Stop the nerve gas!

Support Environmental Justice in Port Arthur Texas!

Background:
Last April, the U.S. Army began shipping VX nerve agent byproducts to Port Arthur to be incinerated. The Chemical Weapons Working Group (CWWG), Community In-Power Development Association (CIDA) in Port Arthur, and numerous other Texas organizations are working to stop this shipment and instead ensure that the waste is destroyed safely on-site.

We need your help! We are asking you to cut and paste the following message to legislative staff for Representatives Wynn, Hastings, Clyburn, Conyers, Solis, Ellison, Udall and Jackson-Lee. Most of these legislators are lead sponsors of an environmental justice bill that would require EPA to step up its responsibilities under the Executive Order on Environmental Justice. On Saturday, September 29th, CIDA, CWWG and other Texas organizations will be holding an environmental justice march and rally in Port Arthur against the waste shipment.

It will be particularly helpful to send emails by Friday, September 28, when the Congressional Black Caucus is having an EJ Brainstrust meeting as part of its legislative week events. More information and news articles can be found at www.cwwg.org, and CIDA's website is www.cida-inc.org.

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Send the email to: alext.johnson@mail.house.gov, megan.uzzell@mail.house.gov, mona.floyd@mail.house.gov, erika.appel@mail.house.gov, acacia.salatti@mail.house.gov, alexia.smokler@mail.house.gov

Subject line: Environmental Justice in Port Arthur, Texas

Message: The U.S. Army is currently shipping VX nerve agent byproducts to Port Arthur, Texas to be burned, near a community already overburdened with toxic air emissions. The citizens of Port Arthur and southeast Texas will be rallying for environmental justice and a halt to the VX shipments and burning, on Saturday, September 29. We ask that you walk your talk of environmental justice by demanding that the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency destroy its nerve agent waste safely on-site, and immediately suspend shipments to Port Arthur.

We further ask that you communicate your concerns to the Environmental Protection Agency Region 6 Administrator, Richard Greene with the request that he act immediately on the apparent regulatory violations and environmental injustice associated with the waste shipments and incineration.

Sincerely,
(your name and organization)