Community Safety Plan Petition Drive: We need your help!
HOPE for Bristol has created a petition for a “Community Safety Plan” for residents affected by the Bristol Virginia Landfill. We need your signatures, and we need your help!
On February 14, 2023, the Community Safety Plan petition was submitted to Bristol Virginia City Council, along with the signatures of 600 area residents. We are continuing to collect signatures to submit in the weeks ahead. Copies of the petition and of blank signature forms can be downloaded using the buttons below.
A Safety Plan is typically developed to protect residents around a facility when a significant site remediation or environmental clean-up is planned. We at HOPE for Bristol, in consultation with experts we trust, believe that a Community Safety Plan is essential to protect our community during the work planned in 2023 for the Bristol VA Landfill.
We know from past rounds of drilling that the off-site emissions increase drastically during these activities. We also know that some residents are barely managing to endure the current levels of landfill emissions. Some families have evacuated short-term or long-term, but many others do not have the means to do so.
For these reasons, we have drafted a petition letter to the City of Bristol, VA, requesting that they form a Community Safety Plan to address the following concerns:
- First, INFORM residents of day-to-day risks from the landfill, and establish an alert system. Communication of daily activities and explanation of the alert system are key.
- Second, install long-term MONITORING for our air, and provide free monitors to homes at risk from underground landfill gas migration.
- Finally, we request RELIEF options for residents suffering from the landfill’s ongoing emissions. It could be Fall 2023 or later before the landfill’s emissions are reduced. Some residents cannot hold out for much longer in their homes. Based on feedback from our recent community survey, we are suggesting hotel vouchers for heavily-impacted residents who need to escape. We understand this is an extra expense for the City, but temporary relocation has been provided before for residents affected by other landfills. Safety plans can provide for such temporary relocation options.
If you’d like to sign the petition or help us collect signatures, please reach out to us! We’d love to know where you are collecting signatures and provide you with support or supplies. Additionally, we want to be sure that we don’t canvass the same streets twice.
Completed signatures forms can be submitted to HOPE for Bristol. We will scan copies of the signature forms before presenting them to Bristol Virginia at future council meetings. Thank you for joining us in this important petition drive!