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Civic Action: Preparing for Oil-Chemical Activities and Spills
After listening to concerns of citizens from different coastal regions, ALERT is advocating two ways for citizens to effectively engage in oil spill preparation and response planning:
- in partnership with your state through next generation Citizens’ Advisory Councils (CACs); or
- in defense of your community against state-sanctioned pollution through Community Preparation & Response (CPR) Networks.
The common goal is to build local capacity to prepare for and respond to man-made disasters—oil spills and hazardous chemical releases––to minimize physical and mental harm to you, your families, and your community.
And, since oil spills and hazardous chemical releases often happen during natural disasters like flood, fires, and earthquakes, understanding the exposure risks and the nature of oil-chemicals in your community will also help minimize harm from daily oil-chemical activities and during natural disasters as well.
Credit: Example modified from OSHWiki.
The Great Lakes oil town of Sarnia hosts 40% of Canada's petro-chemical industry. Neighboring communities became alarmed by increasing high numbers of illnesses, children with disabilities, and reproductive problems. One conducted a health survey and body mapping project. The results shocked everyone--and led to over 90 percent reduction in industrial air pollution.
Citizen Advisory Councils
Congress created two Regional Citizens' Advisory Councils (RCACs) in Alaska after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill as demonstration programs for citizens to counter government-industry complacency by advocating environmentally safe operations––in other words, to help hold industry and government accountable for human health and environmental concerns.
The track record of these two RCACs in preventing oil spills and promoting environmentally safer operations is impressive. Worldwide, similar programs promoting citizen engagement and oversight of energy operations have proven effective—and critical to the proper function of industry, government, and civil society.
Similar programs––independent of oil industry control––are needed in other regions where communities are at risk of oil activities. Some states already have laws that promote citizens’ advisory councils.
Startup. If your state lead agency is your ally, identify other nongovernmental organizations as potential members, representing diverse interests. Approach your state agency as a coalition (i.e., the nascent CAC) with talking points to show why a CAC is needed, what it could do, who will benefit, who should be on it, how it will be organized, and potential funding sources. Don’t be surprised if you wind up on a state-facilitated work group to move your idea into action! Stick with it until you have your CAC.
Community Preparation and Response (CPR) Network
Nonprofit organizations likely already exist in your community or region that are defending public health, children’s health, and environmental health in the face of oil industry expansion and polluting activities including oil spills. This is more Do-It-Yourself than the CACs. Look at the Louisiana Community Air Monitoring Network coalition model. The idea is to build on this model and tailor it for oil spill preparation and response.
Startup. So––your state lead agency is NOT your ally? Been there… Identify what your communities need to do to prepare for man-made disasters. What do YOU need to know? Decide what YOUR team wants to do to prepare, for example:
- Create a map to identify communities or neighborhoods that are at risk from oil spills and toxic exposures;
- Host a DIY Toxic Trespass Training to educate your community about ways minimize physical harm from chemical exposures indoors and outdoors;
- Host a Peer Listener Training Program to alleviate mental health trauma during a disaster;
- Identify vulnerable neighborhoods or communities with a baseline public health survey;
- Develop a low-cost air monitoring program.
Then identify and cultivate funding sources—see federal grants below but also consider local businesses where workers live locally. Develop a proposal (or several). Eventually one will hit the mark, and your CPR Network will take off!
Potential Funding Sources
The EPA’s Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program (EJ TCGM) provides $600 million in pass-through funding for regional and national Grantmakers to issue thousands of subgrants to community-based nonprofits and others for assessment, planning, and project development activities.
HOW? Dive in, find your region, who funds what, and contact them about proposal ideas for emergency preparedness and disaster resiliency—like citizens’ advisory councils—and fenceline air quality monitoring, among other things.
The Congress created the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund in 1986 and authorized its use under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 to fund government’s preparation and response to oil spills under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), among other things and reimbursement for state governments for oil spill-related preparation and response planning.
HOW? Contact your state lead agency to explore options to access these funds to create a Citizens’ Advisory Council.
Use of funds from a Consent Agreement and Final Orders after a big oil spill to establish community defense networks or citizens’ advisory councils. See examples from BP Whiting refinery spill and Enbridge Kalamazoo River tar sands oil spill.
HOW? To be successful, this effort should be led by a coalition of local and regional community organizations from the spill-impacted region, and it should start as early as possible by contacting the state lead agency or agencies (for spills that impact multiple states).
Other Funding Sources
Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) awards Emergency Preparedness grants to build community preparedness and the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program awards funds to state, local, Tribal, and territorial governments to rebuild after a disaster.
The Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness (HMEP) grant through Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) provides funding to state, tribal, and local governments to enhance their capabilities in handling hazardous materials incidents and effectively implement emergency planning under EPCRA guidelines.
OSHA resources for SERCs, TERCs, LEPCs, and TEPCs to Sustain Planning & Response Efforts
HOW? Dive in. This effort should be led by a coalition of local and regional community organizations from the within the region at risk of, or impacted by, an oil spill.
Starting a Citizen's Council or Network?
How can we help?
ALERT works with concerned citizens in front-line communities to provide skills and training to help citizens organize to have a meaningful voice in oil activities in their region.