2016 WEC Annual Awards Dinner Ad Journal | Page 10

WEC coordinated a winning campaign resulting in OSHA approving New Jersey’s plan for public workers that included $1.7
million in federal funds.
WEC and allies won a state Environmental Equity policy issued by DEP to give plant neighbors in affected communities and
workers the earliest possible notification of permit applications filed by polluting facilities.
DEP puts chemical inventory information online in response to WEC campaign demand.

2001

After September 11, WEC opposed the lockdown of public access to right to know information stating, “In an open society,
people deserve to know what hazards they face in their communities and workplaces so they can protect themselves. This is
not an academic discussion in NJ where chemical fires, spills and explosions occur far too often.”
WEC co-sponsored with the Blue/Green Working Group and The Public Health Institute, The Heat is On: What Will Global
Warming Mean for NJ Jobs and the Environment program, the first workshop in NJ on climate change for workers.
WEC held its first Annual Awards Reception honoring John Sweeney, President of AFL-CIO; Reginald Johnson, President
of Metuchen-Edison NAACP; Eric Scherzer and Jane Nogaki, WEC’s first Board Co-Chairs; and Patients First coalition.

2002

WEC released Healthy Schools in New Jersey: Preventing Hazards to Students, School Employees, and Construction
Workers report that recommendedpolicies to ensure healthy school environments.
WEC helped secure funding for the NJ Environmental Justice Alliance.

2003

WEC won regulation issued by NJDEP to prevent catastrophic accidents resulting from “reactive” chemical processes. This
was the first policy of its kind issued by any state in the nation.
Assisted residents in Long Branch regarding the community’s air, soil, and water contamination, and health impacts caused
by the remediation of an old gasification plant located in a residential area, resulting in improved remediation safeguards.

2004

WEC and allies won an Executive Order on Environmental Justice signed by Governor McGreevey establishing the
Environmental Justice Advisory Council in DEP.
WEC met with survivors of the 1984 Bhopal India chemical disaster, in which a Union Carbide plant leaked tons of toxic
gas, killing thousands of people in an hour.

2005

WEC defeated the NJ Attorney General’s proposed rule to weaken the Open Public Records Act and cover up information
about toxic dangers.
WEC alerted the press to asbestos dangers at the former WR Grace plant in Hamilton, NJ,which led the NJ Attorney General
to file a civil case against the company and its executives and launch a criminal investigation.
WEC with the NJ Environmental Justice Alliance won a state law to reduce diesel emissions from school buses, garbage
trucks, and other public vehicles.
WEC won DEP Administrative Orders enabling workers and union participation in inspections at New Jersey’s most
hazardous facilities. This was the first policy of its kind in the nation.
WEC won nation’s first requirement that 43 of New Jersey’s potentially most hazardous chemical plants evaluate whether
they might adopt “built-in” safety measures, called IST (Inherently Safer Technology).

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