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OREJC Environmental Justice Newsletters
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Latest News Highlight Item on top. Submit news items to brooks50@comcast.net
Links to Monthly Newsletters About Us
99/11/02 - OREJC holds first
meeting with an "Issues" agenda.
OREJC requests ATSDR to issue a Health Consult on the Scarboro soils.
99/09/22 - TDEC DOE-O proposes
OR-wide environmental sampling.
99/09/21 - Tim Joseph is the
OREJC designated resource person. Welcome, Tim.
99/09/21 - OREJC organized as an
operational committee. Now accepting members.
99/09/16 - EPA proposed
Scarboro sampling plan receives mixed OR reception.
99/09/07 - OREJC founders decide to
recruit members and organize.
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TheOREJConnection |
This is our Let's Get Acquainted Issue
describing our brief Past, our Purposes and our Plans.
We were formed in September, 1999, have over 25 members, and meet at 6:00 on
the first Tuesday of each month in the TDEC building at 761 Emory Valley Road.
We are best described by our bylaws, our program of work and our project plans.
Next month, our topic will be residential area
contamination.
From our Bylaws:
OREJC defines environmental justice as: The lawful, fair and moral components of a community's surroundings including those aspects of the social and cultural conditions that bear on the surroundings of the community
OREJC's purposes are:
1. To improve the quality of life for the greater Oak Ridge residents.
2. To provide reality-based information to the citizens of the community
through an environmental education and public outreach program.
3. To objectively focus public attention on the environmental justice and
related problems that exist in the neighborhoods near the Oak Ridge
Reservation.
4. To provide an inclusive, multi-racial forum for the discussion of citizens'
concerns in an open and constructive manner; and to respond to citizens'
concerns.
5. To provide a process including organizational networks by which the
considerable talent and expertise in Oak Ridge can be brought to bear on the
environmental justice problems of the community.
6. To provide informed input to the Department of Energy, the State of
Tennessee, the City of Oak Ridge, and other agencies or governing bodies on
issues of environmental justice and related problems, especially in the area of
public health.
7. To provide a community-wide interface to the Tennessee Department of
Environment and Conservation's Environmental Justice Steering Committee on
issues related to the TDEC Environmental Justice Strategic Plan.
From our Program of Work:
This Program of Work indicates both those concerns that the Organization deems important and those on which it intends to make a major effort during the current year. It is a living document subject to review and change as circumstances warrant. The program is revised annually or as needed. These efforts may include networking with other active groups with similar interests to provide informed public input or joint efforts. This program is not intended to exclude the short-term consideration of new, unlisted concerns as deemed appropriate. The list order indicates the order of importance and an "*" indicates the currently active issues. Each active project will be further defined in its project plan, which will its specify scope, objectives and approach. The OREJC program of work will:
1. *Investigate the concerns about potentially significant contamination and
the concerns for health and safety particularly in potentially impacted
residential areas.
2. * Provide informed public input to the "Oak Ridge Health Forum"
(ATSDR), to the TDEC Environmental Justice Strategic Plan, to the proposed TDEC
DOE-O Oak Ridge Sampling Plan and any other sampling plans that may be
proposed..
3. Investigate the apparent ethnic and socioeconomic differences in
standardized public school test results, the possible causes, and possible
effective remedies for the problem.
4. Establish a proposed model for a public health review board or ombudsman as
an interface for ill-residents and workers to help them to take advantage of
the public and private health services that are available.
5. Work to establish a Center for Environmental Health Research to study, in a
clinical setting, the impact of the high-tech industrial environment on worker
and citizen health, including actual risks and the perception of risks.
6. Investigate the impact of economic stress on the behavior of the stressed
citizen, their families and the resulting impact on the community. This is
limited to the effects of DOE ORO program downsizing including lack of economic
opportunity, job depreciation, etc. This will also include current and possibly
new community efforts to relieve the problem.
The two currently active projects have a corresponding plan as follows:
OREJC Project Plan 1 : Possible Oak Ridge Residential Contamination
The Issue: There is a widespread and persistent perception that the
residential areas of
OREJC believes an inconclusive approach to this problem will simply result in more bad publicity resulting in further community deterioration and, therefore, should not be conducted. Any study, which is not designed to be definitive, would be worse than no study at all.
The currently available health and environmental data needs to be evaluated
to see if it is adequate to support a definitive conclusion or if additional
data needs to be acquired. In addition to Scarboro, equivalently located
communities, i.e.
The Approach: Community concerns will be addressed in the following manner:
1. The residential communities subject to the highest probability of
exposure (e.g., Scarboro,
2. Lay and technical OREJC members will review the available environmental data
and reports, reduce the conclusions to lay terms, and disseminate the
information in a manner friendly to the lay listener using a variety of
communication channels. If crucial data is lacking, a request for additional
data will be made to the appropriate agency.
3. Request the ATSDR and other public health agencies to provide a definitive
health survey to determine if the health statistics of the affected communities
are within the range of normal expectations. At the conclusion of the study,
ATSDR should make a clear, definitive and understandable statement as to the results.
4. Working with public assistance agencies, ensure that residents receive
available health services.
5. Initiate an informal, involved, disfranchised youth-to-adult communication
channel and engage the youth in the study process.
6. Based on the above, request that DOE, in collaboration with public health
agencies, produce a viewer-friendly, informative video on the state of the
impacted communities environment and health; assist DOE in
7. this endeavor.
8. Elicit the help of the
9. Elicit the help of the news media in the presentation of a balanced report
on the environment and health of the entire
10. Request the CDC, TDH or other appropriate public health agency to conduct
small, friendly resident information sessions to cover health issues especially
of the elderly and chronically ill.
11. Work to restore the confidence of the
OREJC Project Plan 2 : Public Input to Various Environmental Justice Plans
The Issue: Currently there are opportunities for public participation in and input into state and federal plans related to environmental justice and public health. More such opportunities may arise in the future. OREJC will study the objectives and methods of these efforts, prepare position letters or resolutions to be submitted to the appropriate agency. Currently this project consists of four subprojects:
1. The
2. The TDEC Environmental Justice Strategic Plan
3. The EPA Scarboro Sampling Plan
4. The proposed TDEC Oak Ridge Sampling Plan
The Approach: At the current time OREJC will inform the appropriate agencies of its desire to participate in the public input to the planning efforts. At the appropriate time, OREJC and its members will participate in any public forums or meetings or formal commenting periods.
We have more projects in the planning stage
and these will be announced as soon as plans are firm.
There will be articles on current issues and
just plain news. We have open membership for all residents in the vicinity of
the DOE ORR. If you would like to participate in community effort, contact A. A. Brooks: 482 1559. We welcome all
the help we can get.
For more information, there are OREJC Web Pages
at: http://home.comcast.net/~brooks50/orejc.html OR
You may wish to be on our E-mailing list for these
newsletters, meeting agenda, minutes and other documents. Just let us know. .
We appreciate hearing your comments and concerns about your community. Write or
E-mail us.