Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice

History and Purpose

The Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice is an organization that was established in Hartford in the summer of 1997. It was formed in response to community concerns about the siting of yet another fossil fueled power generator in South Hartford due to the closure of Connecticut's nuclear power plants. Residents were concerned that this was the tenth power generator that was located next to a neighborhood that is 80% Black and Hispanic and is already overburdened with major air pollution sources and suffers disproportionately from the health effects of environmental exposures. In addition, the power plant was located on a temporary basis without the knowledge of local residents and was proposed to be permanently sited there. Residents and neighborhood groups calling themselves the Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice researched the issue, raised public awareness about the relationship between air pollution and respiratory health, requested a public hearing, and arranged the first environmental public information session sponsored by competing neighborhood groups. This was a highly successful strategy that lead to an agreement that Northeast Utilities take the unprecedented step of removing the new power generator.

Mark A. Mitchell, M.D., MPH, President

Since that time, Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice has been active in many areas. We helped sponsor the first community-based asthma health education fair in Hartford, we are also helping residents to get legal assistance in a major sewage treatment plant spill in Wethersfield, CT, we demanded a public hearing in an effort to reduce air pollution as part of an agreement to build a major new power plant in Bridgeport, we have sponsored public information sessions about air pollution and air toxins in Hartford, we helped prevent two new asphalt plants from being located in Bridgeport, we provided technical support to opponents of the regional sewage sludge incinerator proposed for New Haven, we have produced pocket sized "odor hotline" cards to allow residents to assist DEP and other facilities in monitoring odor emissions in Hartford, and in April 1998 we hosted "Hartford's Toxic Tour," an environmental justice focused, educational bus tour of major air toxin facilities in Hartford for public officials. We are currently spearheading a campaign to bring the trash incinerator operator and the City to the table to renegotiate their contract in order to reduce air pollution and air toxins from the incinerator and to increase host-community benefits. We hope to have state legislation introduced to improve community notification of environmental threats and to make public hearings available without legal assistance and before decisions are made by the Department of Environmental Protection.