An Update from Riki: The Way Forward Together
See ALERT’S path forward as we work to continue to protect the community from oil-chemical disasters.
Sometimes we just need a little pep talk. Groundhog Day can be one of those times. This year, it got me thinking of the 1993 dark comedy film by that name, then the oil spill-related ecosystem collapse in Prince William Sound, Alaska, in 1993 four years after the Exxon Valdez wreck—dark times. These two hugely dissimilar things have taught me what to do when I’m feeling like I need a pep talk.
I have to flip the switch. Change the narrative. Work on something bigger than myself with others who share my passion. So, I decided to write ALERT’s allies about how our work together is changing the narrative and where there is a clear path forward through turbulent political seas.
Five days before the Biden Administration left office years ago in January, EPA wrote ALERT to account for our petitions and letters over 11 years (2012 to 2022) to tighten rules governing use of dispersants and other products. The 8-page letter is a tribute to the power of citizen engagement that led to a rulemaking and final rules with significant, game-changing measures to better protect people and the environment during oil spill disasters. EPA asked me to “kindly share this response with your colleagues.” EPA knows we did this together.
In response to ALERT’s 2024 petition to ban Corexit dispersants, backed by support letters from allies representing over 30 million people, EPA wrote that it was still reviewing the requests and did not have an available timeline… but lead agencies in coastal states are leery of using these discontinued products and may not approve new dispersants without supplemental testing, as requested by ALERT and allies.
In the Pacific Northwest, allies are working to require supplemental testing, as part of Best Achievable Protections for Washington State and as a model for other states. Change the narrative. In Gulf Coast states, allies are hoping to create DIY community air and health monitoring networks as part of oil spill preparation and response, building on the mobile air monitoring model developed by environmental justice leadership and supported by EPA. Imagine what is possible and built it—together.
ALERT and allies are also changing the narrative to better protect emergency responders and the exposed public during oil spills and chemical releases. A 2023 OSHA standard interpretation, in response to our request for clarification on the blanket exemption of reporting cold and flu-like symptoms, demonstrated a need to change OSHA law to ensure that potential symptoms of work-related oil-chemical exposures are recorded and reported.
Following the 2024 recommendations of the Health & Safety Task Force, chartered by Regional Response Team 10 and the Pacific Northwest Area Committee and co-chaired by ALERT’s director, ALERT and allies are now poised to move symptom-based worker health monitoring units and public health assessment units into all hazard responses through federal and state laws.
This effort is benefitting from a 25-year national consensus process, started by OSHA after 9-11, to create a comprehensive, prescriptive federal emergency response standard. In 2024, OSHA proposed a rule that includes symptom-based health monitoring and triggers for protective action, pre- and post- incident medical evaluations, and health monitoring during incidents available to every on-site emergency worker—except it does not apply to HAZWOPER responders! But it does show the narrative is changing, and the precedent opens the door for similar protections for all hazard disaster responders.
ALERT and allies in Pacific Northwest states with OSHA-approved state plans will be initiating law changes to better protect citizen responders who are assigned to temporary task forces like the Vessel of Opportunities program or beach cleanup, using symptom-based monitoring and awareness training. We will advocate the same in the federal HAZWOPER standards when there is an opportunity to do so.
In carrying this work forward, ALERT acknowledges, honors, and thanks all those who have contributed to this effort over the decades by being part of something bigger than ourselves. In January, the emergency response community and ALERT lost an incredible ally, friend, and visionary, Lynda Zambrano who spearheaded creation of, and led as Executive Director, the Northwest Tribal Emergency Management Council and the National Tribal Emergency Management Council. Let’s ensure her legacy continues by nurturing the next generation of Native leaders and changemakers.
Forward together in solidarity,
