The Chemical Disaster Prevention Campaign coordinators:
Richard Moore
Los Jardines Institute
ljinewmexico@gmail.com
(505) 301-0276
Michele Roberts
Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform
mroberts@comingcleaninc.org
(202) 704-7593
To learn more or get involved with Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform
Visit ej4all.org for detailed information and resources.
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Chemical Disaster Prevention Program
The people most at risk from chemical disasters are communities of color and low income communities.
West, Texas. Louisville, Kentucky. Richmond, California. Charleston, West Virginia. Wilmington, Delaware. What do these communities have in common? They have all experienced chemical plant or storage explosions, leaks, and spills that threaten the health and safety of thousands or millions of people nearby. These cities are not alone; every day, millions of people live and work in the shadow of high-risk chemical plants that store and use extremely hazardous chemicals. In fact, 124 million Americans live within three miles of a chemical facility that threatens their lives with a potential chemical disaster. For too long, chemical companies have escaped responsibility for protecting workers and local residents by blocking efforts to prevent these disasters before they happen.
Who’s in Danger from chemical incidents? Our research shows that the people most at risk from chemical disasters are communities of color and low income communities. What is Life at the Fenceline of chemical facilities like? Risk of chemical disasters, poverty, limited access to healthy food, and cancer and respiratory illness linked to air pollution abounds.
Fortunately, inherently safer and cost-effective chemicals or processes are widely available. And, through the work of Coming Clean and our partners, we're working to develop and implement protective policies which will benefit everyone in the U.S.—and especially people most vulnerable to chemical disasters.
Through our Environmental Justice Health Alliance, Coming Clean is working with partner organizations to demand action from the White House, EPA and other federal agencies to save lives and prevent chemical disasters, including a requirement for chemical companies to switch to safer chemicals and processes wherever feasible. We’re also pursuing new standards to prevent leaks and contamination of our drinking water from above-ground chemical storage tanks following a legal settlement with EPA. Our work will help protect drinking water, air, and even the very lives of millions of people who live near hazardous chemical facilities across the nation.
Recent Reports & Resources
- Life at the Fenceline report.
- Who’s In Danger report.
- The Louisville Charter. A platform for creating a safe and healthy environment through innovation.
Related News
November 21, 2019
Release: EPA Touts Weakened Public Safety Measures Established Following West, TX Disaster
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced action to weaken the Risk Management Plan program (RMP) for chemical facilities that pose a risk of catastrophic explosion or poison gas release. The RMP program is a set of safety measures that seek to prevent and mitigate chemical disasters at over 12,000 high-risk industrial and commercial facilities across the nation. EPA estimates that over 177 million residents face daily risk of a chemical disaster emanating from one or more of these facilities. Read More
September 24, 2019
Report: Watered Down Justice - Sociodemographics and Violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act
While the Safe Drinking Water Act guarantees all Americans access to clean, drinkable water, it hasn’t worked out that way in practice. Coming Clean and the Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform (EJHA) partnered with NRDC to analyze nationwide violations of the law from 2016 to 2019. We found a disturbing relationship between sociodemographic characteristics—especially race—and drinking water violations. Read More
September 24, 2019
Release: Communities of Color More Likely to Suffer Drinking Water Violations For Years
Race bears the strongest relationship to slow and ineffective enforcement of the federal drinking water law in communities across the nation, according to a new report released today. Watered Down Justice is a new analysis of EPA data that confirms there is unequal access to safe drinking water, based most strongly on race, a scientific conclusion that mirrors the lived experience of people of color and low-income residents in the United States. Read More
August 22, 2019
Release: Trump's EPA Ignores Threat of Hazardous Spills
Washington, DC – The Environmental Protection Agency made clear today that it will continue ignoring its responsibility to curtail chemical spills from industrial facilities, a decision that is in blatant disregard of the Clean Water Act and a settlement the agency agreed to in court. Read More
August 8, 2019
News: Refineries Across America Could Create Catastrophic Acid Clouds. It Almost Happened In Philly.
Last month’s explosion at a 150-year-old oil refinery in Philadelphia could have forced 1.1 million people to evacuate. Read More
August 5, 2019
News: Exxon Refinery Explosion Another By-Product of Trump Deregulation
The Trump administration is working to roll back a chemical safety disaster rule, putting communities like Baytown, Texas, at risk. Read More
May 9, 2019
Release: Environmental Justice Council Urges EPA to Change Course
Washington, DC — The US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) issued formal recommendations to EPA Administrator, Andrew Wheeler, urging the agency to address two issues vital to environmental justice communities and public health. Grassroots organizations and people who live in impacted environmental justice communities praised NEJAC's recommendations to the EPA. Read More
April 22, 2019
Watch: Life at the Fenceline - Our Video Collaboration with NRDC and Rashida Jones
See our stunning new animated video collaboration with EJHA, NRDC and Rashida Jones: Life at the Fenceline.
High-risk chemical facilities threaten the lives of nearly 40% of all US residents with catastrophic explosions or poison gas leaks — do you live in a potential chemical disaster zone? Read More
April 4, 2019
News: One dead, two seriously injured in fire at KMCO specialty chemical plant in Houston area
“From Hurricane Katrina to Hurricane Harvey, we’ve repeatedly witnessed communities inundated by toxic flood waters—laced with an unknown concoction of hazardous chemical substances. Black, brown, and poor communities are more likely to be impacted by chemical spills and suffer the health impacts of pollution,” says Michele Roberts, National Co-Coordinator of the Environmental Justice Health Alliance. Read More
April 3, 2019
News: Environmental justice advocates have questions after Croda settlement
Delaware Concerned Residents for Environmental Justice (an EJHA affiliate) is featured in this piece about the toxic ethylene oxide leak eminating from Croda Industries.
“Fines are meant to discourage polluters from violating again,” said Lambert. “If you look at that fine, if it were doubled or even tripled, it would still be a slap on the wrist. So with that being said, that fine isn’t acceptable.” Read More
April 2, 2019
OpEd: Industry growth must also address emergency response
OpEd by Pam Nixon, spokeswoman for People Concerned About Chemical Safety, an EJHA affiliate in Charleston, WV.
"We have known for years that chemical emergencies disproportionately impact low-income communities and communities of color and result in cumulative health problems. Yet, emergency response concerns remain unaddressed in the unincorporated fenceline communities of Institute and Jefferson, and others like them in the Kanawha Valley." Read More
March 29, 2019
Release: Houston Chemical Fire and Spill Bolsters Case for Needed Reforms
The aftermath of a horrific fire at the ITC chemical plant in Houston has reinforced ongoing oversight and enforcement gaps, according to a coalition of groups that filed suit last week in federal court to force the chemical industry to undertake “worst-case scenario” planning. Read More
The Manchester neighborhood in Houston, Texas
The Chemical Disaster Prevention Campaign coordinators:
To learn more or get involved with Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform
Visit ej4all.org for detailed information and resources.
Share this page: |