Bipartisan Support Needed for Efficiency Retrofit Programs
Efficiency First urges all members to call or write to their Senators and Congressional Representatives in support of two critically important public policy initiatives that would create hundreds of thousands of new jobs in construction and related industries by stimulating demand for Home Performance retrofits.

Center for Health, Environment and Justice

Tell Congress: safer chemical processes could protect millions of Americans.
Currently, 100 million Americans are at risk of injury or death from just 100 chemical plants.

On 11/2/09, Clorox announced they plan to convert all of its factories using chlorine gas to safer chemical processes, eliminating risks to 13 million Americans. Clorox has shown it's feasible to switch to safer chemicals without sacrificing jobs.

In 2006, when Senators Obama and Biden championed nearly identical legislation that was opposed by the chemical industry, Obama said, "We cannot allow chemical industry lobbyists to dictate the terms of this debate. We cannot allow our security to be hijacked by corporate interests."

Take Action! Tell Target the Poison Plastic PVC Is Out of Style
Evidence mounts against PVC (polyvinyl chloride) plastic, which is pervasive in consumer products. The Center for Health, Environment and Justice is mounting a campaign to get Target to join Bath and Body Works, Honda, Ikea, Microsoft, Nike, Toyota, and Wal-Mart in committing to phase out PVC products.

FirstEnergy seeks to increase toxic mercury pollution at Lake Shore plant

FirstEnergy Generation Corp. owns and operates the Lake Shore coal plant, located on the water near E. 55th St. in Cleveland. The 1962 facility is in "High Priority Violation" status for the Clean Air Act, and has been in non-compliance for the past consecutive 12 quarters.

In 2008, the company requested permission from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to exceed science-based limits on mercury and copper levels in the plant's wastewater discharge, arguing it would be too expensive to comply with the regulation currently on the books. Meanwhile, neighborhoods adjacent to the plant are made up of largely minority and low-income communities. Many families rely on fish they catch from the lake to help put food on their tables, and the best places to fist are often those closest to the plant's wastewater outfall. Ohio EPA is now collecting input from the public before deciding whether to accept or deny FirstEnergy's request.

Please join the hundreds of Cleveland and Cleveland-area residents in emailing Ohio EPA to let them know that making an exception for FirstEnergy's old, dirty Lake Shore plant is unacceptable.

Tell GE to make CFL bulbs in the U.S. -- save jobs in Northeast Ohio
General Electric, which has incandescent bulb plants in the Youngstown, Ohio area, makes its CFL bulbs in Chinese factories. A 2007 study by Policy Matters Ohio found that Chinese plants routinely violated labor laws, and that many workers at the plant were unaware they were making a product containing toxic mercury.

Union groups have started a campaign to get GE to invest in CFL factories in the US, and in Ohio, called Screw that Bulb.

Mittal Steel Cleveland Works Good Neighbor Campaign

The Mittal Steel Cleveland Works is the single largest polluter of the air and water in Cuyahoga County. To be a good neighbor, Mittal Steel can reduce the dangerous emissions coming from its stacks and pipes by investing in modern pollution prevention technology. ISG (the previous owner) was the recipient of tremendous goodwill and subsidies from Northeast Ohio taxpayers and Mittal inherited those benefits.

Environmental Working Group

Ohio Environmental Council

Ohio League of Conservation Voters

Ohio Public Interest Research Group

Ohio Sierra Club

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