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Celebration: Victory Over Environmental Racism!
Victory over the toxic waste recycler Romic Technologies sparked a celebration with speakers, food and fun in East Palo Alto on Sunday August 12, 2007.
Romic Environmental Technologies Corporation is a toxic waste handler that has polluted the city of East Palo Alto for decades. Last week Romic accepted its last shipment of waste.
On Sunday activists celebrated with a BBQ that included many individuals and groups that have spent long years in the fight against Romic.
East Palo Alto Council Member Peter Evans and Keisha Evans are two community elders who started the struggle then turned it over to members of Youth United for Community Action (YUCA). Some YUCA members started working on the campaign against Romic when they were pre-teens and have spent most of their life now working on the issue of toxic waste in East Palo Alto.
"Never let anyone tell you that something CAN'T be done" was a sentiment echoed by many YUCA members who spoke of growing up surrounded by Romic's pollution but gaining a strength that came from their commitment to combatting environmental racism.
The Palo Alto Daily News recently reported that, "Romic has racked up a series of violations in recent years, including a 4,000-gallon tanker-truck spill last summer that resulted in a two-acre-wide toxic cloud, and two cases in which employees were severely burned. In 2005, the state Department of Toxic Substances Control collected $849,500 in fines from the waste handler for a series of violations at the plant.
More recently, the state agency slapped Romic with an enforcement order that restricted its waste-handling storage to 85-gallon drums, a move that Romic was already considering under mounting operating costs. The enforcement order will transfer with the land on any future sale."
http://paloaltodailynews.com/article/2007-8-13-epa-romic
http://positivenewsus.org/content/home/news/summer2007/youthgroup/default_html
On Sunday activists celebrated with a BBQ that included many individuals and groups that have spent long years in the fight against Romic.
East Palo Alto Council Member Peter Evans and Keisha Evans are two community elders who started the struggle then turned it over to members of Youth United for Community Action (YUCA). Some YUCA members started working on the campaign against Romic when they were pre-teens and have spent most of their life now working on the issue of toxic waste in East Palo Alto.
"Never let anyone tell you that something CAN'T be done" was a sentiment echoed by many YUCA members who spoke of growing up surrounded by Romic's pollution but gaining a strength that came from their commitment to combatting environmental racism.
The Palo Alto Daily News recently reported that, "Romic has racked up a series of violations in recent years, including a 4,000-gallon tanker-truck spill last summer that resulted in a two-acre-wide toxic cloud, and two cases in which employees were severely burned. In 2005, the state Department of Toxic Substances Control collected $849,500 in fines from the waste handler for a series of violations at the plant.
More recently, the state agency slapped Romic with an enforcement order that restricted its waste-handling storage to 85-gallon drums, a move that Romic was already considering under mounting operating costs. The enforcement order will transfer with the land on any future sale."
http://paloaltodailynews.com/article/2007-8-13-epa-romic
http://positivenewsus.org/content/home/news/summer2007/youthgroup/default_html
For more information:
http://www.youthunited.net
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