Chemical Disaster Prevention Program

Release: Groups Sue EPA Over Decades-Long Failure to Protect Communities from Most Dangerous Chemical Spills

March 21, 2019

New York, N.Y. – The Environmental Justice Health Alliance, Clean Water Action, and Natural Resources Defense Council today filed a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency for its failure to pass regulations requiring the most dangerous chemical facilities to develop plans to prevent and respond to worst-case scenario spills of hazardous substances, including spills triggered by natural disasters that put people’s health at risk. Congress mandated such regulations in 1990 – but more than 25 years later, EPA has failed to act. Read More

Release: Victory for Environmental Justice Communities as Court Orders Disclosure of Emissions from Chemical Facility Incidents

March 12, 2019

Environmental justice community members celebrated a ruling which will require chemical facilities to disclose unpermitted toxic chemical emissions to the public. Read More

News: Croda gas leak reportedly among worst of its kind in country this year

December 22, 2018

It took nearly a month after a toxic gas leak shut down the Delaware Memorial Bridge on one of the busiest travel weekends of the year for company and state officials to shed some light on what went wrong.

It remains unclear who will pay for the hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost tolls, who will fix any environmental harm, and who will address any lingering health effects that travelers, first responders and neighbors may have been exposed to that Sunday night... Read More

Blog: Fighting for Chemical Security - Raising Our Voices for Health & Justice for People at the Fenceline

November 15, 2018

Imagine being woken up early in the morning by a siren blaring loudly. You turn on the news to learn that there is a massive fire at the oil refinery in town. Residents are instructed to “shelter in place,” so you make sure all the windows are closed, but you know there is not much more you can do. You realize that your 8-year-old child is having a very hard time breathing, so you head to the hospital as soon as you can. It turns out that sulfuric acid and nitrogen dioxide gases were released from the refinery because of the fire. Read More

Delaware Online news story: 'It's our turn': Southbridge residents say they're tired of being a dumping ground

November 7, 2018

Marie Reed’s first thought when she heard a grinding company had plans to build an industrial facility in south Wilmington was, “Here we go again.”

Reed, president of the Southbridge Civic Association, knew she wasn’t alone. The whole neighborhood “has been through so much,” she said. “We’ve had enough.” Read the full story on Delaware Online. Read More

Press Release: New Interactive Online Map Shows Who Lives in Chemical Disaster Zones

September 26, 2018

Our new interactive map and report, titled, Life at the Fenceline, shows that people living within a three-mile 'fenceline' zone of hazardous chemical facilities are disproportionately people of color, impoverished, and suffer a greater risk of cancer and respiratory illness caused by air pollution. The mapping and analysis found that over 124 million Americans (39%) live in constant threat of catastrophic explosion or poison gas release within a fenceline zone of one or more hazardous chemical facilities. Read More

Report: Life at the Fenceline - Understanding Cumulative Health Hazards in Environmental Justice Communities

September 26, 2018

Across the United States, almost 12,500 high-risk chemical facilities put 39% of the US population (124 million people) who live within three miles of these facilities at constant risk of chemical disaster. The full vulnerability zones for these industrial and commercial sites can extend up to twenty-five miles in radius. Read More

Press Release: Wilmington ‘Environmental Justice Communities’ Suffer Disproportionate Health Risks from Multiple, Overlapping Toxic Exposures

October 19, 2017

Wilmington, DE — Today, the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Environmental Justice Health Alliance, and local community organizations released a new analysis of public health and mapping information showing all of seven ‘environmental justice communities’ studied in the Wilmington area face substantially higher risk of developing cancers and respiratory illnesses linked to toxic pollution in or near their neighborhoods. Read More

Report: Environmental Justice for Delaware - Mitigating Toxic Pollution in New Castle County Communities

October 19, 2017

Studies show that people in poverty are exposed to more environmental pollution, and our own research shows Blacks and Latinos are far more likely to live next to hazardous facilities which are often its source of this pollution - but these studies simply confirm the experiences of exposure, illness, and death that too many people living in the shadow of industrial chemical pollution know so well. That's why Coming Clean worked with Delaware community groups and the Union of Concerned Scientists to issue a new report showing that all seven 'environmental justice communities' we studied in Wilmington face dramatically higher risk of developing cancers or respiratory illnesses linked to this pollution. Read More

Press Release: The Environmental Justice Health Alliance Commends Senator Booker's New Bill to Address Environmental Injustices

October 24, 2017

Newark, NJ — Senator Cory Booker was joined by Michele Roberts, National Co-Coordinator of the Environmental Justice Health Alliance (EJHA), to introduce a new legislation seeking to address some environmental injustices communities across the nation face.  'Environmental justice communities', often composed predominantly of people of color and the poor, suffer disproportionate levels of environmental pollution and its resulting health impacts. Read More

Press Release: Communities to be Harmed by EPA Budget Cuts Ask Congress for Protection

December 14, 2017

Washington, D.C.— As Congress continues its consideration of the Trump Administration’s proposal to slash funding for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a coalition of community environmental justice and health groups issued a volley of letters urging appropriators to maintain funding for vital health and safety programs. The letters, sent from communities across the nation who are dealing with disproportionate levels of environmental pollution, detail how EPA programs—especially Environmental Justice programs and grants designed to support the most impacted communities—have improved public health and provided economic benefits in their neighborhoods, and how starving these efforts may put people directly in harm’s way. Read More

A Toxic Storm: Hazardous Facilities, Failed Chemical Safety Policies, and Extreme Weather Leave Houston Residents Swimming in Toxic Soup

August 30, 2017

In response to the devastation and suffering created by Tropical Storm Harvey, and the toxic hazards posed to health and the environment by dozens of hazardous industrial and commercial facilities concentrated in the Houston area, Michele Roberts, Co-Coordinator of the Environmental Justice Health Alliance (EJHA), issued the following statement: Read More