Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT)

Alaska Community Action on Toxins (ACAT), founded in 1997, is driven by a core belief in environmental justice, working to protect the health of Alaska’s people and environment by reducing the use of toxins, advocating for policy changes that promote safer alternatives, conducting scientific research on toxic chemical impacts, and providing resident education and outreach. Specifically, ACAT focuses on addressing toxic chemical exposure in indigenous and rural communities in Alaska, often disproportionately affected by these chemicals due to their traditional subsistence lifestyles and reliance on local resources.  Military contamination and organic pollutants have blighted Alaska with high incidences of cancer, low birth weights, and miscarriages unseen before the 1950s. In the wake of closed Cold War bases in one area alone were 34 contaminated sites over nine square miles, including 220,000 gallons of spilled fuel, as well as heavy metals, asbestos, solvents, pesticides, and PCBs. 

ACAT has dedicated more than twenty-five years to defending Alaska’s health and natural resources. Their staff of 18 is a mix of indigenous and non-indigenous environmentalists, scientists and advocates advancing local, state, national and international actions to protect people and safeguard their air, water, and food. ACAT has engaged thousands of Alaskans through voter programs and supported educational programs ranging from human rights to organic gardening. They’ve also secured policy victories limiting pesticide use and securing global bans on chemicals that harm Arctic ecosystems and Indigenous peoples through work on the negotiation and implementation of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Pollutants. Currently, ACAT is focused on holding corporations and industries accountable for the PFAS chemicals endangering Alaska. They’ve partnered with other environmental organizations to urge state legislators to pass Senate Bill 121 to protect the people’s drinking water.

For more information:

OPINION: Dunleavy’s veto of ‘forever chemicals’ ban betrays Alaskans and harms our health – Anchorage Daily News Opinion, September 2023

Talk of Alaska: New proposed PFAS regulations – Alaska Public Media/PBS, April 2023

Issues Of The Environment: Progressive Effort To Remove Harmful Chemicals From Consumer Products – WEMU, May 2021

Commentary: Legislative action needed to protect drinking water – The Cordova Times, April 2021

Savoonga woman to join White House council on environmental justice – KTOO, April 2021

Learn about these organizations working to support local, sustainable food systems – Alaska Public Media, April 2021

Urgent action needed to protect Alaskans’ health, drinking water – Anchorage Daily News, April 2021

Groups Demand Ban on a Class of Dangerous “Forever Chemicals” – Pressenza, April 2021

Alaska sues PFAS makers as lawmakers seek broader action from regulators – Alaska Public Media, April 2021

Alaska woman named to White House environmental justice council – Anchorage Daily News, April 2021

New construction at Gustavus airport digs up old concerns about toxic chemicals – KTOO, April 2021

Biden announces environmental justice advisers – E&E News, March 2021

Coalition Sues for Stronger Health Protections from Toxic Flame Retardant Chemical – Earthjustice, March 2021

Groups Urge Immediate Action by EPA To Improve PFAS Disposal Guidance for Communities – Environmental Working Group, February 2021

‘Am I going to regret it?’: forever chemicals dilemma for breastfeeding mothers – The Guardian, February 2021

Lawsuit Challenges EPA’s Dangerously Outdated Plan for Offshore Oil Spills – Center for Biological Diversity, January 2020

EPA report shows increased chemical releases at Red Dog Mine, state pushes back – Alaska Public Media, March 2019

Tracking Toxics, by Bill Sherwonit, 2003, the story of St. Lawrence Island and Annie Alowa