Photo: Delaware City residents and volunteers receive "bucket brigade" training, September 15, 2012.
In 2012 the Delaware Chapter of the Sierra Club developed an environmental justice partnership with the Delaware City Environmental Coalition to assist the community in addressing their environmental justice concerns. The Delaware City Environmental Coalition was established in 2010 to obtain answers about air quality in the Delaware City Industrial Area.
Environmental Justice Partnerships allow Sierra Club chapters to provide support for local communities. The Environmental Justice and Community Partnerships program is a core part of the Sierra Club’s work to build partnerships to move the nation beyond coal and oil, and to create a just, healthy, and prosperous society.
Delaware City’s location inside an established Delaware Cancer Census Tract with along with its co-location in a heavy chemical corridor is an important place for our Chapter to begin our work.
March 27, 2013: this morning was the most recent air sample collected by volunteers in our environmental justice partnership with the Delaware City Environmental Coalition's "Bucket Brigade." Pollution was noticeable in the town of Delaware City this morning, and by the look of the smoke stacks at the PBF Delaware City Refinery at sunrise, the wind was blowing emissions right over residential neighborhoods.
Wind was out of the Northwest, 8-10 miles per hour.
At the February 6th meeting of the Delaware General Assembly, the Delaware Chapter of the Sierra Club asked the Joint Finance Committee to consider the risks posed by the Delaware City Refinery on public health and to finance actions by DNREC to protect our communities.
Our Environmental Justice Summer Intern Lemir Teron presented the results of his summer research that investigated the Delaware City Refinery, its recently deferred billion-dollar expansion, and its new plans to import tar sands dilbit from Canada, at the Delaware City Public Library on Thursday, September 20, 2012.
