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Projects Within KEF's Issue Areas

Chemical Weapons Working Group
Project

During World War II and the Cold War, the US Army created hundreds of thousands of tons of chemical weapons, filled with lethal nerve and mustard agents. Fortunately these weapons were never used on political 'enemies'. However, the weapons posed a serious health and safety threat to the communities living near the military based where they were stored.

One of these bases is the Blue Grass Army Depot in Richmond, KY. When the Army proposed to incinerate the weapons, local residents, parents and others were outraged and concerned about the impacts of toxic incinerator emissions on our health and the environment.

KEF formed the Chemical Weapons Working (CWWG) in 1991 as a coalition of residents concerned about building chemical weapons incinerators at the stockpile sites in eight locations in the continental US and one site on an island in the Pacific. The CWWG succeeded in passing groundbreaking federal legislation that mandated the research and implementation of safer non-incineration weapons disposal technologies, which were/are being used at four sites, including Kentucky.

The ongoing work of KEF's CWWG Project in Kentucky includes:

  • Oversight of federal chemical demilitarization budgets and schedules to keep the program on track without sacrificing public health and safety;
  • Leadership on local advisory boards such as the Chemical Demilitarization Community Advisory Board and the Citizens Advisory Commission, to ensure broad public involvement in decision making;
  • Review of proposed modifications to the weapons disposal technology in the context of environmental health and justice;
  • Providing a framework for assessment of safe alternatives to problematic technologies or worker safety threats.


For more comprehensive information on KEF’s CWWG Project
please refer to the CWWG web site.

Clean Air, Clean Energy Project

KEF's Clean Energy, Clean Air Project is focused on providing practical solutions to the health, environmental and economic problems associated with energy generation.

We are particularly interested in coordinating educational outreach and demonstration projects with health care providers and professionals that:

  • help medical offices and institutions save money by saving electricity and generate electricity in a manner that does not contribute to poor health;
  • distribute information on the link between energy and our health so that people have information to make healthy living choices;
  • feed energy policy discussions and debates with strong messages on the need for better health; and
  • prevent the unnecessary health care costs by preventing illness from energy-related pollution.

KEF's activities as part of the Clean Air, Clean Energy Project include:

  • Coordinating a Health Impact Assessment to provide a foundation for good health-based decision making on Kentucky's energy choices.
  • Promoting an energy efficiency and renewable energy portfolio for East Kentucky Power Cooperative and contributing to other power plant campaigns.
  • Shaping a new, clean energy policy in Kentucky with the Kentucky Sustainable Energy Alliance.
  • Distributing Energy and Health educational materials and energy efficiency tools (e.g. CFLs) through partnerships with clinics, hospitals, health departments and physicians' offices.
  • Engaging health care providers and other public health professionals in promoting good health through clean energy.
  • Providing forums for ongoing education and dialogue for and with health care professionals via conference call series, webinars and face-to-face meetings.

Toxics & Health Project

Did you know there are more than 80,000 chemicals in the marketplace today, and only a fraction of them have ever been tested for health or safety? We are exposed to these chemicals through common, household products and in the water we drink, the air we breathe and the food we eat. Some communities are disproportionately impacted by toxic chemical emissions from chemical production facilities, waste incinerators and the like.

KEF is a member of many national and international coalitions and campaigns working to reform the chemical industry, to curb toxic chemical emissions and exposures and promote tangible solutions that benefit our health, the environment and economies at all levels.

Our activities include:

  • Coordinating educational and advocacy activities among health, environmental and justice groups in Kentucky and the southeast US in partnership with the Safer Chemicals Healthy Families campaign, focused on reform of federal laws regulating toxic chemicals.
  • Designing and implementing media and messaging strategies to highlight the problem of toxic chemical exposures and clear examples of safer solutions being deployed in communities and among industry leaders.
  • Conducting educational presentations and group discussions on the impacts of pollution on public health, using our Windows of Vulnerability and Contaminated Without Consent materials and linking informaiton to action.
  • Providing hands-on demonstrations of safe, inexpensive 'green cleaners' through our Clean & Healthy Homes project, which helps immediately reduce harmful chemicals in the home and encourages participation in market and policy campaigns.
 
 


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