LOUISIANA BUCKET BRIGADE

The goal of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade is to end petrochemical pollution in Louisiana.
Big Oil and chemical companies are able to operate profitably in Louisiana because they use our state as a dumping ground. The industry does not pay for the externalized costs of its pollution, including health problems from exposure to emissions, environmental degradation, cost of missed school and work days from pollution related illness, loss of recreation due to pollution and so much more.

1. Support the people most impacted by pollution. We work with communities in Louisiana adjacent to oil refineries and chemical plants.
2. MOVEMENTS: Participate in the broader movement(s) for health and justice
3. MONITORING: Document pollution and accidents as they happen.
4. MEDIA: Communicate those accidents to the media, public officials and other relevant parties

We provide technical assistance in the realm of
1. Organizing: Door to door work, community meetings, using technology in organizing with our iWitness Pollution Map and via texting.
2. Media: getting coverage featuring pollution problems in communities and the remarkable stories of ordinary people standing up to Big Oil.
3. Emergency Response: We go door to door after petrochemical accidents to document the problem and help residents organize for solutions
4. Crowd-sourcing: Our use of crowdsourcing is training residents to document pollution when they experience it. iWitnesspollution.org is the largest collection of crowd sourced environmental data in the world.
5. Monitoring: We train community members to document pollution problems.

The Louisiana Bucket Brigade is:
1) In St. Rose - After a leak from a tank farm made residents so sick they went to the hospital, we helped organize the community and forced Shell/IMTT to install pollution control equipment. Our ongoing work helped to organize a new group – St. Rose Community One Voice. Watch the videos of their local leaders!
2) Deep in the files at the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality: Our work with their air monitoring records in St. Rose revealed that, despite the state and company claims, the community was exposed to a neurotoxin – hydrogen sulfide – from the leaking tank farm.
3) Meeting with the top dog at the Environmental Protection Agency. We met with Administrator Gina McCarthy twice in 2014. In one meeting we introduced Martha Huckabay of St. Rose. Martha was so compelling that the Administrator ordered the EPA to start monitoring the air in St. Rose.
4) In the streets: our Mardi Gras Krewe, Crude d'illusion, handed out 1,500 hand painted oyster shells with messages of oil and the environment. We sold Frack Free (for now) Abita Beer in downtown New Orleans. We also represented Louisiana in the Climate March in New York. Louisiana is ground zero for climate change. We want the world to know we are taking action.
5) In the media: Our press work resulted in 60+ news stories. This is crucial work. Without steady work to further our point of view, the oil industry totally controls the narrative.
6) At the Louisiana legislature: Wrote (thank you Tulane Public Law Clinic), introduced and passed bill through Louisiana legislature's Natural Resources Committee to put air monitors in low-income neighborhoods next to polluting facilities.
7) With a General: we are proud to be part of a powerful new movement - the GreenARMY. We are dedicated to this movement and have led actions throughout the year, including two breakfasts, to forge solidarity and a common vision.
8) Knocking on doors: the Louisiana Bucket Brigade has the largest collection of community reports (crowdsourced) in the U.S. Our iWitness Pollution Map helped to shine the light on polluters, with over 1,000 reports from around Louisiana throughout the year. Our Emergency Response Team deployed to eight communities. We knocked on 1,011 doors and talked with 874 people in the aftermath of accidents.
9) Helping to strengthen laws: We were part of a team that submitted comments to the EPA to create tougher federal environmental standards. These standards, known as the Refinery Rule, will eliminate exemptions for refineries and, for the first time ever, require air monitoring.
10) Tracking refinery accidents: Our Refinery Accident Database is a one of its kind, searchable tool. Every week our team of researchers combs through refinery accident records. In the last year their work made over 300 refinery accidents public. Go online now to learn more about the refinery near you.