[ Indistinct conversations ] >> We were going to scream at the top of our heads until we could find a way to stop them.

[ Tires screech ] Bring the media.

Bring the press.

Bring the noise.

We're in a fight for our lives.

>> Throughout the 1990s, the predominately poor African American residents living in the city of Chester just outside of Philadelphia organized a movement to stop the permitting of waste-treatment facilities in their community.

>> They saw fit to issue permit after permit after permit after permit after permit in little old Chester.

Why?

Because of the way that people view communities of color, point blank, period.

>> Chester is the worst example of I would call environmental racism of any place I've ever seen, and I'd never -- I don't use that term lightly.

>> See, this was invasion.

The residents were there before the facility was.

>> Under the leadership of Zulene Mayfield, Chester residents concerned for quality living became a national symbol for the growing environmental justice movement.

>> I don't think I was an agitator.

I think I was a person who has a right to stand up.

>> They wanted people to know that they were done being dumped on, that things were going to be different.

♪ >> Major funding for "Justice in Chester" is provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, The Heinz Endowments, the William Penn Foundation, and by the Ned Smith Center for Nature & Art -- offering educational programming in its classrooms, art in its gallery spaces, and over 12 miles of hiking trails on its 500-plus acres in Millersburg, Pennsylvania.

More at nedsmithcenter.org.

>> Chester is located 18 miles from Philadelphia in Delaware County.

This small city measures just 4.8 square miles and is home to numerous waste-treatment facilities and companies that handle hazardous material.

75% of the population is African American.

30% live below the poverty line.

>> There are really beautiful houses in some parts of Chester, a lovely public park, but if you go down to Booth Street and the area near the waterfront, that's where you'll see all of the industry and the noxious stuff that's down there, and you can see the haziness in the air from the effluent that's coming out of the incinerator.

>> Just imagine what half of the toilets flushing in the county would smell like if you're on the receiving end of it.

That might give you some idea, not to mention the stuff you can't necessarily smell like the toxic chemicals that come off of the incineration.

>> People who live there have multiple assaults on their health because a lot of them are poor, and then when you factor in a polluted environment, it's sort of like a triple or quadruple whammy every single day of your life.

>> My uncle used to say, "Oh, we have a cancer gene," and we never factored into things that were impacting us environmentally by being next to these plants, and you just -- you never made a correlation because it was never taught to you.

I have very fond memories of Chester growing up.

My family home was in between two tracks.

CSX trains ran on both tracks, and they carried everything from bikes to all sorts of goods, TVs, everything, but also, they carried chemicals.

All we know is the train would go down the tracks, and it would be a white powder or green powder or sometime blue powder, and we literally would actually go up and play in it, throw it at each other.

We had no idea what it was.

In hindsight, we knew that it was some pretty nasty stuff.

>> Historically, Chester's location along the Delaware River made it an ideal place to make and ship goods.

Once a prosperous and wealthy community with shipbuilding, textile, and machinery industries, it was a major manufacturing center during the First and Second World Wars.

>> But then after 1970 when de-industrialization took hold, Chester lost a lot of its industrial base, and at that time, most of the white people in Chester moved out, so Chester became a predominately black, economically disadvantaged place.

It's sort of like a chain reaction economically, and the options of getting out of that spiral down are less and less.

Community leaders get desperate, and they look for whatever alternatives they can find, and sometimes that includes an incinerator project.

>> In 1988, Westinghouse requested a permit from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to site a trash-to-steam incinerator in Chester.

When it opened in 1992, it was one of the largest in the country.

Not only did it burn all of Delaware County's waste, the incinerator drew trash from surrounding states including Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Ohio.

>> It sort of opened the floodgates, and all of a sudden, it seemed like the go-to place for all waste disposal.

>> They told us it was a trash-to-steam plant.

It would create jobs.

It would create money.

It was something that we really, really needed because Chester desperately needed jobs.

>> I noticed a lot of trash and debris that was always in front of my property, and not knowing where it was coming from, we just cleaned up as went along, but one day, I had a flyer come into my doorway about a community meeting making complaints about the same things.

