About Us
About Us:
Learn more about Citizens' Environmental Coalition
Accomplishments
Preventing Chemical Hazards
- Instrumental in establishing the state Pollution Prevention Institute with a Green Chemistry program.
- Helped develop Governor Paterson's new State Agency Green Purchasing Executive Order. (FIX bullets here and below)* Passed laws banning toxic brominated flame retardants and mercury in products
- Helped set up green purchasing government programs in Buffalo and New York City.
- Passed law requiring industry to reduce their generation of hazardous waste by 50%.
- Successfully prevented the siting of a national radioactive waste landfill.
- Helped community groups stop over 80 proposed hazardous landfills and incinerators.
- Led community task forces to work with companies on preventing toxic spills
- Organized annual Dirty Dozen Awards to expose the worst polluters in the state.
Cleaning Up Pollution
- Passed law to refinance bankrupt State Superfund toxic waste cleanup program.
- Passed law to establish Brownfield site cleanup program with one of the most protective cleanup standards in the country.
- Passed Toxic Crime Law to strengthen penalties for illegal dumping of toxic waste.
- Convinced state to investigate and accelerate cleanup of over 600 hazardous sites.
Protecting Public Health & Empowering Communities
- Organized successful conferences and networks, such as Healthy Environment, Healthy Economy and NYS Labor & Environment Network, bringing together industry, labor, environmental and community groups to work on pollution prevention initiatives.
- Assisted over 4,000 citizens in obtaining testing or cleanups of landfills, toxic sites, chemical plants and incinerators.
- Convinced state to establish Citizen Participation Programs to involve and inform people living near toxic dumps.
- Provided over 40,000 people with fact sheets, reports & information packets on a wide range of environmental issues.
- Educated over 6,000 students in an innovative Water Protection school program.
- Published over 40 reports and citizen manuals, including Building Green.
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Previous Accomplishments
PVC National Day of Action | Environmentalists Urge State Candidates to Pledge to Reduce Toxic Impact in NY | Factory "Farms" Harm Our Health and Environment | 2006 "Dirty Dozen" Awards | High Levels of Toxic Lead Found in Children’s Jewelry Sold at Rochester Retailers | Groundbreaking Report Finds Hazardous Chemicals in Household Dust Across U.S. | City of Buffalo Passes Resolution to Reduce the Purchase of Toxic Products | New York Second in Nation on PVC Incinerated | Report Reveals Kodak Violated State Air Guidelines for 14 Years |
PVC National Day of Action:
Target Stores in Albany and Nationwide Protested for Carrying Products and Packaging Linked to Cancer and Birth Defects
More than 60 Health & Environmental Organizations Urge Target to Join Wal-Mart, Microsoft and Other Retailers in Phasing Out Dangerous PVC (Vinyl) Toys, Shower Curtains and Other Products and Packaging
( Colonie NY ) – The Citizens’ Environmental Coalition today descended upon Target in Northway Mall to protest their refusal to phase out the use of toxic PVC, commonly known as vinyl. The group, several of whom were wearing hazmat suits, handed flyers to shoppers. The group also put warning tape on store shelves containing PVC products.
Already Wal-Mart, Nike, Microsoft, Ikea, H&M, and Johnson and Johnson are phasing-out PVC, or polyvinyl chloride, products and/or packaging due to serious health and environmental problems. But Target has not responded to over 60 environmental organizations who have been urging the company since March, 2006 to begin replacing these hazardous materials with safe alternatives.
“Target claims to be environmentally friendly and good for the community but they are knowingly selling products that cause harm,” said Christian Werwaiss of CEC. “Products at Target made with PVC include some children’s toys, shower curtains, and packaging, among many others. The good news is safe and cost-effective alternatives are available.”
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Environmentalists Urge State Candidates to Pledge to Reduce Toxic Impact in NY
The Alliance for a Toxic Free Future (ATFF) called today for candidates for state office in New York State to pledge to take action to reduce the threat to the public health and environment from exposure to unsafe chemicals.
“ATFF represents New York State ’s growing movement for environmental health and justice. We trust that those who claim to represent New Yorkers will gladly sign the pledge to protect our families, workers and environment. Recent developments in science and technology promise to move the chemical industry to a new green future. We need leadership from government and business to realize this promise,” said Prof. Steve Breyman, co-chair of the Board of Citizens’ Environmental Coalition.
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Factory "Farms" Harm Our Health & Environment, New Report Reveals
Last week's 3 million gallon liquid manure spill preventable; 100,000+ fish killed in Black Creek needless tragedy
(August 17, 2005) Citizens' Environmental Coalition and Sierra Club today released "The Wasting of Rural New York State: Factory Farms and Public Health" which reveals the damage that gigantic, poorly-regulated factory "farms" are doing to our health, environment and economy.
For a complete copy of the report, download the .pdf file, or contact CEC's office for a printed copy. ATFF’s 70 plus member organizations represent a broad range of environmental health, justice, labor, faith-based, academic, and health-effected groups. The groups are seeking to eliminate the use and emission of toxic chemicals by using safer substitutes, and redesigning production processes, products and systems. The Alliance was formed in the fall of 2004 with the goal of reforming New York ’s chemicals policy so that the threat of toxic chemical exposure becomes a thing of the past.
