Toxic Tour exposes hazardous conditions along three coasts
October 2006

The Environmental Justice for All Toxic Tour, September 24-October 1, took bus loads of people up the West Coast, across the Gulf Coast and down the Northeast Coast of the United States to experience first hand the toxic effects of refineries, chemical plants, hazardous waste dumps and coal production on low-income and minority communities. Tour participants, and those who were visited, offered support for each other in fighting the injustices of policies that support corporate profits over public health.

Hilton Kelly, Port Arthur, Texas, activist, participated in the tour that visited the refineries in Port Arthur including Motiva, slated to be expanded to the largest refinery in the United States near homes of low-income African Americans. “We listened to folks and heard their problems. You see the problem is much larger, and you have to pace yourself in this environmental justice struggle,” says Kelly.

The tour went through New Orleans where toxic dumps piled high with debris from Hurricane Katrina emitted fowl smelling toxins in nearby low-income neighborhoods. In West Virginia, tour participants took a flight over beautiful mountains and saw the scars left where mountain tops have been removed in record numbers for coal mining. They also witnessed the coal dust from train cars loaded with coal blowing into homes.

Tour buses traveling the West Coast ended the tour on October 1 with a rally in Los Angeles. Buses traveling the Northeast and Gulf Coasts ended their tour with a Washington, D.C. rally.

One of the goals of the toxic tour was to bring attention to environmental issues in disadvantaged communities before the upcoming elections. On Environmental Justice Day, October 2, many tour participants visited their representatives on Capitol Hill and asked for their support on this issue.

Video of the tour, blogging and more information is on the Environmental Justice for All website.

About the Tour
Courtesy of Environmental Justice for All

Environmental Justice for All: Tour ’06 brings together environmental justice, social justice, public health, human rights, and workers' rights groups from all over the country to host a national tour of communities directly impacted by industrial pollution to meaningfully link these communities together in a public call for safe solutions to unnecessary toxic contamination.

The Tour promoted:

• Precautionary policies rooted in safety, security and health;
• Awareness and redress of our cumulative exposure to toxic chemicals from multiple pollution sources at once;
• Policy campaigns and efforts in the market place to promote safer alternatives to unnecessary toxic chemicals and protect communities and workers; and
• Community tools to evaluate pollution levels and find safer alternatives.

The grassroots work of organizing the tour and bridging environmental health and justice voices will set the stage for the movement for public health and justice to move beyond just saying no to projects to build strength and cohesion to our efforts for meaningful reform and community vitality. This tour is designed to highlight available solutions to our health and environmental problems. We want a new way of protecting ourselves from unnecessary dangerous chemicals; we want clean businesses that do not force us to choose between the health of our communities and economic development, and new political leaders who will fight for environmental justice (EJ) for all!

Chemical policy reform campaigns and organizations or businesses focused on reducing the use of unnecessary toxic chemicals in the marketplace can participate in the tour to reach new constituencies and build strength through collaboration. Local communities fighting for reduced pollution and greater public health can join in to link with a national effort with media and publicity resources to share. Together we can promote our campaigns locally, regionally and nationally and drive solutions to chemical contamination and the epidemic of health effects on a faster timeline. With the tour leading up to Congressional elections in November, we have a real opportunity to promote political champions of the people and tell the laggards its time to go.