ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER:
WHO ARE WE AND WHAT ARE WE UP TO?

Don't Waste Arizona and the Concerned Residents of South Phoenix are trying to provide a community newsletter that, hopefully, will serve several functions. It is an ambitious project and an ambitious proposition, and we want your opinion, input, and just plain help. The following is an explanation of the newsletter proposal and intent: Don't Waste Arizona, Inc. (DWA) is a non-profit environmental organization organized for the protection and preservation of the environment of Arizona. It is incorporated and has 501(c)(3) status. DWA has helped bring attention to environmental justice issues in South Phoenix and throughout Arizona by assisting in the development and planning of an environmental equity conference with the Commission on the Arizona Environment, by holding regular community meetings in the area affected by the Quality Printed Circuits fire of 1992, by assisting in organizing the Concerned Residents of South Phoenix (CRSP), by assisting in preparing press releases and media opportunities and lectures and presentations at universities and community colleges to help publicize the problems created by the QPC fire and the various problems with environmental injustice throughout the state of Arizona. DWA has also actively participated on the High Risk/High Priority Study in South Phoenix, and is involved with other Common Sense Initiative projects. DWA proposes to direct a High Risk/High Priority/QPC Environmental Justice Newsletter & Hotline for Concerned Residents of South Phoenix. To do this, DWA would develop an interactive, community-based hotline and newsletter to be distributed by a grassroots-developed distribution system and/or mail to:
  1. Provide information to the community affected by the QPC fire via a periodical newsletter about the EPA and TOSC investigation into its specific QPC-related concerns and provide a means to deliver data, findings, etc., along with questionnaires and forms, or information about where these may be obtained, as needed, to those interested via distribution of the newsletter, press releases, and other communication systems and methods, including video communications.
  2. Provide information to the HR/HP community in general via a periodical newsletter about its disproportionate concentration of adjacent industrial facilities with reporting requirements under CERCLA, Clean Air Act, and EPCRA, along with basic emergency response instructions for a contingency, while building community capacity to identify local environmental justice problems and involving the community in the design and implementation of activities to address these concerns, including contingency planning and education.
This would be accomplished by developing a periodical newsletter and its grassroots-developed distribution system. In addition, the newsletter and hotline would further accomplish these goals by:
  1. compiling comments generated locally in response to newsletter articles;
  2. interviewing affected area residents, business people, along with other stakeholders, and compiling and printing their positions;
  3. providing information to the community about meetings, findings, forums, and other gatherings/presentations related to these issues;
  4. providing updates about the availability of CERCLA, Clean Air Act, and EPCRA information and databases, including computerized database(s) and location(s), etc.;
  5. soliciting community reaction and input into the newsletter regarding previous articles;
  6. providing information about the procedure for complaining about facilities that may be out of compliance with environmental laws.
This would include, for example, telephone numbers for citizen complaints about industrial facilities already in place by state, county, and local agencies for chemical odors, unsafe situations, unsightly facilities, etc.; The effect of a newsletter designed and distributed like this is to create partnerships among stakeholders in the community by/while developing a distribution system for the community newsletter, including Block Watch groups, schools, local churches, local community/civic organizations, industrial facilities, citizens, and other interested parties.

The newsletter and hotline would help facilitate communication and information exchange and create partnerships among local stakeholders to address the identified disproportionate concentration of industrial facilities with reporting requirements under CERCLA, Clean Air Act, and EPCRA, the identified disproportionate risks and hazards posed by the disproportionate concentration of industrial facilities with reporting requirements under CERCLA, Clean Air Act, and EPCRA to the adjacent communities, and the adverse environmental exposure already suffered by the community affected by the QPC fire.

By providing emergency response information and procedural guidelines for a contingency, the newsletter itself would help reduce risks and hazards by promoting chemical emergency incident awareness and preparation. This process would result in a heightened or increased community capacity to identify these local environmental justice problems and would facilitate the involvement of the community in the design and implementation of activities to address these concerns. DWA will measure the success of the project by:

  1. the eventual size of the distribution system and number of newsletters created/distributed through this distribution system;
  2. the amount of feedback, discussion, and response generated by the interactive components of the newsletter;
  3. attendance at meetings and forums advertised/discussed in the interactive newsletter;
  4. changes in overall environmental compliance in the area.
The challenges in implementing the project are:
  1. overcoming a pervasive sense of hopelessness and despair in the affected community and convincing people that something can be done to make the situation better;
  2. overcoming people's poor self image and making people believe that their opinion is wanted and worth printing;
  3. developing an extensive grassroots distribution system;
  4. handling a large volume of calls, letters, and other responses;
  5. translating complex environmental regulations and procedures into simple terms.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS
AND ACRONYMS

ADEQ - Arizona Department of Environmental Quality
ADHS - Arizona Department of Health Services
ATSDR - Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry
CERCLA - Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act
CRSP - Concerned Residents of South Phoenix
DfE - Design for the Environment
DWA - Don't Waste Arizona, Inc.
EPA - Environmental Protection Agency
HBCVs - Health-Based Comparison Values
HR/HP - High Risk/High Priority
QPC - Quality Printed Circuits
TOSC - Technical Outreach Services to Communities