The WTI Incinerator

Since the 1990s, the citizens of East Liverpool, Ohio, has fought against the Waste Technologies Industry, Inc. (WTI) incinerator in their community. Despite over sixteen years of community struggle since the incinerator was first proposed, the facility is now currently operating, pumping hazardous chemicals like mercury and dioxin into the air. It is located about 300 feet from homes and just 1,100 feet from an elementary school. The WTI facility has been intensely criticized not only by those who have it in their backyard, but also by scientists, government officials and activists everywhere.

• For more information about the WTI Incinerator in East Liverpool, click here.

Environmental Justice

Recently, a report from the EPA Office of the Inspector General found that the EPA was falling down on the job when it comes to assesing environmental justice for low-income communities and communities of color. The Inspector General report has created a lot of stir in Washington and has fueled the fire in East Liverpool where most of the community's residents are at or near the poverty level, and the majority of East Liverpool's African American residents live in the immediate vicinity of the WTI incinerator.

More about environmental justice issues at the EPA:

• The report from the Inspector General's office on the EPA's failure to conduct environmental justice (EJ) reviews of its programs and policies
• Inside EPA article about the Inspector General EPA report
• Inside EPA article about a bill in the Senate that would expand the legal right to sue under the Civil Rights Act to fight for environmental justice
• A letter being circulated in the House and Senate urging the EPA to do its job and effectively asses how its programs affect low income and minority communities. (Urge your Representative in Congress to sign the letter here.)

Ohioans for Health, Environment and Justice
A Project of The Center for Health, Environment and Justice