Headline News

On this page we feature stories that are relevant to our environmental justice mission. We appreciate your help in locating news coverage about SJ environmental justice issues. We are especially interested in articles that illustrate local environmental issues with broad ramifications for people's health and the communities they live in. Please email your suggestions to webmaster@sjenvironmentaljustice.org. Thank you.

DuPont heads this year’s Toxic 100, a list of the top corporate air polluters in the U.S. from researchers at the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts. Nissan Motor, Archer Daniels Midland, Eastman Kodak, and General Electric round out the top five.

The rankings take into account not only the quantity of releases, but also the relative toxicity of chemicals, nearby populations, and transport factors such as prevailing winds and height of smokestacks, according to the researchers. >>> more

The issue of children's exposure to toxic chemicals while at schools and day care centers has exploded as a political issue in New Jersey, as a result of several high profile cases reported by media. A series of tragedies across the state have exposed major flaws and breakdowns in DEP's toxic site cleanup program.

>>> READ FULL ARTICLE (NJ Voices, 2/20/08)

Dozens of businesses will pay more than $13 million to remove contaminated soil and groundwater from a Superfund site in Camden, according to a remediation plan outlined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Industrial chemicals in soil and groundwater beneath the vacant Martin Aaron site in the city's Waterfront South pose an "imminent and substantial endangerment to the public health or welfare or the environment," according to a consent decree filed in U.S. District Court on Nov. 8. >>> more
>>> READ THE CAMDEN COURIER POST ARTICLE (December 3, 2007)

There will be a public hearing on Tuesday June 26, 2007 at Camden County Municipal Utilities Authority Auditorium (CCMUA) at 7 p.m  (Ferry Ave near corner of South 4th Street, Camden) on proposed modifications to the St. Lawrence Cement permit. SLC proposes to expand throughput of slag processing from 785,000 metric tons per year to 1,051,200 metric tons per year, increasing storage capacity (bigger slag piles and new silos), and increasing the height of its stack. SLC is a significant source of fine particulate (PM2.5) emissions in the area, and Waterfront South is already an overly burdened community. People can voice concerns at the hearing and submit written comments. While we all know SLC should not even be here in Camden, we need to also be making sure that DEP tests, monitors, and imposes very strict emission standards on SLC while it is in operation. Everyone’s support on this is much appreciated. DATE: June 26, 2007 --- TIME: 7:00pm --- PLACE: CCMUA

>>> READ THE CAMDEN COURIER POST ARTICLE (June 27, 2007)

>>> READ Olga Pomar's Final Comments to the DEP (July 7, 07)

Governor Rendell will be releasing the news of a deal has been struck between Governors Rendell and Corzine regarding the Delaware River deepening project on Thursday morning at a DRPA meeting (10 AM, One Port Center, 2 Riverside Drive, Camden, NJ), the first DRPA meeting to be held since the PA/NJ feud over the deepening began in earnest.
>>> READ THE FULL STOPY

A Grassroots Leadership Award will be given to our very own SJEJA member, Mangaliso Davis, Chair, Camden City African American Commission, for his innovative work on producing an important film on the history of Petty's Island. The documentary, "Petty's Island: The Untold Story," was produced by the Camden City African American Commission and the Scribe Video Center in Philadelphia as part of Scribe’s Precious Places Community History Project. Actor and activist Danny Glover narrated the film.
>>> READ MORE ABOUT PETTY's ISLAND
>>> learn more about the Environmental Federation Conference
>>> download a brochure and register

The future of Petty's Island -- development or natural preserve -- lies with decision-makers in Trenton who are not tipping their hands. Will the state let the township and its chosen redeveloper, Cherokee Pennsauken LLC, proceed to build on the 392-acre island in the Delaware? Or will it accept an offer from CITGO, the island's owner, to donate the land to the state for use as a preserve?
>>> READ THE FULL ARTICLE (in the Courier Post)

Superior Court Judge Irvin Snyder stopped just short of throwing out the Waterfront South redevelopment plan on a technicality Wednesday morning, but he made it clear he was prepared to do so.
>>> READ THE FULL ARTICLE

(in the Courier Post)

The legal battle to improve the Waterfront South neighborhood is scheduled to begin today before state Superior Court Judge Irvin Snyder.

At issue is whether a city plan to allow more industry in the already polluted neighborhood should be permitted to move forward.
>>> READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Slimmer Plan for Petty's Island by Elisa Ung and Dwight Ott (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Pennsauken has reversed course and decided to back a plan for Petty's Island that would entail far less development than was originally planned, township officials said last night.
>>> READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Petty's Island proposal cuts land use in half by RICHARD PEARSALL (Courier Post)

The Courier Post also featured a report on Pennsauken Township's scaled down plan.
>>> READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Ban on coal burning in Dublin cleans the air, reduces death rates
The Harvard School of Public Health reports that a 1990 ban on coal sales and coal burning had desired effect.
>>> more (http://www.researchmatters.harvard.edu/story.php?article_id=506)