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America’s “First Lady of Environmental Justice” aims to help Ohio families out of toxic nightmare Mom from Love Canal fame launches pilot project to help local residents make their neighborhoods clean and safe again (Cleveland) - Lois Gibbs, the stay-at-home mom turned environmental crusader who helped rescue her Niagara Falls, N.Y. neighborhood from the notorious Love Canal toxic waste dump - today visited citizens living next to Cleveland’s biggest polluter: Mittal Steel. “In 29 years of advocacy, this is one of the hardest-hit neighborhoods that I have ever seen,” said Gibbs, founder and director of the Center for Health, Environment and Justice near Washington, D.C. “I have heard eye-witness accounts of metal flakes covering people’s houses and cars and even their children. Zinc and manganese inside of homes. Children playing in the yard and developing skin rashes and problems with asthma and headaches. No wonder doctors are telling some residents to move away to protect their children’s health. “These good people and their children deserve a healthy shot at the American dream. Instead, they’re living a toxic nightmare. They are entitled to environmental justice.” Mittal Steel is located in Cleveland’s Flats area, closer to more nearby residents than any other steel mill in the country. The working-class neighborhoods surrounding Mittal Still fit the classic definition of an “environmental justice community.” They are 59% minority population (primarily African American and Hispanic) with 26.9% of the residents below the poverty level; all of the residents are exposed to high levels of industrial emissions. The most dangerous pollution from the mill can't be seen with the naked eye. Each year, the mill emits hundreds of thousands of pounds of invisible particle pollution. According to medical scientists, such tiny particles penetrate people’s lungs and are so small they can enter the bloodstream and cause heart and lung disease. Working with Ohio Citizen Action, residents have recently formed “Neighbors of Mittal Steel,” a group pressing the company to invest in pollution prevention at the facility. Neighbors of Mittal Steel have put up 250 yards signs in the neighborhoods surrounding the mill, which say “Mittal Steel: Clean Up for Real.” For more background on the campaign, go to www.ohiocitizen.org and click on Mittal Steel. Mittal Steel is the largest privately-owned steelmaker in the world and is a very profitable company. Its owner is the fifth wealthiest man in the world. “Mittal Steel can well afford to clean up its act and invest in modern pollution controls at its Cleveland mill,” said Gibbs. “Mittal Steel management should start by sitting down with Neighbors of Mittal Steel and Ohio Citizen Action to discuss solutions to the problems caused by Mittal's air pollution in the community.” Later today, Gibbs and a host of state and local justice and environmental advocacy groups are hosting the third of a series of “Environmental Justice Forums” in Ohio. The goal of the forums is to inventory problems and identify solutions for families hit hard by toxic emissions and odors from foundry smokestacks, asphalt plants and other high-pollution operations. Columbus and Cincinnati were the site of earlier meetings the past two weeks. Organizers plan additional forums in other Ohio cities this year. To gather information, project organizers are targeting a natural source: community residents who live next to industrial facilities. “We want to talk with people about the everyday challenges they face living with a toxic burden,” said Gibbs. “Challenges like illness, school and work absenteeism, and stagnant property values. We want a citizen-driven effort that generates real ideas on how to fix this problem.” According to preliminary data reported by industry to the U.S. EPA, industrial facilities emitted more than 126 million pounds of acid gases, lead, mercury and other poisonous air toxics in Ohio in 2005 - most in the nation. The data is still in draft form but is expected to be finalized soon, according to EPA sources. According to a 2005 study by the Associated Press, U.S. EPA data revealed that Ohioans suffer the highest risk of long-term health risks from exposure to industrial air pollution. The AP study reported that 26 of the nation’s 200 most at-risk neighborhoods are in Ohio, including the nation’s single most vulnerable neighborhood, near Marietta, Ohio. The AP analyzed federal pollution, health and census data for the study. The U.S. EPA has designed three neighborhoods in Ohio as potential or probable environmental justice communities: one surrounded by a heavily polluted area of Cincinnati know locally as the “toxic doughnut,” one surrounding the WTI hazardous waste incinerator (the largest such facility in the country) in East Liverpool, and the village of Cheshire, Ohio, adjacent to the AEP Gavin power plant. Project organizers hope the effort will yield ideas for a state environmental justice policy. Such a policy would assure meaningful involvement of all Ohio citizens in the development, implementation and enforcement of state environmental laws. According to a 2004 American Bar Association report, 35 states have an official environmental justice program, policy, or statute. Legislation has been introduced in Congress to make enforceable under federal law an executive order issued by President Clinton in 1994. Last year, the U.S. EPA Inspector General issued a scathing report finding that the EPA has failed to conduct environmental reviews of its programs and policies, as required by the executive order. The following organizations are involved in the Ohio environmental justice project: Center for Health, Environment and Justice |
Ohioans for Health, Environment and Justice |
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