Big Oil Companies are linking cheap, dangerous North American crude oil to West Coast refineries by any means necessary – rail, port and pipeline. [See more here] Thanks to all CBE members and staff who eloquently spoke at last night City Council meeting. The City of Oakland Department Of Planning and Building recommendation adopted our Crematorium Ordinance. This is based over two years of resident engagement in which the ordinance recommending The Planning Commission, and as Directed By City Council under Emergency Ordinance No. 13222 C.M.S., to amend the Planning Code to establish Permanent Regulations Pertaining To Crematories Within The City Of Oakland. We continue to work to protect our community health and reforming planning department policies to prevent more pollution in our communities. Our members and allies successfully have been holding the City of Oakland and Planning Department accountable for no additional burden in East Oakland. For more information, read The Ugly Facts about the Proposed Crematorium. Gov. Brown signed into law the Charge Ahead California Initiative (SB1275). This law is leading the way toward a clean energy future and making electric vehicles affordable for environmental justice communities. Read more here. WE NEED YOUR HELP! SB 812, a bill that the The People’s Senate on DTSC—which includes CBE members–helped draft, and that Senator Kevin de León has championed, is on the Governor’s desk. SB 812 will help to clean up the Dept. of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) and make the agency more accountable to communities. We need you to urge the Governor to sign this bill! Please mail or fax a letter TODAY to the Governor asking him to sign it. Here is the address and fax number: The Honorable Edmund G. Brown Jr. Attn: Legislative Affairs State Capitol, 1st Floor Sacramento, CA 95814 Fax: (916) 558-3177 **More about SB 812** SB 812 is an important step toward ensuring that California’s hazardous laws actually do what they were intended to do—protect Californians from harmful pollution. SB 812 enacts permitting requirements, and transparency and accountability measures desperately needed for DTSC to fulfill its mandate to protect Californians from toxic exposures. Additionally, it includes requirements to ensure that polluters, not tax payers, will be on the hook for cleaning up polluted sites. We are fighting to make sure that the PUC will upholds its commitment to environmental justice communities! Read more here, and join CEJA this Thursday to support of renewable energy for the communities most impacted by dirty fossil fuels! Tuesday, September 16, 2014 at 5:30 p.m at 81st Ave Library -1021 81st Avenue. CBE invites East Oakland members and residents to participate in a strategy session on environmental justice and economic development projects in East Oakland. See flyer. For more info: contact Jose Lopez, jose@cbecal.org, 510-302-0430×24. CBE and our allies have a chance of winning $100,000. Vote for us today #Solar4SunnyLA: http://bit.ly/LAsun! We need all of our CBE family and allies to vote for us. CBE want to see LA powered by #solar by 2050. The deadline is September 16, 2014. Let’s Power Up LA together with clean energy and transition from fossil fuels. This vote will benefit working families and build healthier communities. [Guest Commentary] by Nehanda Imara: “Coliseum City offers more than ballgames, overpriced condos and offices. It offers Oakland the opportunity to fix decades of disinvestment and bad decisions about land use that put residents at risks.” Read more. California is charging towards clean transportation and a clean economy with Senator De León’s leadership. Charge Ahead California Initiative (SB 1275) passed the Assembly with a 46-23 vote. Read the Press Release here. Arvin. Santa Fe Springs. Wildomar. Buttonwillow. Vernon. Shafter. These, and many others, are the names of communities that have had their health and quality of life impacted by some of the most toxic stuff in our state: hazardous waste. Senate Bill 812, authored by Senator De León, will create much-needed public health protections and improve hazardous waste management. But industry is fighting to kill the bill, and it will be voted on this week. We need your help TODAY: please take one minute to send an email to the California Assembly to urge them to support SB 812 (De León). In Vernon and Southeast Los Angeles, chronic corporate polluter Exide has contaminated the soil of nearby homes with such high levels of lead that it must be removed, on top of sky high cancer risks from arsenic emissions. In Wildomar, residents have developed inexplicable health issues and even died after living in homes built on toxic soil. All but one of California’s hazardous waste landfills are located in low-income communities or communities of color. The agency in charge of making sure that deadly hazardous waste isn’t harming community health or the environment, the Department of Toxic Substances Control, has routinely failed at their job. As the LA Times editorialized, “multiple reports and investigations in recent years have described a department unwilling or unable to enforce environmental laws or to properly regulate hazardous waste businesses, putting the public at risk.” Senate Bill 812 will provide relief to California residents suffering from toxic exposures from hazardous waste facilities and clean-up sites. Learn more about the bill here. SB 812 has been developed by CEJA member Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment and by communities who have been most directly impacted by hazardous waste. Let’s show that people power is mightier than corporate polluters and their profits, and help get SB 812 to the Governor’s desk.
[NEW CBE FACT SHEET] Bad Energy Transport Projects
Oakland City Council Unanimously Supports Crematorium Reform
New California Law Speeds Transition to Electric Vehicles
[ACTION ALERT] Help pass SB 812 to Reform DTSC!
[New Blog Post] Bridging the Green Divide with Shared Renewables
East Oakland Community Power Strategy Session
Vote for CBE and Power Up LA with Clean Energy!
Don’t waste this opportunity with the proposed Coliseum City in Oakland
[Press Release] California Assembly Passes Million Electric Vehicles Bill, Rebates for Low-Income Californians
[ACTION ALERT] Pass SB 812!
We Need Healthy Hoods, Not Toxic Hotspots!
Send an email right now urging California lawmakers to support a bill that will help protect communities from toxic waste!
Take action for SB 812 and community health, not toxic hotspots today!