South Camden Citizens in Action/Camden Environmental Justice Coalition
P.O. Box 2940, Camden, New Jersey
October 30, 2001

 

Robert C. Shinn, Commissioner
NJ Department of Environmental Protection
401 East State Street
Trenton, NJ 08625-0402

Dear Commissioner Shinn:

The members of South Camden Citizens in Action and the Camden Environmental Justice Coalition cordially invite you to spend a night in the Waterfront South community of Camden.

If there is no "disparate (health) impact" on the residents of Waterfront South from the St. Lawrence Cement Company, and the many other polluting facilities in our community, as the NJDEP's impact analysis claims, then you should feel free to accept our invitation. Perhaps those who prepared the impact analysis ought to join you as well.

If you and your staff accept our invitation, we hope that you won't have to sit up in bed until exhaustion forces you to go to sleep, as our children have to do because they can't breathe well at night and are kept awake coughing. We hope that when you awaken, you won't have coughing and gagging fits, fighting to catch your breath, as we do each morning because of the cement dust and other pollution. And we hope you won't be awakened by the sound of numerous trucks spouting diesel fumes and thundering through our neighborhood with granulated blast furnace slag for delivery to the cement plant.

We advise you not to exert yourself too much physically because you'll probably have to use an inhaler, as do the students at Sacred Heart School after recess. You should wear old clothes and drive an older model car so the cement dust and pollutants from the incinerator and other facilities won't ruin them. If you find the odor of garbage offensive, then please wear something to prevent you from smelling the foul odors from the sewage treatment plant. Look both ways before crossing the streets so the St. Lawrence trucks won't run you down!

Bring bottled water because our city water is often filtered sludge. And please remember not to walk near the Superfund site that's contaminated with radioactive thorium. Also don't sit in the park in our neighborhood; the nearby pollution is bad for your health.

We can arrange for your visit at your convenience. Please accept our invitation, and have a pleasant stay.

Sincerely yours,

South Camden Citizens in Action/Camden Environmental Justice Coalition