Community Contacts

Having 2 children and watching them play outdoors .Sometime they would come in with black hands and their clothes dirty. He worried more about their health than the dirt on their clothes...

I went to most of the houses in my neighborhood (blocks) I was told there was nothing we could do about it and I was wasting my time trying to fight the big industry. Really I did not want to “fight” with them but ask them for help and explained to us what they or we could do about this. I heard more lies. One plant would blame the other .We talked to officials from both Tenneco Oil Refinery (now Chalmette Refinery) and Kaiser Aluminum.
Later I was approached by a neighbor who I did not know at the time and he told me he knew I was against what was going on (pollutants) and told me that his doctor said he had cancer and gave him 3 months to live. I can still hear what he said “Ken I never smoked a day in my life, go to church, eat right and live a good life”He said he knew it was industry across our street that did this to him and asked me not to give up and continue fighting the ones that pollute our neighborhood. Walter died two months later.
Since then I asked the St Bernard parish, health officials, industry representatives and every one that I thought could help us. In 1982 I went to state officials in Baton Rouge, with a petition I had made and signed by over 90 neighbors explaining our troubles.
In 1991 he and others started "The St. Bernard Citizens for Environmental Quality", a neighborhood group fighting for clean air. Membership was small at the beginning but grew to over 200 members prior to Katrnia.

About 5 or 6 years ago I was at an environmental conference in New Orleans and at one of the sessions I heard this young lady addressing a large group. At another session I heard some one else addressing another large group. After the conference had ended I talked to this young lady and man about our environmental problems we had in St Bernard and both said that their groups (Anne Rolfes and Denny Larson) were busy fighting other environmental problems and just did not have the time to help us,. They told me to continue what I was doing and call them and one day when they had completed their present work they would call talk to me and see how they could help us .Weeks, months went by and I would call and asked for help and was told to continue calling them. Finally the day had come for us to talk (Anne Rolfes and Denny Larson). We became friends and have been working toward our common goals, a safe and clean environment for us our children to live in since then.

I have gone to Texas, Pen., California and Washington attending meetings and connected to other groups in an effect to have our parish clean and safe to live in.  We addressed the stock holders of Exxon Mobil informing them of the condition Chalmette Refinery was in. I have been recognized by many groups from many states for my actions. I received the Catholic Charities Human Development Award in the New Orleans area one of the most I treasure. Have been interviewed on television many times. “Live on Your Side “ Local TV interviews, twice on the ”Now” TV show with David Brancaccio.  Interviewed by students from several Colleges, Tulane University New Orleans, Ohio Students, UCLA students, Virginia students… My wife Genevieve and family have always supported me and gave me their time in all my beliefs and fights for our environment.

Pollution, neglect and deep despair had taken a heavy toll on Port Arthur. In response, Mr. Kelley organized the "Community In-power and Development Association"(C.I.D.A.) and began to challenge the regular environmental violations of the plants that loom over the community. Mr. Kelley is trained to take air samples using the "buckets" (of the Bucket Brigade) as well as the high-tech CEREX real time air monitor. He is also qualified to train others on these devices. In 2002 Mr. Kelley testified before the US. Senate on behalf of impoverished communities across the nation and in 2003 received the Environmental Justice Award from Sierra Club Lone Star Chapter. In 2004 he received the Ben & Jerry Award for Environmental Activism.

Awards & Accomplishments 2007: Keynote speaker at Rice University for the Environmental Club’s Conference entitled who’s Earth is it People, Petrochemicals and Environmental Justice March /24/2007: Nominate for the “Sri Ravi Shankar Award” for Uplifting Human Values. March/21/2006: Won 3.5 million dollars and other amenities for the underserved communities that boarder the Fence line of the Motiva refinery in the City of Port Arthur TX. 2006: “Houston Hero” Award by Citizen League for Environmental Action Now (CLEAN) 2005: Instrumental in helping to stop HB-1711 and the Joe Barton Bill in Washington DC that would of allowed polluting industry to scale back the clean air laws and regulation 2005: Instrumental in having violation charges brought against Premcor refinery by the EPA 2005: Woodmen of  The World Life Insurance Society “Conservation Award “ 2004: Freed Family Support Group Award for Innovative Community Advocacy 2002: Environmental Justice Award / Sierra Club Lone Star Chapter 2001: Blocked a permit that would of allowed a refinery to dump 525 tons of toxins into the air 2000.

