Major Accomplishments 2007
CCEJ and its partners made major
strides toward our institutional goals of diesel reduction in CT on the
legislative, administrative and policy levels, reducing polyvinyl chloride
(PVC) usage in packaging, reducing toxic mercury in dental amalgam, and in
getting fairer community benefits from Hartford’s
largest polluter, the Connecticut
Resources Recovery Authority (CRRA).
The
Connecticut
Legislature voted to provide $8 million to retrofit all school buses in the
state through 2010 in order to reduce the health effects of diesel
emissions on children. Moreover, we were able to get the City of
Hartford to pass a resolution to require the
annual tune-up of all city controlled diesel vehicles, including emergency
vehicles currently exempt from all diesel regulation, in order to reduce
dangerous emissions from these vehicles.
We, along with Consumers for Dental Choice
and others, got the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration to agree to rescind its policy of exempting dental
mercury amalgam from needing to prove its safety. FDA said it would work on a replacement
policy regarding dental mercury regulation.
CCEJ
became one of the more active
partners in the BESAFE campaign to reduce usage of PVC in consumer products and
packaging due to the cancer, endometriosis, and diabetes that results from
dioxins formed by burning PVC in trash incinerators, such as those in Hartford
and Bridgeport. Target Stores have
recently joined companies such as Wal-Mart, Microsoft, and Johnson &
Johnson in phasing out sales of PVC containing products.
CCEJ persuaded state and local
governmental agencies to require CRRA to provide community environmental
benefits in order to continue operations in
Hartford.
We were successful in getting CRRA to retrofit their heavy duty diesel
equipment at their Hartford
facilities to reduce air pollution emissions by at least 27 tons per year. They have also agreed to retrofit all 27 of
the City’s garbage and recycling trucks to reduce emissions by 90%. In addition, they have agreed to provide
$350,000 in increased funding to the City to increase recycling education, as
we have been demanding.
We established a strong, diverse
and influential new chapter in Bridgeport, CT.
This group has been able to get the mayor and all involved local
politicians to reverse their support of the barge-to-truck freight container
transfer station at the Port
of Bridgeport due to the expected
amount of diesel emissions from truck traffic in this residential area.
We worked with the Bridgeport
City Council to pass a resolution
declaring a moratorium on new industrial facilities until the city zoning has
been updated to prohibit industry in residential zones and residences in
industrial zones. In addition, we were
able to persuade the Zoning Board of Appeals to deny a permit for storage of
construction equipment in a location close to residences, a school and a river.
CCEJ assisted residents in
Norwalk
to defeat the move of a petroleum storage tank farm from Westport to a largely Black and Latino
neighborhood there. We have been able to
assist them in getting legal, organizing, and technical assistance to enable
this community to defend itself against attacks on its environment and quality
of life.
The
New
Haven Environmental Justice Network (NHEJN) was vigilant in keeping the WPCA sewer authority from expanding to accept sewage from West Haven and
Orange, CT. CCEJ also launched a new
Asthma Speakers’ Bureau in New Haven, to complement those in
Bridgeport
and Hartford.
Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice
P.O. Box 2022, 10 Jefferson St, Hartford, CT 06145-2022
Ph: 860-548-1133 Fax:860-548-9197
email: ccej@environmental-justice.org www.environmental-justice.org