They did not take in consideration the effect that it would have on the residents with hundreds of trucks invading their community on a daily basis.

All they could see is truck traffic and smoke and smelled the stench of, you know, burning waste.

>> Residents had a lengthy list of complaints.

Heavy traffic cracked the foundations of their homes.

Loud noises kept people up all hours of the night.

Thick, black smoke was polluting the air.

They urged Westinghouse management and city officials to hold a public meeting to hear their concerns.

>> I lived directly across the street from the incinerator, but my mother, who lived 12, 13 blocks away from it, received a flyer in the mail about a meeting, so when she showed me the flyer, I'm like, "Well, how did you get this, Mom, and I didn't get one?"

And I'm directly across the street, so after talking to my neighbors, none of us had received a flyer, so that's what made me really want to go the meeting.

>> Industry and government officials assured residents that the facility met all federal and state regulations.

They denied the incinerator posed any risk to the community.

>> So I stood up, and I said, "You know, if you as educated you've probably been, if you can't tell a better lie to us than that, then you shouldn't even be here," and I was incensed, and I walked out of the meeting.

I said, "This is a bunch of BS, and I'm not going to sit here and listen to it," and that's how we got started.

>> They were being talked down to by the industry and by the city council as if what they were saying wasn't real.

They were just exaggerating the situation, and I was horrified to see how they were responded to because I knew that the issues that they were raising were real.

We realized that in order for us to get the attention we needed, we need to organize, so at that point, I came up with the idea of Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living, CRCQL.

>> Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living, also known as CRCQL, took direct action.

On a cold day in December 1992, they held their first protest against one of the most visible invasions into their city -- the trucks carrying waste to the Westinghouse incinerator.

>> We called it the Christmas massacre [laughs] because it was in December that we did it right before Christmas, and that was our Christmas gift to the trash facility and to the county and to the city that we were going to show them that they were not welcome here.

We put our bodies on the line in front of the trucks, and then when we did that, then they began to pay attention to us.

>> As a result of the protest, Westinghouse agreed to relocate the entrance to the plant to reduce truck traffic.

Although it was a victory, there were more battles to come.

>> There was rumors that there were other companies that were coming.

It was like, "Okay, we're going to hit this community with everything all at one time.

There's no way that they can fight us."

>> Between 1986 and 1996, the PA Department of Environmental Protection issued seven permits for commercial waste facilities in Delaware County.

Five were in Chester.

>> Chester is 4.8 miles long, highly condensed.

Everything is compacted in close proximity to each other.

There should have been some scientists somewhere that said, "Wait a minute."

The cumulative effects, that should have been paused because they were not permitting facilities in other communities.

Even though at times there had been applications, their permits were denied, but they saw fit to issue permit after permit after permit after permit after permit in little old Chester.

Why?

Is there a beacon or something?

What's drawing these companies here?

They were being drawn here because they felt as though this was the path of least resistance because of the way that people view communities of color, point blank, period.

>> In the 1990s, landmark toxic waste and race studies were conducted in the U.S.

The term environmental justice began to surface.

>> Environmental justice refers to the ability of people regardless of their race or income or nationality to participate in decision-making of environmental regulations that affect their lives, in particular, the citing of what would be considered locally unwanted land uses, but also protection from pollution, protection from environmental insults.

>> The strategy was that we were going to scream at the top of our heads until we could find a way to stop them.

[ Tires screech ] [ People shouting ] >> Whoa!

>> Stay in the line.

Somebody get back in the line.

>> [ Whistles ] >> Get it out of here!

>> Bring the media.

Bring the press.

Bring the noise.

This is who we are.

This is why we're doing this.

This is what this is about.

This is what this represents to us.

We're in a fight for our lives.

At one point, one of the companies had sent their entire workforce up to our office I guess to intimidate us and to intimidate me personally.

There were also threats being given to the neighbors about what they were going to do to me.

They started a fire at my house.

My car tires were always slashed, windows were always busted out at my house and my car.

They broke in the office.

They would trash the office.

They wrote KKK on the office.

In looking back, there were a lot of reasons why I should have been afraid.

