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Acting together, we are powerful.
Here are some ways to take action for clean air
and safe jobs.
There are many ways to take action.
Here you can browse through the newest, and don't
forget to check out the ongoing actions further
below.
By making public comments at the
Bay Area Air Quality Management District Board of
Directors meetings, you can pressure the Air District
to clean up Pacific Steel. Here's how:
• Check the calendar
for the next scheduled Board meeting agenda.
• Write up a few comments
to present to the board members (and put into the
public record by E-mailing
them beforehand to the secretary). Suggested ideas
for comments: direct the Air District to reform
the complaint process with community participation,
insure inspectors always investigate complaints
24/7, and aggressively enforce all relevant rules
and regulations to get Pacific Steel cleaned up
now.
By making public comments at City
of Berkeley Community Environmental Advisory Commission
(CEAC) meetings, you can keep urgent cleanup of
Pacific Steel on the agenda. Here's how:
• Check the CEAC
site for the next scheduled meeting
agenda.
• Write up a few comments
to present to the commissioners (and put into the
public record by E-mailing
them beforehand to the secretary). Suggested ideas
for comments: keep encouraging the City Council
to follow the 4 CEAC recommendations, acquire and
review all of Pacific Steel's City use permits,
and do everything possible to encourage Pacific
Steel to clean up using Toxic Use Reduction.
By pressuring the City of Berkeley
Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB), you can work toward
making Pacific Steel's permits require cleanup.
Here's how:
• Check the ZAB website
to see if Pacific Steel is on the agenda. E-mail
the ZAB secretary a message for the ZAB:
• E-mail the ZAB that they
must immediately hold a public hearing about Pacific
Steel, review Pacific Steel's permits, and strengthen
Pacific Steel's current building permit conditions
to require cleanup.
These actions are still going strong
and could use your help.
Share information with family, friends,
neighbors and others affected by the emissions to
organize our community to complain and demand cleanup.
You can use Alliance information:
• Complaint Process: Learn
More. Download
Complaint Process Guide (PDF, 184KB).
• Toxics & Your Health:
Learn
More. Download
Toxics & Your Health (PDF, 168KB).
• Alliance identity/mission:
Learn
More. Download
Alliance identity (PDF, 139KB).
• More info available at the Alliance
archive.
Encourage decision-makers
to work on comprehensive Toxic Use Reduction,
including:
• Full
transparency.
• Complete
inclusion of the community in decision-making.
• Decisive
action to prevent all harm.
• Credible
proof that industry has permanently ceased to expose
the community to harmful emissions.
E-mail the decision-makers
individually or all
at once:
• Berkeley
Mayor Tom Bates and City Council
mayor@CityofBerkeley.info, lmaio@CityofBerkeley.info,
dmoore@CityofBerkeley.info, manderson@CityofBerkeley.info,
jarreguin@CityofBerkeley.info, lcapitelli@CityofBerkeley.info,
swengraf@CityofBerkeley.info, kworthington@CityofBerkeley.info,
gwozniak@CityofBerkeley.info
• Jack
Broadbent, Bay Area Air Quality Management District
APCO jbroadbent@baaqmd.gov
• Dion Aroner, AJE Partners (Pacific Steel's
PR firm) dion@ajepartners.com
• Christina
Chan, Pacific Steel Environmental Engineer cchan@pacificsteel.com
E-mail
all decision-makers at the same time: Berkeley Mayor
and City Council, jbroadbent@baaqmd.gov, dion@ajepartners.com,
cchan@pacificsteel.com.
Much remains to be done, but together
with allies the community has made substantial strides
toward achieving clean air and safe jobs, even though
the Alliance formed only a few years ago:
• Thousands of Complaints:
The Air District received so much community pressure
each time we smelled the pollution that the District
finally reexamined the facts and determined Pacific
Steel had to begin a health risk assessment.
• Community Air Testing:
Alliance community volunteers began the first independent
community air testing around Pacific Steel, challenging
the Air District and others to do further testing
to confirm the findings of toxic pollution.
• Procuring City Support for Cleanup:
Maintaining a frequent presence at meetings of the
City of Berkeley's Community Environmental Advisory
Commission and City Council, the Alliance insured
that the Council would vote for a resolution proposed
by the Advisory Commission to address Pacific Steel's
pollution.
• Regulators Pressured to File Lawsuit:
After the the Alliance
repeatedly told the board of directors of the Air
District that they must regulate pollution better,
the District eventually filed suit against Pacific
Steel for missing deadlines for the implementation
of pollution controls.
• March Against Pollution:
The Alliance was instrumental in orchestrating a
community march around Pacific Steel to demand clean
air. The media scrutinized Pacific Steel and the
pressure for cleanup escalated.
• Supporting Legal Victory:
Providing information and testimony to support a
lawsuit by Communities for a Better Environment,
the Alliance insured that Pacific Steel would begin
cleanup. With such a strong case against it, Pacific
Steel decided to concede in a settlement that it
would no longer accept toxics-encrusted scrap metal,
it would keep better records to avoid covering up
pollution, and it would spend $350,000 on cleanup
and let community experts tour the facility to check
on progress.
• Mobile Air Monitor: The
Air District was pressured by community allies to
monitor air in West Berkeley, although it's a shame
that the monitoring is not being conducted in the
projected plume directly adjacent to Pacific Steel.
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