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December 2005-January 2006 -
In This Issue
 Runoff Runs On: Storm Water Pollution Controls Need Enforcement
MACT Daddy: EPA Must Obey Clean Air Laws
Plagued by Pollution: Soot in Mouth Disease
Appealing Turn of Events: OCE vs. TVA
Member Support
Have a Heart: Valentine's Day on eBay
Thanks to Our Lawyers and Community Partners for Your Help!
Runoff Runs On: Storm Water Pollution Controls Need Enforcement
During stormy weather, all kinds of runoff makes its way through storm drains into San Francisco Bay, not the least of which is contaminated water from metal recycling facilities. OCE is now taking action against Standard Iron and Metal Co. for failing to meet the requirements of its storm water permit.
Standard Iron and Metal Co. is back in the news. After OCE issued a notice of intent to file lawsuit against the company in April 2005, it appeared that Standard would begin to modify its operations to meet the requirements of its storm water permit. However, the company's own storm water sampling tests show it consistently discharges contaminated water into tributaries that feed directly into San Francisco Bay. Scrap metal wastes in different states of corrosion and decay release a variety of harmful substances into storm water runoff, including heavy metals, fuel, oil, lubricants, PCBs, grease, lead acid, chlorinated solvents, asbestos, paint and other chemical residues. The consensus among agencies and water quality specialists is that storm water pollution accounts for more than half of the total pollution entering the marine environment every year. For its ongoing violations of the U.S. Clean Water Act and the State of California's industrial storm water regulations, OCE is now bringing federal-court action against Standard Iron and Metal to stop the company's dirty practices and to deter other metal recycling facilities from discharging pollutants. OCE executive director Tiffany Schauer pointedly says, "This has been going on for years and it is simply unacceptable. These types of businesses need to clean up their act."
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MACT Daddy: EPA Must Obey Clean Air Laws
As mandated by the Clean Air Act, the EPA must review and update pollution control standards every eight years, but it has failed to do so. OCE is taking action to whip the EPA into shape.
Following up on a notice letter from October 2005, OCE and the Sierra Club are filing a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In an effort to protect the health of local communities from the pollution of petroleum refineries, the groups are demanding that the EPA update its air pollution standards, which it has been remiss to do since 2003. The Clean Air Act mandates that every eight years the requirements for limiting emissions of air pollutants should be reassessed. The lapse in EPA updating air pollution standards allows existing refineries to operate without installing the latest available pollution-control technology that would protect against the 25,000 tons of hazardous air pollutants (according to EPA's own data) pumped into the nation's atmosphere each year. Such pollution puts communities at risk for increased incidences of cancer and upper respiratory disorders. OCE executive director Tiffany Schauer says, " The federal government is pretending that there is nothing it can do about it. In reality, the Clean Air Act requires the EPA to keep an eye on these refineries and make sure they are reducing pollution with the best available pollution controls on the market. Instead it is simply ignoring this mandate." As the current administration neglects to obey and enforce clean air laws that are meant to protect our health, such as revising the Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) standards, OCE will be on hand to urge compliance.
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Plagued by Pollution: Soot in Mouth Disease
The U.S. PIRG Education Fund released "Plagued by Pollution," a comprehensive analysis of levels of fine particle pollution in the U.S. in 2004, based on a survey of state environmental agencies. The result? You guessed it! Roughly 96 million Americans, nearly one-third of the population, lives in areas with unsafe air quality.
Fine particle, or soot, pollution is one of the nation's most pervasive air pollutants, causing respiratory and cardiovascular problems including asthma attacks, strokes, lung cancer and premature death. Moreover, recent studies indicate that such adverse health effects occur at levels below the current national air quality standards. The U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) has released a report titled "Plagued by Pollution: Unsafe Levels of Soot Pollution in 2004," examining levels of fine particle pollution in cities and towns across the U.S., based on a compilation of data from state environmental agencies. Coal-fired power plants and diesel engines are the largest combustion sources of fine particle pollution, and the report found that Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Riverside (CA), Bakersfield (CA), Salt Lake City and Cleveland were among the metro areas suffering most from soot pollution. Overall, states exceeding both annual and daily air quality standards include California, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Utah. In 2005, EPA staff scientists and the independent Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee both concluded that current air quality standards do not adequately protect public health and recommended substantially strengthening the standards. However, the Bush administration has disregarded the expert advice and proposes to maintain the status quo. The Clean Air Act's New Source Review program, which is critical to reducing fine particle pollution from aging power plants, is now being considered for elimination, even though analyses suggest that cutting the program would shorten the lives of 70,000 Americans in the next two decades as a result of higher air pollution. While air quality has improved in the U.S. since the Clean Air Act was passed in 1970, nearly one-third of the nation's population continues to live in areas with unsafe levels of fine particle pollution. Policymakers should reject weakening changes to the program and instead enforce the law.
