 40 percent fewer emission tests at smokestacks in March and April this year compared to the same period last year. Also, while only 325 facilities notified the EPA that they would be unable to submit water quality reports as required during those two months, more than 16,500 facilities simply did not submit them — that’s the fourth-highest amount of noncompliance in the last 20 years, according to an analysis of the agency’s own data. Read More