-- select the "CAFOs" data set and enter your zip code.
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Groups Unveil New York ’s 2006 “Dirty Dozen” Awards
“Winners” Asked to Step Up and Make Necessary Changes
( Albany ) On Thursday June 1st, community and environmental groups across the state unveiled the “winners” of Citizens' Environmental Coalition’s (CEC) Third Annual “Dirty Dozen” Awards to draw attention to pollution and environmental health problems in New York State . Each Dirty Dozen award is a pair of worn children's shoes, mounted to a plaque featuring the name of the winning site and carrying the message: "NY's Children ask: Will you take the necessary steps to right these wrongs?" Each award is unique and represents how children are particularly vulnerable to toxic exposures.
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High Levels of Toxic Lead Found in Children’s Jewelry Sold at Rochester Retailers
Bill to Ban the Sale of Lead-Tainted Jewelry Introduced by Assemblyman Koon and Senator Alesi
Leading environmental health advocates today released new test results which found alarmingly high levels of lead in children’s jewelry sold at various Rochester retailers. Rochesterians Against the Misuse of Pesticides collected random samples of children’s jewelry from Big Lots, Eckerds, and Wegmans and sent them to a lab for analysis in April. The tests revealed concentrations of lead over 60,000 parts per million – over one hundred times the established limit of 600 parts per million, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Assemblyman David Koon (D – Fairport) and Senator James Alesi (R – Perinton) have introduced legislation, A. 7726 / S. 5300, banning the sale and distribution of jewelry containing lead, to reduce children’s exposure to this hazard.
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Groundbreaking Report Finds Hazardous Chemicals in Household Dust Across U.S.
Environmental Health Advocates Call upon Governor to Convene NY Flame Retardant Taskforce
Abundance of Toxic Chemicals Leach from Electronics,Shower Curtains, Vinyl Flooring and Other Common Household Products Causing Unnecessary Health Risks
A national study released today found 35 hazardous chemicals in dust samples taken from 70 homes in seven states, including ten in the Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and New York City areas. The study -- Sick of Dust: Chemicals in Common Products - a Needless Health Threat in Our Homes -- is the first in the U.S. to look at a new and wide range of chemicals commonly found in computers, cosmetics, upholstery, pesticides and other consumer products. All of these chemicals are legal, despite being internationally recognized as toxic or harmful to the immune and reproductive systems. Babies and young children are particularly at risk from exposure.
Sick of Dust outlines all of the major chemicals found in the dust samples, their health risks, and the products in which they are found. The report also ranks companies on their use of hazardous chemicals and reveals fundamental changes needed to reform American chemical regulation to protect our basic health and that of future generations.
For a copy of the full report please visit www.safer-products.org.
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BUFFALO PASSES RESOLUTION TO REDUCE THE PURCHASE OF TOXIC PRODUCTS
BUFFALO IS FIRST CITY IN NEW YORK TO ADOPT PURCHASING POLICY TO REDUCE WORLD'S WORST TOXIC CHEMICALS
On December 28th the City of Buffalo Common Council passed a resolution to reduce the purchase and use of products containing Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxic chemicals (PBTs), during their manufacture and/or disposal. The resolution, introduced by Masten District Councilmember Antoine Thompson, seeks to develop and implement purchasing practices for the City of Buffalo that favor products that do not create PBTs. Products containing and releasing PBTs include PVC office supplies and building materials, Para-dichlorobenzene-containing urinal deodorizing blocks, and Mercury-containing thermostats. This resolution is the first of its kind in New York to address the purchase and use of products containing PBTs by a City.
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NEW YORK RANKS SECOND IN NATION ON PVC INCINERATED
NATIONAL REPORT ON PVC, THE POISON PLASTIC DESCRIBES LOOMING WASTE CRISIS AND PERVASIVE HAZARDS
CEC has co-released a new report documenting the health and environmental hazards posed by PVC (the “poison plastic”) during manufacturing, product use and disposal. New York incinerates over 37,000 tons of PVC waste according to estimates in the report. PVC, Bad News Come in Threes: The Poison Plastic, Health Hazards, and the Looming Waste Crisis concludes that billions of pounds of PVC are being thrown away in the U.S.- but there is no 'away' as PVC waste poses perpetual hazards.
Read the report along with supporting materials online at http://www.besafenet.com/pvc.htm
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REPORT REVEALS KODAK VIOLATED
STATE AIR GUIDELINES FOR 14 YEARS
On November 11, CEC & the Kandid Coalition released a new report by award winning chemist Wilma Subra, who found Kodak violated state Methylene Chloride ambient air guidelines for the last 14 years. Ms. Subra compared Bucket Brigade samples for Methylene Chloride to Kodak's air-monitoring data, and found they were in agreement for amounts detected during the same periods, verifying the accuracy of Bucket Brigade sampling.
The Kandid Coalition, CEC, and Global Community Monitor are calling on Kodak to install a comprehensive continuous air-monitoring system that would monitor the air around Kodak 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year and to inform the community of monitoring results.
You can read the report along with recent articles about Kodak's pollution online at: http://www.kodakstoxiccolors.org/new/new.html
