Press Releases
Coming Clean coordinates a broad range of projects and campaigns for market reform, safe chemical policy, clean energy solutions, and environmental justice. Please contact us with media inquiries or to request interviews with spokespeople on these issues or any of the following projects:
- The Campaign for Healthier Solutions
- Environmental Justice Health Alliance
- Hazardous Chemical Facilities
- Farmworker Health and Justice
- Federal Chemical Policy Reform
- Local Food Solutions
November 22, 2022
Improvements to the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool are responsive to Environmental Justice community concerns
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.
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November 16, 2022
The next Farm Bill can only be “climate-smart” if it reduces agricultural reliance on pesticides, says diverse coalition
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.
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November 1, 2022
Coming Clean, EJHA and 80+ Organizations Call on EPA to Prevent Chemical Disasters
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.”
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October 26, 2022
Coming Clean and EJHA networks turn out in force to EPA public hearings, calling for chemical disaster prevention
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:
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September 20, 2022
EPA’s proposed changes to chemical disaster prevention rule don’t do enough to keep communities safe
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
September 20, 2022
EPA’s proposed changes to its chemical disaster prevention rule don’t do enough to keep New Jersey communities safe
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
September 20, 2022
EPA takes no steps to prevent future ammonium nitrate explosions in proposed changes to its chemical disaster prevention rule
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
September 20, 2022
EPA’s proposed changes to its chemical disaster prevention rule don’t do enough to protect Louisiana communities
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
August 19, 2022
Chemical disaster prevention must be prioritized in EPA’s updated rules for hazardous facilities
The Coming Clean network looks forward to carefully reviewing the new draft Risk Management Plan Rule, in strategic partnership with the Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform. Our members, which include health and policy experts, environmental health and justice organizations and frontline community members, have been vocal about the urgent need to update this rule with the aim of preventing chemical disasters. Chemical releases, fires, and explosions occur with disturbing regularity in the US. On average, over 100 harmful incidents occur every year at RMP facilities, frequently causing schools to shelter in place, residents to evacuate, and harmful air pollution to spike. Communities of color and low-income communities disproportionately bear the impact of these disasters. Read More
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.
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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 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
June 8, 2022
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
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 More
May 10, 2022
Faith leaders call on EPA to strengthen chemical disaster rule
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
April 20, 2022
Health Experts and Healthcare Workers Call for Strong Chemical Safety Safeguards
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
April 12, 2022
Hazardous Chemicals Present in Kids’ Products at Dollar Stores, Report Finds
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 More
February 15, 2022
Diverse Organizations Across the Country Mobilize in Support of the Environmental Justice for All Act
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 More
February 2, 2022
Disaster at Winston-Salem Fertilizer Plant Is Unacceptable, Unnecessary, and Entirely Preventable
A fire that erupted Monday night at a fertilizer plant in Winston-Salem, NC continues to burn endangering thousands of people in the area who have had to evacuate or shelter-in-place. The threat of a deadly explosion remains as the fire continues to burn out of control, threatening the health and safety of the nearby communities. This tragic chemical disaster poses unacceptable risk to those who live, work, or go to school near facilities like this, yet they regularly happen all over the United States, despite being entirely preventable. Communities at the fenceline of the chemical industry in other communities live daily with similar harm and threat due to major gaps in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) federal rules on hazardous chemical storage, use, and industrial facility safety. It’s time for the EPA to prevent these harmful chemical disasters once and for all. Read More
January 26, 2022
Massachusetts Legislator Joins More than 70 Elected Officials Nationwide Calling on EPA to Prevent Chemical Disasters, Protect Workers and Prioritize Environmental Justice
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
January 26, 2022
More than 70 State Legislators Call on EPA to Prevent Chemical Disasters, Protect Workers and Prioritize Environmental Justice
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
View the entire press release archive here.
Reports and Resources from Coming Clean:
- Life at the Fenceline, a chemical disaster zone map, and demographic analysis.
- Who's in Danger? A demographic analysis report of chemical disaster vulnerability zones.
- When the Wind Blows: Tracking Toxic Chemicals in Gas Fields and Local Communities.
- Warning Signs: Toxic Air Pollution Identified at Oil and Gas Sites.
- General Resources
- The Louisville Charter for Safer Chemicals.