Sign the petition urging corporations to take responsibility for the open space preservation and clean up of the toxic Bishop Tube site.
Stand with residents and urge Johnson Matthey Inc. and Whittaker Corporation to take responsibility for the toxic cleanup and protection of nature that the law and morality dictate.
Set back from easy access or view, next to the residents of General Warren Village and upstream from those who live along Little Valley Creek, sits Bishop Tube. Bishop Tube is an old, dilapidated industrial site oozing toxins, including cancer-causing TCE, heavy metals and more, which saturate the site’s soil and groundwater. Over the decades, as those responsible for addressing the site’s contamination have sought to evade their moral and/or legal obligations, nature has been overtaking the site with much-needed trees, shrubs, wild plants, and wildlife that need a place to go in this quickly urbanizing community.
The wealthy corporations responsible for cleaning up the toxic contamination—including Johnson Matthey Inc. and Whittaker Corporation—are investing in lawyers to (as far as we can see) try to minimize their cleanup obligations rather than investing these funds in efforts to, as quickly as possible, clean up the toxic contamination that has been spreading for more than 30 years into nearby environments and communities. Meanwhile, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection—until threatened with legal action— had spent years helping a local developer, Constitution Drive Partners, secure a sweetheart deal that would allow construction of nearly 100 residential homes on the site despite its toxic condition.
We need your help to stop the insanity.
Please stand with impacted communities who have suffered health harms, the ever-present fear of ongoing toxic exposure, and the very real concern that new families will suffer if residential development of the site is allowed.
Help us call on Johnson Matthey Inc. and Whittaker Corporation to take meaningful, protective action. Rather than invest in lawyers, they should invest these funds in clean-up efforts and should contribute the money needed for the community to purchase and protect the Bishop Tube site as public, natural, open space.
Sign and share this petition now. Your signature, along with thousands of others, will send a powerful message to the responsible corporations: they should do right by the people of General Warren Village and surrounding communities who have been so deeply harmed by the toxins polluting this site. They should ensure the site is preserved as clean, green, natural open space beneficial to people and nature.
While you’re at it, in just 2 clicks, send a tweet to urge the companies to put up the money to protect the site as clean & natural open space. Clicking this link will allow you to send just the right tweet: https://ctt.ec/1VAqM
The toxic Bishop Tube site has been allowed to fester for far too long, damaging people and nature. It’s time for full clean up and protection as natural, open space. It’s time for Johnson Matthey Inc. and Whittaker Corporation to make it right but not just fulfilling their legal cleanup obligation, but ensure this last oasis of nature is protected as green open space for present and future generations.
Subject line: Bishop Tube Site – Doing What is Right
From: People of the Community Who Have Suffered Enough
Decades of neglected responsibility for the toxic condition of the Bishop Tube site has harmed families and the natural environment. At this point, Johnson Matthey & Whittaker Corporation are among those responsible for ensuring clean-up of the toxic Bishop Tube site. To make it right, in addition to complying with your legal cleanup obligations, you need to put up the money necessary to protect this site as natural, open space. This will ensure that no additional families will be exposed to its toxic conditions and the existing communities that surround the site—who have suffered too deeply for too long—do not lose this last little pocket of nature in the heart of their community.
The contamination at Bishop, with its spreading pollution plume, has cost the residents of General Warren Village their health, sense of safety, property values, and qualities of life. Those who live along Little Valley Creek, downstream of the site, have also been impacted. It adds unconscionable insult to injury if—in addition to decades of toxic harm—this site is developed.
Bishop Tube is supersaturated with TCE and other toxic solvents and contaminated with heavy metals. The site sends vinyl chloride, PFAS, and other dangerous contaminants downstream. Neighbors of Bishop Tube have been exposed to the site’s contamination for well over 3 decades. Kids have played in the creek infused with dangerous pollutants discharging from the site.
It’s time for Johnson Matthey Inc. and Whittaker Corporation to step up and make this right. It’s time to fulfill your legal cleanup obligations and to take the extra step of putting forth the funds necessary to purchase this site and protect it as natural open space so the site, the people, and nature can have the time they need to heal, and future generations can benefit from a green space.
Johnson Matthey, the tagline on your website states; “Our vision is for a world that’s cleaner and healthier; today and for future generations.” It’s time to see this vision through for the neighbors and downstream residents of Bishop Tube. Put forth the financial resources necessary to protect Bishop Tube as clean, green, natural open space.
Urgently signed,
[your name will go here] [your location will go here]