142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

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314030
Community-based Response to Oil Industry Pollution: The Case of Residents for Air Neutralization and Calumet Refining

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Wednesday, November 19, 2014 : 11:30 AM - 11:50 AM

Velma White , Resident for Air Neutralization, Shreveport, LA
Audio (mp3) recording Recorded Presentation (mp4)
Ms. Velma White is the President of the Resident for Air Neutralization based in Shreveport, Louisiana a community group dedicated to improving the environmental health of the 49,000 people living within two miles of the Calumet Refinery.  Since 1990, Ms. White has been documenting the community health impacts of Calumet’s pollution and her leadership has led to several state and federal enforcement actions.  Ms. White will present on the results of her 900 health surveys, air samples taken since 2004, and how she uses this evidence with state and federal regulators.

Learning Areas:

Advocacy for health and health education
Environmental health sciences

Learning Objectives:
Discuss community health impacts of chronic petrochemical accidents at Calumet Refining in Shreveport, Louisiana. Demonstrate how community involvement and sampling can contribute to increased regulation and enforcement action of the petrochemical industry.

Keyword(s): Community-Based Partnership & Collaboration, Environmental Justice

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: As a life-long resident of Shreveport, Louisiana, I have worked on the issue of environmental justice for over two decades. I founded and am President of the Residents for Air Neutralization, which works to improve environmental health in communities surrounding the Calumet Refinery. I have done extensive community organizing, conducted over 900 community health surveys, participated in negotiations with refinery managers and state and federal enforcement officials, and contributed to several successes and enforcement actions.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 5102.0: Community-Based Response to Petrochem Emergencies LABB