|
|
 Campaigns > Local Action > Florida
Florida
Pensacola
Citizens Against Toxic Exposures (CATE) in Pensacola helped form the Bay Area Safe Air Coalition (BASAC) to address air pollution problems in the Pensacola Bay area. Last February, CATE and BASAC welcomed Hilton Kelley, director of Community In-Power Development Association of Port Arthur, TX to their community where he collected air samples using a portable monitoring device called the “UV Hound.” This device detects industrial chemicals immediately at the time of the sampling. CATE and BASAC are using the results from this testing to bring attention to the polluting facilities on the Bay and to pressure the state to take steps to improve air quality.
Orlando
Grassroots activists from across Florida joined CPOC and CHEJ for a weekend leadership development conference in Orlando last month. The conference provided organizing and science training, and was put on with the assistance of a statewide steering committee. Activists deepened their organizing skills, learned from each other, and established valuable connections. The meeting included three roundtable sessions that focused on local issues. The Florida Alliance for Healthy Indoor Environments led one session that created a work plan for the coming year, and shared progress from last year including co-launching the Disney Go Green Campaign, and creating the “What’s Gotten Into Your Soap?” green cleaning packet. Another roundtable allowed pesticide activists representing organic farmers, farm workers, and consumer networks to share their experiences and provide a beginning for the development of deeper collaborations. In the third roundtable, groups fighting proposed or existing polluting facilities shared their common experiences. More intensive, locally based meetings will follow in the coming year, as well as quarterly state-wide conference calls to continue to develop this activist network.
Pensacola
After struggling for several years, Panther Parents Against Pollution won relocation for students at a contaminated school site! Four years ago, after her daughter investigated the history and prior uses of two Superfund sites near her school for her 7th grade history fair project, a concerned parent and environmental activist began organizing to win relocation of the students at the Brown Barge Middle School. Migrating contaminants from two nearby toxic sites, including the Escambia Wood Treating Superfund site, home of “Mt. Dioxin,” posed serious threats to the school. Next year, thanks to the relentless efforts of Panther Parents Against Pollution, students will no longer attend classes atop soil contaminated with dioxins and other dangerous chemicals.
Perry
Joy Towles Ezell from Help our Polluted Environment traveled all the way to Washington, DC to attend the release of the National Academies’ long-awaited review of the USEPA’s dioxin reassessment. She challenged the committee chair who described dioxin exposures as a “thing of the past,” making clear that people are still being exposed to dioxins at very high levels and are sick and dying from these exposures. Her testimony was a cold reminder of the real world suffering occurring as industry and government continue to stall regulations to protect the public. The committee’s review supported the basic scientific conclusions in the EPA report including that dioxin is a human carcinogen and that the non-cancer effects pose serious public health risks. See CHEJ’s press release for more information..
Pensacola
The Saufley Field Citizens for Closing the Dump held a rally at a church in Pensacola that was attended by more than 400 people including invited state and county leaders and government officials. The residents were fuming over uncontrolled fires that have been burning on and off for months at the Saufley Construction and Demolition Landfill. They have repeatedly complained of asthma problems, foul odors, noise and truck traffic to no avail. Debris at the landfill has been piled so high that it towers over the neighboring homes. State tests confirm that the landfill is polluting the local groundwater with benzene, iron, aluminum, sulfate, and manganese. The group wants the landfill shut down and has successfully pressured the Escambia County Commissioners who passed an ordinance to control the landfill operations.
Mayo
Environmental Alliance of Northern Florida (EANOF) in Mayo is getting organized to stop a plan to build a coal pulverizing plant that will burn coal to produce energy and that has targeted their community because of the availability of free water! All of the energy generated would go to homes outside the county. EANOF is concerned about emissions of mercury and other toxics from the proposed plant. Mayo is also the home of several other polluting plants and has decided that “Enough is EANOF!
|
 |
|