I wasn't scared.

I was pissed, because you have a position, I have a position.

I'm not coming over there burning up your plant.

Why are you so afraid?

Because I'm not afraid of you.

You got millions of dollars, an army of lawyers, security, workers, but you're all scared over little old me?

I don't think I was an agitator.

I think I was a person who has a right to stand up for themselves.

This was a very personal fight for me because I could rattle off names of people in my family who had died from cancer, so it's like, "Okay, who's the next obituary are we going to read?"

>> In 1994, President Bill Clinton issued an executive order on environmental justice.

Soon after, Chester was chosen as subject for a six-month environmental-risk study by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

>> They found that 90% of all toxic releases in Delaware County were from Chester-area sources, that Chester has the highest infant mortality rate in the state, more than double that of the county.

The mortality rate, the general death rate and lung cancer mortality rates are 60% higher of the rest of the county.

>> It's really difficult to link environmental injustice to human health because there's so many intervening factors and also because the really toxic stuff tends to go into or around communities that are very poor, and there are so many different things that can impact the health of poor people, but there is a health connection.

There's also a justice-in-equity aspect to environmental injustice.

It impacts the value of their homes.

It impacts their quality of life.

It impacts their children's education.

It impacts everything about their life in a way that's really unjust.

>> The PA Department of Environmental Protection met with Chester residents about various facility citings and permits.

>> When I came onboard, the situation in Chester, you know, was already growing, and so when it came to have permits from D.E.P, we quickly realized that there was a lot more going on in Chester that we needed to look at.

This, truthfully, really bothered me because we were part of an administration that really wanted to have the environmental process with neighborhoods, help them understand things, and so it was obvious here that our permitting process didn't take into account really social and nuisance issues in the neighborhood.

The permitting process was one facility at a time, but it was at that time that things were changing.

On the federal level, they were saying for federal projects, we really need to look at cumulative impact.

We did a lot of outreach with the neighbors and with the city officials.

They were difficult meetings because it was really difficult to explain to the neighbors why we were looking at the facility the way we were and couldn't take into the account that the trucks were lining up in front of their houses at 4:00 a.m.

I think the hardest one that I had was going down to tell the city that we were going to issue the permit.

That was a very difficult meeting.

It was what -- Using the rules on the books, it's what we had to do.

>> In 1995, Thermal Pure opened a medical waste treatment facility directly across the street from Zulene's home.

>> Thermal Pure is no longer in existence because of Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living.

Thermal Pure dealt with chemotherapeutic infectious medical waste, anything in a hospital, blood and body parts, aborted fetuses, needles -- particularly nasty, nasty, nasty facility.

They basically told us that, "We're here, we're coming, and there's nothing you can do about it ever.

We have a permit."

>> With the help of environmental attorney Jerome Balter and the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia, CRCQL filed a lawsuit against Thermal Pure claiming their permit was granted illegally.

>> Jerry Balter, there was nobody like him ever.

Fearless.

He knew that they could help us, that they could give us the legal standing and the legal backing that we needed because we were without an attorney.

He said, "Well, I think that you all have a valid point, and we can show them where they're violating the law," and we're like, "Oh, great.

We welcome you.

Please come.

We need the help."

>> He was enormously inventive in finding ways to stop polluting facilities that other people have not succeeded.

Part of it was because he delighted to work with community-based citizen groups, and part of it was because he knew the mechanics of how most of these polluting operations existed and therefore knew how to stop them.

>> The court ruled that Thermal Pure's permit was indeed granted illegally, and the plant was ordered to shut down.

In late 1994, CRCQL became aware of yet another potential hazard targeting their community.

Soil Remediation Services filed a permit application with D.E.P.

to construct a contaminated soil incineration facility.

Once again, the community mobilized, this time by filing a lawsuit accusing D.E.P.

of discrimination.

The suit alleged that D.E.P's permitting process violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act 1964 because it disproportionately impacted the predominately African American residents of Chester.

>> It got national attention because it was the first major case to use the Civil Rights Act for environmental racism issues, to really show that permitting polluters can be a violation of the Civil Rights Act.

