Press Releases

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 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

January 26, 2022

West Virginia Legislators Join More than 70 Other Elected Officials 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 7 representing West Virginia, 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. “It’s time that the EPA implements these protections that many people in my home community have been seeking for decades,” said Kathy Ferguson, a spokesperson for People Concerned About Chemical Safety, an environmental justice organization in the Kanawha Valley dedicated to the protection of health and safety to all who reside, work, and study in the vicinity of local chemical plants producing highly toxic chemicals. Read More

January 26, 2022

Kentucky Legislators Join More than 70 Other Elected Officials 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 4 representing Kentucky, to EPA Administrator Michael Regan urging meaningful reform of the federal policy that is intended to prevent chemical disasters. “For decades our constituents have lived under the constant threat of explosions or major toxic releases from industrial facilities in our neighborhoods, never knowing what or when the next disaster will be,” said Representative Attica Scott of District 41. “Disaster prevention, common sense emergency response and management, and effective enforcement are three of the most important measures that go directly to keeping neighborhoods like mine safer,” said Eboni Cochran, Louisville resident and organizer with Rubbertown Emergency ACTion.”  Our families need strong protections and the EPA must step up to the plate to do what they know is right.  Our communities are under chemical assault daily and just one malfunction away from catastrophe.” Read More

January 26, 2022

Pennsylvania Legislators Join More than 70 Other Elected Officials 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 14 representing Pennsylvania, 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. “The EPA has an important opportunity right now to prioritize environmental justice and stop chemical disasters,” said Representative Mary Jo Daley, Pennsylvania House District 148. “We hope Administrator Regan will do the right thing to protect the health and safety of low-income communities and communities of color across the country by updating the RMP in a meaningful way.”  Read More

January 26, 2022

Colorado 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 Representative Judy Amabile from Colorado, 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 workers, communities of color and low-income communities nationwide, making this a key environmental justice issue.“We and our constituents are unwilling to continue living with the constant threat of chemical disasters that could destroy our neighborhoods, businesses, and communities, when safer chemicals and technologies exist,” reads the letter. “ Injuries, death and disease are not acceptable risks, and our communities are not sacrifice zones.”  Read More

January 26, 2022

Delaware Legislators Join More than 70 Other Elected Officials 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 5 from Delaware, to EPA Administrator Michael Regan urging meaningful reform of the federal policy that is intended to prevent chemical disasters.“As a New Castle resident, it is terrifying to hear about huge releases of cancer-causing chemicals in our backyard. Even worse, we don’t find out about them until hours or weeks later due to lack of community notification, so we can’t take action to protect our families,” said Miss Dora Williams, a volunteer with Delaware Concerned Residents for Environmental Justice. "The EPA must do more to hold companies like Croda accountable and prevent chemical disasters from happening again." Williams lives along the Route 9 corridor, an area in New Castle, Delaware that is overburdened by the cumulative impacts of pollution from several industrial facilities, legacy contamination and a history of disinvestment due to racism. 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

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

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

July 14, 2021

Most Glass-Bottled Beverages Contain Toxic Chemicals Linked to Reproductive Harm and Brain Development, New Study Says

A report released today by the Toxic Free Food Campaign looked at nearly 300 bottle caps from over 140 beverage brands and found that most glass-bottled beverages are capped with toxic or unsustainable chemicals. Read More