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Appealing Turn of Events: OCE vs. TVA
Air pollution, impaired visibility, acid rain, degraded national parks. In its ongoing effort to decrease emissions from outdated, coal-fired power plants in the Tennessee Valley, a joint OCE-backed lawsuit receives strong, state-level support in appealing an earlier district court decision to dismiss the claim.
A little over a year ago, Our Children's Earth added its voice to a lawsuit initiated in 2001 by the Sierra Club and the National Parks Conservation Association. The lawsuit alleged that, for the last seventeen years, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has been spewing noxious emissions into the atmosphere due to a surreptitious modification it made to its Bull Run fossil fuel plant. In a Memorandum of Opinion dated March 11, 2005, Judge Varlan of the US District Court in the Eastern District of Tennessee ruled that TVA's ongoing unlawful emissions do not constitute continuing violations, and thus concluded that Plaintiffs-Appellants claims are barred by the five-year period of limitations.
But the environmental groups were not to be deterred. In August 2005, they collectively filed a notice of appeal, and by January 2006 they filed a brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6 th Circuit alleging that the ruling of the Eastern District of Tennessee should be reversed. About a week later, the Office of New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer - in conjunction with Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico and Rhode Island, as well as the Commonwealths of Kentucky, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania - filed an Amicus Brief (a "Friend of the Court Brief") in support of the lawsuit against TVA. This newfound state-level support also seeks to reverse the earlier district court ruling, citing the same arguments as made by OCE, Sierra Club and the National Parks Conservation Association. By every legal means necessary, the struggle for environmental justice continues.
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Member Support
OCE would like to extend a BIG thank you to all of our donors and members that renewed their support for our work in the past two months: Al Eggert, Anna Landes,
Carol Biersch, Christie Ghiz, Diane Landes, Gail Vittulo, Harry Lewis, Helen Kang, Jennifer Burcham, Jennifer Garrigues, Jerri Curry, John Delaney, John Schwertner, Karen Burcham, Lamar Marshall, Larry Landes, Linda McDonald, Lisa Lewis, Lucy Farey-Jones, Lyman Welch, Marc Chytilo, Michelle Antici, Nancy Weiss, Ramiero Gonzales, Ramon Ross, Randall De Rijk, Robert and Jacqueline O'Donnell, Robert Mullen, Scott Triethart, Sloane & Nicky Morgan, Sondra Bishop, Wm. Jess Taylor, Wynne and Phillipe Comer.
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Have a Heart: Valentine's Day on eBay!
While it is sweet to indulge in sweets on Valentine's Day, love knows no bounds. Clear the air with a gift that will keep on giving well beyond the pink peccadilloes and cupid curlicues of February 14. To whet your appetite for environmental justice, Our Children's Earth has a wonderful selection of treats on eBay to feed the compassionate consumer in all of us. From necklaces and earrings to wallets and sunglasses, we have an assortment of gifts to enjoy, including brand names like Rayban, Oakley, Persol and Guess. Whether you're looking for a pair of Monolo Blahnik shoes or a L'Occitane En Provence gift set, we're sure you will find something special for the special someone in your life, even if that person is you! Everyone benefits from your generosity in shopping through OCE's online eBay and cafepress stores. Love without pounds; love without bounds.
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Thanks to Our Lawyers and Community Partners for Your Help!
Altshuler, Berzon, Nussbaum, Rubin & Demain
American Lung Association
A Walk in the Woods
Bay Area Clean Air Task Force
Bayveiw Hunters Point Community Advocates
Bushnell, Caplan, & Fielding
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
Marc S. Chytilo
Clean Air Council
Clean Water Action
Coalition for Mercury-Free Dentistry
Communities for a Better Environment
Earth justice Legal Defense Fund
Ecological Rights Foundation
Environmental Advocates
Environmental Defense
Environmental Integrity Project
Environmental Law Foundation
Environmental Working Group
Get Oil Out
Golden Gate University Environmental Law & Justice Clinic
Matthew Hagemann
George Hays
Hilton Kelley
Latino Issues Forum
Planning and Conservation League
Montana Environmental Information Center
William Moore
National Parks Conservation Association
Natural Resources Defense Council
Nevada Environmental Coalition, Inc.
Northwest Environmental Defense Center
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles
Santa Barbara ChannelKeeper
Sierra Club
Chris Sproul
Transportation Solutions Defense and Education Fund
Union of Concerned Scientists
Urban Habitat, a project of the Tides Center
Reed Zars
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