>> So environmental lawyers and organizations around the country were watching what happened in this case with great interest.

It became a model of sorts for challenging other permitting processes in other states.

>> For two years, the case slowly wound its way through the system and eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which in the end, declared the case moot.

They ruled that the specific reason for the suit, the state's granting permission to Soil Remediation Services to construct and begin business in Chester, was a dead issue because the company's operations permit was denied while the case was on appeal.

>> They had not won the legal battle because when a case becomes moot, all of the opinions in the case become of no consequence, but for the community, it was a great victory.

>> Oh, it was absolutely a victory just because they had said we had no standing to even bring the suit, but the courts disagreed with them.

I kept the battle going on for 10 years -- 10 years of sleeping probably three, four hours a night.

For me personally, I reached a saturation point.

I said, "You know what?

Either one of two things is going to happen.

I'm going to fall out from exhaustion and be dead, or I need a break."

When I took a break, I took a clean break.

[ Laughs ] So I think you just -- you get overwhelmed.

>> When Zulene stepped down, CRCQL would soon disband.

However, in 1999, as a direct result of Zulene's tireless efforts and moving testimony, D.E.P.

developed a statewide environmental justice work group.

>> I mean, you talk about organic.

Zulene spoke from the heart, she spoke from experience, and she was relentless.

It woke a lot of us up.

>> Diesel trucks and noise and the stuff that came out of the diesel stack at that time, those were things that weren't even in the permit criteria.

That was a cumulative effect of a pollutant that wasn't listed as a pollutant in terms of somebody trying to write a permit for the facility.

That really opened up the dialogue with respect to enforcement of existing permits.

A perfect permit isn't any good if you can violate it with impunity.

When we started tinkering with how to get these different viewpoints harmonized, and if not a permit that everybody loved, a process that everybody had confidence in, we did create the position of Environmental Justice Coordinator.

>> We thought, "Let's bring everyone to the table and try to find a way to make this more understandable within the agency," just making sure that we kept a pulse of how our policies and procedures impacted all communities, but especially communities of color or low-income communities.

A big piece of environmental justice is just making sure people have a level playing field, that they have an equal opportunity for good health, for, you know, quality of life, and I think a number of our recommendations did that.

>> Now we have environmentalists sitting on a board to view and oversee things that the D.E.P.

is doing and to advise the secretary concerning issues that affect environmental justice community.

Now if somebody wants to come into a community to open a facility, they have to come to the community first before they even go to the D.E.P.

to get a permit, and so the community has been empowered.

>> One of the problems with environmental laws and permitting is it requires constant monitoring and attention, and so unless the community and the enforcement agencies stay vigilant, you'll find these problems happening again and again.

>> And if you do not protect and monitor what's going on in your community, you will be a victim.

When your government had meetings, when the zoning board meets, be present.

That is where the decisions are made.

Make sure that there are people on these boards that are environmentally friendly, that will not sell the community down the drain for a few pennies and for a few dollars.

The local municipality controls the whole environment justice issue.

>> Every citizen of Pennsylvania has certain rights to a clean, safe, healthy environment, and that's just as true if you're wealthy as it is if you're poor.

>> I'm proud because what we did, the map that we laid in Chester, was mimicked in Wilmington, Delaware, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in Louisiana, in Maryland.

We assisted a lot of groups in their battle, and we went up against billion-dollar corporations with nothing but determination.

I can't tell you what pierced my heart and say, "Get up and you get involved."

I just believe that, you know, God raises up leaders for his purpose at that particular time, and that's what happened to me.

We have the right to defend our lives.

We have the right to make sure that our children are safe.

We have an obligation to pass the baton and to advance the next generation.

That's what we're put here to do.

Be determined, be resilient, and be fearless.

♪ >> Major funding for "Justice in Chester" is provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, The Heinz Endowments, the William Penn Foundation, and by the Ned Smith Center for Nature & Art -- offering educational programming in its classrooms, art in its gallery spaces, and over 12 miles of hiking trails on its 500-plus acres in Millersburg, Pennsylvania.

More at nedsmithcenter.org."

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