Greater Birmingham Alliance To Stop Pollution (GASP)

The Greater Birmingham Alliance to Stop Pollution’s (GASP) mission is to enhance health and well-being in Alabama by reducing air pollution, advancing environmental justice, and promoting climate solutions through education, advocacy, and collaboration. GASP was formed in 2009 to confront air pollution borne from steel mills and coke plants, and it continues to monitor air quality for public health. In media projects, GASP exposes the racist history of industry and real estate in Birmingham’s most impacted communities, like the 35^th Avenue Superfund Site. GASP promotes green energy and infrastructure with formal petitions and advocacy campaigns at all levels of government, and it calls for transparency in legislation and regulation of corporate polluters. With respect for air, people, and sustainable economy, GASP promotes a future where every Alabamian has the opportunity to live a healthy life regardless of race, place, class, or other identity.

Birmingham’s illegal use of racial zoning prior to 1950 created 3 Blacks-only neighborhoods on its north side. Coke processing and other industries poisoned the area. One direct result was its proposal as a Superfund Site by the EPA in 2014. Another was the 2009 founding of GASP—Greater-Birmingham Alliance to Stop Pollution. GASP’s 16,000 supporters fund a staff of 6 and 100+ volunteers to monitor air pollution, advocate for all Birmingham residents, and partner with the Southern Environmental Law Center to litigate coke plants at the Superfund Site. There is more to do, and GASP is doing it on a large scale: It works with the law center against Alabama Power and the Alabama Public Service Commission, who impose fees on those who install their own solar panels—an attempt to stop the transition away from coal. It calls on the State of Alabama to achieve 100% renewable energy generation by 2030. And it partners with 100+ other groups as part of Southern Communities for a Green New Deal.

For more information:

A Reckoning in North Birmingham as EPA Studies the ‘Cumulative Impacts’ of Pollution and Racism – Inside Climate News, July 2023

After the fire started: What Alabama got wrong when battling the landfill blaze – AL.com, March 2023

To Beat Climate Change, Birmingham Needs a Green New Deal – Clean Air Journal, Climate & Energy, November 2021

Commentary: Help Birmingham craft a Green New Deal for a prosperous, sustainable future – Energy News Network, November 2021

Birmingham coke plant owned by West Virginia governor has no license, multiple health violations – CBS 42, November 2021

GASP Responds to JCDH Complaint Against Bluestone Coke – August 2021

Environmental groups and ABC Coke reach new settlement – CBS 42, January 2021