Would you want a plastic “recycling” plant 200 feet from your house? Help fight for your neighbors and wildlife!
TLDR: a billion dollar corp (W.R. Grace) with a history of contaminating cities across the country recently sold some of its land adjacent its Columbia HQ facility. The developers who sold the new housing told prospective residents (Cedar Creek development) that the W.R. Grace campus was largely administrative (e.g., accounting, HR, etc.). Now W.R. Grace plans to build a plastic Research & Development (R&D) facility right next to them and the Robinson Nature Center in Columbia, MD. This plastic melting facility will absolutely omit toxic gasses and create toxic waste. This type of facility does not belong in residential and wild-preservation areas!
What can you do?
- Email your councilmember so they know you side with the people and not billion-dollar corporations who are only beholdened to profit and NOT the environment or people! The email doesn’t have to be long — Subject: “stop WR Grace!” Or “support ZRA CB11-2025”. They will know what you’re talking about. Find your council person’s email here: https://data.howardcountymd.gov/DataExplorer/Search.aspx?Application=CouncilMember
- Sign this petition https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdV94vDgvn2zjKBaNjHae2jqK9_BxFt1BxvpNZVajqamt3EOQ/viewform?usp=send_form
- Take more actions & stay in the know https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Qwe1rHzvcnphUQollntoHnDjmfdDx8cbBLClAI__4o0/edit
Why we don't trust W.R. Grace:
WR Grace has a terrible track record on contamination. Baltimore contamination: https://www.nab.usace.army.mil/WRGrace/**. Columbia contamination:** https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/hwcorrectiveaction/hazardous-waste-cleanup-wr-grace-co-columbia-md_.html WR Grace other contamination history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._R._Grace_and_Company#Contamination_incidents
Other information here: https://stopgraceplasticpermit.my.canva.site/
Where we are now:
Residents have been organizing for months to stop this billion dollar company from polluting our neighbors and city! https://www.wmar2news.com/local/weve-had-enough-community-pushes-back-against-controversial-plastic-recycling-project
There is a proposed zoning amendment up for vote on March 3 by the county council. Your councilmembers need to hear from you - write them to tell them to support CB-11-2025. CB-11-2025 would help stop WR Grace! It states:
AN ACT amending the Howard County Zoning Regulations to add the Research and Development Laboratory use to the Planned Employment Center (PEC) zoning district and prohibiting such research and development uses that involve commercial plastic pellets or feedstock which produces flue gas and requires a permit from the state of Maryland; and generally relating to research and development laboratory uses in the PEC zoning district.
EDIT: Share with people you know and upvote. WR Grace supporters are downvoting this post.
EDIT2: WR Grace supporters must be pretty scared for this information to get out because they are downvoting a lot!
EDIT3: Thanks everyone for sharing and upvoting! The most important thing is for information to be disseminated so we can make informed decisions about our community. This is not an attack on WR Grace or its employees. We all love science and research! What we don’t like is corporate greed and risks of contamination in residential and wild life areas!!
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