Please read the letter below and fill out the form to take action to support the effort to close down the Bristol City Landfill Please contact kgebre@vaipl.org with any questions.
Dear Senator Pillion, Delegate O'Quinn, DEQ, and EPA,
Clean air is a fundamental human right. It is especially vital for children and the elderly, who are among the most vulnerable to the impacts of inhaling toxic pollutants. The Bristol City Landfill violates this right as it exposes residents in Bristol City VA and Bristol, TN to leaking pollutants such as methane gas, benzene, and additional toxic volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
Since 1998, the Bristol City Landfill has threatened the air and groundwater quality of Bristol city residents. This problem is made worse by the proximity of the quarry landfill to an environmental justice community and a juvenile detention center only yards away from the landfill. The EPA’s Environmental Justice mapper shows the health impacts of the landfill are being disproportionately carried by the handicapped, communities of color, and poor whites (with incomes under $25,000 a year, less than high school education, and inadequate access to health care) who live around the quarry landfill.
The continuation of the Bristol landfill is a threat to the health and dignity of the residents of Bristol and our children at the Juvenile Detention Center. As a person of conscience, I sign this petition to express my solidarity with the communities of Bristol, VA and Bristol, TN for their health and safety concerns stemming from the presence of this massive landfill. Their suffering is an affront to my moral values and should be to our leaders in the city, state, and federal government.
I urge Senator Pillion and Delegate O'Quinn to assist the people of Bristol, VA, and Bristol, to immediately close this landfill as the residents of both cities have requested in their letter dated December 23, 2021. I further request that the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) work with other state agencies conduct health risk and comprehensive health impact assessments.
I further urge the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the DEQ to consider the principles of environmental justice as the landfill is closest to Black and low-income residents.
Kindly,
Thank you for taking action to support the people of Bristol!
There are two ways to give. To give online, go to: https://onrealm.org/fpcbristol/-/form/give/nowSelect the "Minister's Discretionary Fund", and put "Purifiers" in the memo. You can also mail a check to the church. Write "Minister's Discretionary Fund/Purifiers" in the memo. You can send that to 701 Florida Ave, Bristol, TN 37620. All donors will get a tax deduction letter.
