Communities for a Better Environment

The mission of Communities for a Better Environment is to achieve environmental health and justice by building grassroots power in and with communities of color and working-class communities.

Member Organization

www.earthshareca.org

 

 

Join CBE Listserv! Send an email with "subscribe" in the subject line to: "allies@cbecal.org"

 

• CBE Releases New Report, "Richmond Health Survey Report, June 2009"Communities for a Better Environment together with collaborators from Brown University, UC Berkeley, and Silent Spring Institute, launched a health survey in Richmond. The survey was focused on residents living in the Iron Triangle area and North Richmond. We asked residents a variety of questions about their health, their family members’ health and their neighborhood.

• Court: Chevron Refinery Must Redo Environmental Review in Richmond, CA On June 4th 2009, Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge Barbara Zuniga tossed out the Environmental Impact Report for a major expansion at the Chevron Refinery, in Richmond, California. Access all Press on the Contra Costa County Court's decision on CBE's news blog.

• CBE Releases New Report, "The Increasing Burden of Oil Refineries & Fossil Fuels in Wilmington, CA and How to Clean them Up! CBE's new report documents the heaviest concentration in California of oil refineries in the Wilmington/Carson area in Los Angeles County. About 85% latino, the Wilmington area is a prime example of communities of color bearing more than the fair share of pollution.

• Groups Unhappy with Chevron Expansion - ABC7News May 20, 2009

• Chevron Environmental Report "Unclear", Judge Rules - CBS5, Contra Costa Times, San Jose Mercury News May 20, 2009 Contra Costa Superior Court Judge Barbara Zuniga issued a tentative ruling, stating that a city-approved environmental impact report is "unclear and inconsistent" on whether the project enables Chevron to process heavier crude. The city also "improperly" deferred developing measures to deal with greenhouse gas emissions for up to a year, she said.

• Appeal Filed in MTC Discrimination Case - CBE Press Release: In a decision handed down March 27, 2009, the U.S. District Court for Northern California found MTC’s transit expansion program has a harmful “disparate impact” on minority bus riders by making funding decisions favoring rail projects—which on the whole are used by a lower percentage of minority riders—over bus projects...

• Now its official; The Poor & People of Color get the Dirty Air - RaceWire May 6, 2009: The American Lung Association recently released a study containing a list of the most polluted cities, which include Los Angeles, Bakersfield, Sacramento: if policymakers and organizations intend to work towards healthier and cleaner communities, they must recognize the existence of systemic environmental racism.

• New Report, "Justice in the Air", Released - April 28, 2009 - PERE/PERI: The report, called Justice in the Air: Tracking Toxic Pollution from America's Industries and Companies to Our States, Cities, and Neighborhoods, offers a first-time ever glance at not just who receives the disproportionate share of toxic air releases -- unsurprising to you, it is low-income communities and people of color -- but who is releasing them.
  

• Read "Refinery GHG emissions from dirty crude":Refining dirtier oil increases climate emissions, but environmental officials have not estimated how much, so CBE did. To our knowledge this is the first-ever quantitative analysis linking dirtier oil processing, refinery fuel combustion and greenhouse gas emissions.

• Read CBE's comments on the Low Carbon Fuel Standard:Severe poisoning of our climate and communities is avoidable if we cap the crude, ban corn ethanol, stop pollution trading and make room for proven emission controls and alternatives that can work. CBE urges the Air Resources Board to accept these recommendations...

• Love Yo Mama Earth Day in Oakland - Laney Tower, April 30, 2009 Numerous celebrations and volunteer events marked "Earth Day" this month. And at an East Oakland celebration, the theme was "environmental justice."

• Celebrating Earth Day, Oakland Style - April 28, 2009: Families pushing strollers, men in suits, and kids with skateboards walked from Tassafaronga Recreation Center to Acorn Woodland Elementary School to celebrate ‘Love Yo Mama’ Earth Day....

• Earth Day and EJ Close to Home- April 23, 2009: During my host interview on Annenberg Radio News Tuesday, Gallegos and I discussed the environmental conditions in Southeast Los Angeles. Listen...

• Vernon Power Plant Air Permit Denied – March 31, 2009: In a major victory for CBE members and allies in their ongoing campaign to block Vernon Power Plant, the South Coast AQMD rejected Vernon's demand for cheap pollution credits and denied its air permit for a huge power plant in Southeast LA...

• CBE Receives EPA Grant to Study Diesel Emissions – March 26, 2009: CBE will be recruiting members of the community to compile data on the number of trucks traveling through the area...

• What it Takes to Wear Green - March 4, 2009 (Campus Progress)Jessica Tovar of Communities for a Better Environment told Green for All that “the movement for green jobs is a fight for a ‘just transition’ from reckless industry practices to new, ethical and eco-friendly ones.

• U.S. Agrees to Negotiate Global Mercury Emissions Treaty - Feb 24, 2009 (Green Biz) U.S. is coal-fired power plants, but less than half of all mercury deposits in the U.S. originate in the country...