WEC in the News

  Gov. Chris Christie refused to sign a bill Thursday that would provide local emergency responders with more information on the scores of trains hauling volatile crude oil through New Jersey, saying it could become a security threat. The measure, which was supported by firefighters, labor groups and environmentalists, required rail companies hauling hazardous materials to provide emergency response and cleanup plans with the state Office of Emergency Management. The state would then have to share those plans with county and municipal emergency personnel along rail routes like the 11 Bergen County towns where millions of gallons of oil pass through every week. The bill would also require rail companies to provide on a publicly accessible website the routes and volumes of cargoes updated on a monthly basis, an analysis of the consequences of maximum discharges and a copy of the most current discharge response, cleanup and contingency plan. Dan Fatton, executive director of the Work Environment Council that promotes better workplace conditions, said giving community members the right to know about rail car hazards allows them an opportunity to work with emergency responders and have a plan in place in case of a derailment. “At the end of the day, we don't know what is moving through [...]

  In Plainfield, school’s out early. “It’s good because if we stayed there we would be sweating and melt or something,” said second grader Keyly Portillo. Sweat hardly describes it for Portillo. Mercury reached well above 90 today, making for hazardous conditions in some classrooms. Across the state dozens of school districts called for early dismissal. "Off the top of my head, we have roughly 30 to 40 thousand students in New Jersey who are actually not attending school for a full day because of temperature control issues,” Jerell Blakeley from the New Jersey Work Environment Council said. Read the full story on NJTV or click below for the video. Full Story Sign the Petition Healthy Schools Now

"Hundreds of workers from community organizations, unions and faith-based groups rallied Sunday to observe Workers’ Memorial Day. Despite the Occupational Safety and Health Act, workers continue to find themselves at great risk of exposure to dangerous workplace conditions. In December 2016, Alvaro Esteban of Freehold died on the job at the Edgeboro Landfill in East Brunswick after being crushed by a trash compactor. He was 22. Though progress has been made in reducing the number of incidents, workers continue to be injured on the job. Those at the rally added that even today, not all injuries are reported. 'Seeing the names and photos of the fallen workers memorialized at this event lined up across a large hall is a somber experience. We were glad to see so many allies in attendance expressing support for families dealing with the most tragic of circumstances, while also demanding protections to prevent more tragedies from occurring,' said Dan Fatton, executive director of the NJ Work Environment Council (WEC), an alliance of 70 labor, community and environmental organizations advocating for safe, secure jobs and a healthy, sustainable environment."   Read the entire piece by Cheryl Makin on MyCentralJersey.com  

The devastating 1995 Napp Technologies explosion in the heart of Lodi killed five men, created a plume of toxic black smoke that lingered over the county for days -- and led to the creation of a federal board that spent the next two decades investigating more than 100 chemical industry accidents across the nation. Now, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board is slated to be eliminated under the President Trump’s proposed budget, worrying supporters who say the board has helped improve safety nationwide. The Chemical Safety Board has a budget of $11 million, which supporters say is meager compared to the current $3.65 trillion federal spending plan. “Just one chemical catastrophe would dwarf that cost,” said Dan Fatton, executive director of the New Jersey Work Environment Council which promotes workplace safety. “If ever there was an example of being pound wise penny foolish, it’s here. The Chemical Safety Board is a pretty good deal for what you get versus what you spend.” See the full piece by The Record staff writer Scott Fallon on North Jersey.com.

A new coalition of more than 30 environmental, labor, and community organizations is urging New Jersey lawmakers to do more about the threat of climate change and reduce the state's greenhouse gas emissions. Dan Fatton, executive director of the Work Environment Council, said the coalition, called Jersey Renews, is a ray of hope in the era of President Donald Trump. As a candidate, Trump called climate change "a hoax invented by the Chinese" and in the early days of his administration, has implemented a temporary media "black out" at the Environmental Protection Agency and a freeze on new grants and contracts. The president has also promised to scale back government regulations and pull the United States out of the landmark Paris climate accord. "When we see the news that's coming out of Washington, it's fairly horrifying," Fatton said. "We've seen the clampdown on EPA, the gag order on climate, the removal of climate change from the White House website. So, we know that we need states to take strong action if we actually want to address what is a global crisis."   See the full piece from Newsworks online here.

Dan Fatton, WEC executive director, appeared on NJTV News with Mary Alice Williams to discuss WEC's latest report, ACCESS DENIED. For the interview transcript, please click here. Several clarifications: As noted in the report, an estimated 12 million people live or work within the danger zones of NJ facilities; however, not all those people are NJ residents. EPCRA is the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, a 1986 federal law created to help communities plan for chemical emergencies. SERC is the State Emergency Response Commission. ACCESS DENIED REPORT

December 3 marks the 32nd anniversary of the Bhopal, India disaster: the world’s worst industrial accident. In the middle of the night, an accident at a Union Carbide plant released a toxic gas, methyl isocyanate. The impact on the surrounding community was immediate and deadly. Chaos ensued as people attempted to escape the lethal toxic cloud. Thousands of people died and hundreds of thousands of lives were forever changed. The effects from the toxic exposure included blindness, kidney and liver failure. Decades later, survivors and their offspring continue to experience health impacts from that deadly night. In response to the Bhopal disaster, the United States Congress took action and passed the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) of 1986. The late Senator Frank Lautenberg and Representative James Florio were the lead sponsors of this law, which was based, in part, on the 1983 NJ Worker and Community Right to Know Act. The purpose of EPCRA was to help communities plan for chemical emergencies by requiring industry to report on the storage, use and releases of hazardous chemicals to federal, state, and local governments. It requires state and local governments to use this information to prepare their community from potential [...]

WEC recently partnered with Greenfaith, Environment New Jersey, and the New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance to host a lunch and learn at the Ironbound Community Corporation in Newark. More than 35 grassroots leaders participated in the meeting and ensuing discussion. Aaron Jones of 32BJ SEIU gave an overview of the NY Renews initiative, a broad-based coalition effort in New York striving to tackle the climate and inequality crises head-on. To view Mr. Jones' presentation, please click here. Dr. Nicky Sheats presented on the environmental justice concerns with carbon trading and provided insights on the Clean Power Plan. To view Dr. Sheats' presentation, slides, please click here. For more information about WEC's work on climate change policy, or to be notified about future events, please contact Dan Fatton at [email protected].