 Keynote Speaker: Future Leaders of America Summit/ High School Students / Port Arthur TX. Testified before U.S. Senate regarding environmental health effects of changes in Clean Air Act Testified before Texas Legislature in support of school air monitoring bill Presenter at Shell International Shareholder’s meeting London / U.K. Co-Authoring reports on pollution from petrochemical flaring with Eric Schaffer / Environmental Integrity Project (in process) 1995: Started the first anti gang anti drug theater outreach program in a housing project for at risk youth. Lock wood Gardens Housing project Oakland CA. 1996: received Certificate of appreciation from the City of Oakland CA. for out standing work in the community with the “anti gang violence program” Mission The Community In-Power and Development Association (CIDA) is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization that empowers residents of the low-income Port Arthur, Texas community to take action against the neighboring chemical manufacturers polluting our air, land, and water.   CIDA was founded in 2000 with the belief that chemical polluters should be held accountable for the chronic, systematic poisoning of low-income communities living along the “fence line” of their operations.  

Stephen is currently a sophomore in college pursuing his Environmental Science Bachelors Degree at California State University, Chico in Northern California.  He is currently spending his 2007 spring semester in Port Arthur gaining a more in depth insight on current environmental issues our generation faces in the new millennium.  Training involving the numerous air monitoring processes, press conferences, and community involvement strategies; learning many aspects of the fight from a grassroots level. Stephen is very proud and privileged to take part in the fight for a cleaner, safer environment.

* Recent activities include Cerex UV Hound air monitoring sampling and training in the cities of Pensacola, Florida and Port Arthur, Texas. 

John helped the Holy Cross community build and maintain the Delery Street Riverfront Playground. Following hurricane Katrina John worked as a volunteer with Rebuilding Together to repair 150 homes for the elderly and disabled. He has been a plaintiff in successful lawsuits against the Corps of Engineers over open meetings, and over the treatment of toxic sediments in the Industrial Canal, bringing on a supplemental EIS for the Lock Project. John is currently a board member of CAWIC, Citizens Against Widening the Industrial Canal, and is active in the Corps Reform Network. Additionally, John is on the member advisory board Alliance for Affordable Energy, and remains active in Pax Christi New Orleans.

*John is a recipient of the Bread and Roses Award for practice of non-violent social change (CAWIC).

Ignoring evacuation orders, Rahim remained in the city of New Orleans through Hurricane Katrina in 2005. In the chaotic days after the hurricane, out of the ad hoc relief distribution center set up at his late mother's house, he founded the Common Ground Collective. He’s traveled across the country speaking and encouraging volunteers to travel to New Orleans to work towards rebuilding community. Common Ground remains a key player in New Orleans’ recovery.

Shell has been a fixture in Norco, located 25 miles west of New Orleans, since 1929. Over the years, the plant, with its looming tanks and belching vapor stacks, has grown to the size of nine football fields. The corporation has steadily bought out property from neighboring residents, many of whom were descendants of slaves and sharecroppers who farmed the land in the days before the Civil War. Other families simply fled to escape the health hazards associated with living in Old Diamond. Most of the ones who stayed were trapped by socio-economic conditions and other family responsibilities.

A Fatal Gas Blast

According to Richard, the defining event in her decision to become an activist occurred in 1973 when a Shell pipeline exploded, knocking one house off its foundation and killing an elderly woman and a teenage boy who was mowing the lawn. Richard recalls dashing out of her mother's house one block away and spotting a body lying beneath a sheet and the 16-year-old boy, then still alive, covered with raw burns and bubbling blisters. In 1988 another major industrial accident killed seven workers and released 159 million pounds of toxins into the air. Richard got in the habit of sleeping in her clothes so she could be ready to jump out of bed and run for her life if needed.

In 1989, Richard, then a middle school teacher, founded Concerned Citizens of Norco to seek justice from Shell in the form of fair and just resettlement costs for her family and her neighbors.

Fighting Back

Over the next 13 years, Richard led a community campaign that was equal parts hard science, grassroots organizing and media savvy. She joined forces with environmentalists and researchers to release a report that showed that the Shell refinery in Norco releases more than 2 million pounds of toxic chemicals into the air each year.
In addition to serving as a community representative on a high-level EPA regulatory committee, she took her battle to the courts, acting as plaintiff in a high profile but ultimately unsuccessful class action suit against Shell. She has organized press conferences and local "bucket brigades," empowering her neighbors with specially outfitted plastic buckets so they could monitor hazardous air pollutants on their own as well as educational workshops sponsored by Xavier University's Deep South Center for Environmental Justice.

