Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 8, 1991 TAG: 9102080558
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: DONNA WHITMARSH SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: FLOYD LENGTH: Short
"Small, rural, low-income counties like Floyd are targets for hazardous and medical waste dumps," Lois Gibbs told county officials and others recently. "You've got to stop it in the beginning."
Gibbs, 39, started her environmental work in 1978 when she led the successful struggle of the residents of Love Canal at Niagara Falls, N.Y., to be compensated for the health and financial disasters resulting from a toxic waste dump in their neighborhood.
The clearinghouse, with headquarters in Falls Church, is nearing its 10th anniversary. It works with over 7,000 local groups nationwide against polluters, providing training and information.
The Floyd office, dedicated Friday, is at Main and Locust streets.
Gibbs, an energetic, dark-haired woman, has a son in his freshman year at Virginia Tech, and a 10-week-old baby. She says she's a homemaker whose house is a mess because she's always busy doing environmental work.
She emphasized that the movement for environmental justice is a national one, and that all communities that fight for a safer environment are joining in a national effort.
She applauded the decision of the Floyd County Board of Supervisors to resist pressures to accept trash from other counties in the local landfill.
"Localities have got to tell the nation that they're not going to take it anymore," she said. "Everybody must take care of their own backyard."
by CNB