Improving health in environmental justice communities by engaging communities and workers in enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies

The Louisiana Bucket Brigade (LABB) is an environmental health and justice organization that works with communities affected by industrial pollution throughout the state. Over 200,000 people live within 2 miles of an oil refinery in Louisiana and these communities are predominantly low-income and African American.

Refineries in LA average one accident per day and have released over 22 million pounds of pollution to the air and over 23 million gallons to the water via these accidents since 2005. In 2009, LABB spearheaded the Refinery Efficiency Initiative to prevent chemical exposure by reducing accidents at the state's 17 oil refineries.

Through exposing the refinery accident problem to the light of day, this Initiative has resulted in successful enforcement actions from a variety of agencies using the following strategies:

1. LABB compiles industry self reports on their accidents and analyzes them for causes and preventability. Our Refinery Accident Database is public, searchable, and the first of its kind in the country. 2. LABB pairs this analysis with community documentation of pollution using a crowd-sourcing iWitness Pollution Map, field-tested odor logs and a variety of air sampling methods. 3. LABB connects communities with the United Steelworkers inside the plants to build a strong record of non-compliance. 4. LABB connects federal inspectors with community members/workers so they can target their inspections to problem areas within the facilities.