Richard also has a sharp eye for political theater. At one point she had a Web camera installed on her trailer home to broadcast live feeds of the refinery spewing petrochemical byproducts. While speaking at an international environmental conference in Holland, Richard approached Shell officials and invited them to take a sniff from a bag of Norco air.
Her untiring efforts have attracted powerful allies including U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters and helped spur an investigation by the EPA that faulted Shell for failing to ensure plant safety and for falsifying its emissions reporting, a practice confirmed by a company whistleblower. Throughout the campaign, Richard, who the local media calls Norco's "chief rabble-rouser," faced stiff resistance from Shell officials who aggressively discouraged her group from seeking outside counsel and refused to hold open meetings with community members.

"There were times I thought it was an impossible task," Richard recalled. "I remember standing in my yard thinking, 'Lord, will there ever be hope?' But a little voice within me kept saying, 'If we don't tell them, how will they know?'"

No More Shell Games

In 2000, thanks largely to Richard's efforts, Shell agreed to reduce its emissions by 30 percent and improve its emergency evacuation routes. Shell also agreed to pay voluntary relocation costs for residents who lived on the two streets closest to the plant. But Richard and Concerned Citizens turned up the heat, leading to a meeting at the Shell offices in Norco where they secured a $5 million community development fund and full relocation for all four Old Diamond streets. Since the agreement was brokered in 2002, Shell has bought about 200 of the 225 lots at a minimum price of $80,000 per lot.

A Victory for Environmental Justice

In addition to being the first community relocation victory of its kind in the Deep South, Richard's success in Norco has been an inspiring example for activists’ nationwide battling environmental racism in their own backyards. People of color are more likely than whites to live near areas polluted by industrial plants; seventy-one percent of African-Americans live in counties that don't meet federal air pollution standards. As a consequence, blacks suffer disproportionately from respiratory and other environmental ailments, studies show. Community protest against these conditions has produced a uniquely American brand of activism that is equal parts civil rights and environmentalism. Richard stands at the forefront of this important social justice movement. "Every time we as black Americans stand up for what is right, they say it's for greed of money. It's a fight for longevity," Richard has said. "If we don't put a face to it, we can't make change. Truth and justice for the betterment of life, the environment and government is the stairway to upward mobility."

Activist-At-Large

After passing her presidency of Concerned Citizens to another member, Richard has become an activist-at-large. She continues to work with Shell on an initiative to improve community and environmental health and safety in Norco. She advises other communities battling corporate pollution including the African-American neighborhood of Westside in Port Arthur, Texas, which borders a refinery owned by Premcor, one of the nation's largest independent oil refineries. Port Arthur has the highest rates of respiratory illness in the state; more than 20,000 children in the area are exposed to toxins that can cause cancer, learning disabilities and birth defects, according to a recent study.

Richard's activism has also taken her abroad. In 2002 she spoke at the World Summit on Sustainable Development and met with citizen groups in South Africa struggling with contamination from industrial run-off. This year, as in years past, she plans to help lead an international delegation to Royal Dutch/Shell's annual general meeting (April 24-25) in London where she will pressure the corporation to take responsibility for its dirty industrial practices and the medical costs associated with treating environmental illness.
"Whether she's on the steps of the U.N. or in Nigeria, or in her own front yard, she is not intimidated by whatever circumstances she is faced with," said Maura Wood of the Sierra Club's regional office in Louisiana. "She sets out to get the message of her community out to the world."

When I left Togo I began to learn about pollution from oil drilling in Nigeria. I was really upset by it, knowing how my family in Togo would have suffered if their farmland had been polluted. It broke my heart to see people lose their livelihood - their farmland, their fishing - because of pollution. I started to help communities in Nigeria, and in 1999 moved home to Louisiana to work with communities here. I knew my own state suffered, also, from pollution.

After moving home I founded the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, an environmental health and justice organization using grassroots action to achieve neighborhoods free from industrial pollution. I worked with the Concerned Citizens of Norco to achieve relocation from Shell Oil, and am now supporting the St. Bernard Citizens for Environmental Quality in their campaign with Exxon. It was been one of the joys of my life to work with Margie Richard, Iris Carter, and Ken Ford.

Moving back into the family home, but never more than five miles from a chemical plant she noticed the changes in her mother’s health. She started having all types of respiratory problems and joint stiffness. She went from being a no-pill taker to an over-the-counter junky. Not to mention Sonyja health was declining as well.

It was not until this time that she really began to look closely at the health of her community. Having worked in a research capacity for over ten years in the biological and agricultural science; I knew fist hand the harmful effects of exposure to toxic substances long and short term.

She recalled the deaths of at least two dozen people in the neighborhood. They had all died from some type of cancer and over half of those lived on Sonyja’s street. There is no doubt in her mind that the health problems seen in her community are attributed to the various toxins in the air released from the surrounding chemical plants.

Sonyja is tired of big industry quietly poisoning her community thereby decreasing our quality of life, our health and our property value. IT’S TIME FOR ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE!