CoRReSol - Communities Rising for Real Solutions  

By Marissa Alexander, Development/Legal Assistant

Communities Rising for Real Solutions (CoRReSol),   

a joint campaign of CRPE and Communities for a Better Environment (CBE), advocates for effective and equitable greenhouse gas reductions to invigorate our local green economies.  

CRPE and our allies had a great day in Sacramento on August 24th, protesting polluter-centric Cap and Trade schemes currently under review as a method to achieve emissions reductions mandated by California's 2006 Global Warming Act. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) met to "evaluate" alternatives to Cap and Trade, and community members from across the State urged the board to consider effective and equitable tools for achieving greenhouse gas reductions without compromising the health and sustainability of poor communities and communities of color across California.   

Unfortunately, CARB decided to continue to back Cap and Trade.  But our fight is far from over;: the Board doesn't cast the finalizing vote on Cap and Trade until October. Until then we will remain in this struggle with our allies. Please support us as we move forward by donating to our No to Cap and Trade fundraiser. 

Thank you to everyone who came out, called the Governor, signed the petition and/or donated! We couldn't have done it without our supporters.   

Please support the campaign by filling out the endorsement form and petition. 

ED Caroline Farrell (far right) speaks at the CoRReSol Day of Action, in front of the Cal EPA building

By Veronica Delgado and Lorraine Leynes

Veronica: Having grown up in the small town of Earlimart, I was unaware of the environmental issues that plagued my community and the others around it, until I moved away for college.  As a CRPE summer volunteer intern, I am now determined to return home to Earlimart and fight for change.

Last month I helped organize a CRPE Environmental Justice Tour. The tour included local students (one of which was my 13 year-old brother). Our goal was to educate San Joaquin Valley youth about EJ issues right here in their hometowns.

The first stop was 40 Acres, in Delano, where students learned about the cultural and historical impact of Cesar Chavez, Larry Itliong and the Farm Worker Movement.  Next, we visited Earlimart, where the youth learned about the dangers of pesticides.  Last, we visited Allensworth, where we enjoyed a tour of the historic park which honors the town's importance as an early black community in California. 

It was a rewarding experience to see the students learn this history and understand the local struggles. I hope that the students on the tour left with a new perspective on the EJ issues facing the Central Valley and that they too will work for change in their communities.  

 

July 2011 Student EJ Tour in Allensworth

Lorraine: Being a Delano native, I've noticed that not many people outside of the Central Valley see the issues that I see when I go home. The high poverty, asthma and cancer rates, along with arsenic-contaminated water, pesticide drifts, and the unfair treatment of farm workers are often overlooked when driving the 99.

The EJ Tour gave me a chance to represent my hometown and I was honored to have the opportunity to share some my knowledge of public health issues resulting from poverty, poor air and water quality, and the heavy use of pesticides.

It was a privilege to work with such a great group of women who were interested in learning about the environmental injustices that occur in the Central Valley and I hope that they will now join us in the fight for environmental justice.  

Leadership Training

By Gustavo Aguirre, Director of Organizing

Honoring the vision of CRPE's founder, Luke Cole, we continue to focus our work on leadership development.  Grassroots organizing and training are a key tactic in achieving our organization's three main ambitions: (1) that individuals taking part in a particular campaign leave the campaign with more personal capacity than they had coming into it; (2) the community involved gains has more power vis- a- vis decision makers at the end of the campaign than at the beginning; and (3) we concretely address the environmental hazard at hand.
 
As community organizers, we help form community groups throughout the San Joaquin Valley by providing capacity- building workshops, trainings and assisting community members in developing their own group's structure.  This builds local power enabling communities to participate in the local, regional, and statewide political processes that impact their lives. 

This summer we have:

- Held three trainings in South Kern as part of the California Endowment's Building Healthy Communities.
- Mobilized 26 Valley residents to educate state policymakers on our community's vision for environmentally and economically healthy communities.
- Sent a delegation of community residents to meet with California's Department of Food and Agriculture about community-based agricultural projects.
- Collected over 1,000 petitions from Valley residents opposing cap and trade, and advocating for direct industrial and agricultural regulations.
- Mobilized 20 Valley residents to the California Air Resources Board August 24, 2011 hearing on alternatives to cap and trade.

 

We are proud to help these groups raise their voices and influence their own future. We have many more leadership development opportunities planned for the future and look forward to keeping you posted!  

 

 

Wasco Committee Residentes Organizados Sevidores al Ambiente Sano (RORAS) and Shafter Committee for a Better Shafter (CBS)

 

Angelita C.:  Justice Denied

By Brent Newell, General Counsel

On August 25, 2011, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it had secretly resolved a Title VI Complaint that CRPE and California Rural Legal Assistance filed which alleges that the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) discriminated against Latino school children by allowing unhealthy levels of methyl bromide, a highly toxic fumigant, to be applied near schools populated by mostly Latino children.

In April 2011, EPA made the unprecedented finding that the complaint had merit and that the DPR conduct disparately and adversely affected Latino school children and their parents.  However, once EPA made that finding it failed to inform the attorneys or parents and their now adult children who filed the complaint.  Instead, EPA entered into secret negotiations with DPR.  The terms of that settlement do not provide any relief for the disparate impact suffered.  The settlement only requires additional monitoring of methyl bromide and outreach by DPR.  The settlement overlooks the fact that methyl bromide is being phased out and replaced with the more toxic methyl iodide. 

The day after the settlement was announced CRPE's General Counsel Brent Newell spoke on a Title VI panel at Environmental Justice Conference:  One Community-One Environment and blasted EPA for its poor handling of the Title VI Complaint.  Brent discarded his planned remarks, hammered EPA for denying justice, and demanded that EPA reform how it handles Title VI complaints.  Environmental Justice leaders from throughout the Country joined the call to create a more transparent and equitable process for complaint resolution.  We will continue to pressure EPA to create a Title VI Complaint resolution process that does not compound environmental injustice.  A right without a remedy is no right at all.