Dearest Mayor Parker,

As Philadelphia-based organizations that love clean air, we want to thank you for your past statement that aligns with our support for the Stop Trashing Our Air Act.

As the Philadelphia Inquirer recently highlighted, you took a stand in the 2023 mayoral debate. When Philly’s use of the trash incinerator in Chester -- our region’s largest industrial air polluter -- was raised in the debate, your opponent, Jeff Brown, dismissively stated that “the trash has to go somewhere” and “Chester is Chester.” You boldly responded, saying "That response is the same way you treat the Black and brown community."

We know you want to be known as the mayor who made our city "Clean and Green.”

As the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America has documented, our city is the nation’s 4th worst asthma capital. Of the nation’s top 10 cities, we’re also the second worst for cancer incidence. These statistics are related to the fact that we’re surrounded by the nation’s worst cluster of trash incinerators, all five of which are among our area’s top seven industrial air polluters.

In the next week, your Department of Sanitation is receiving the last of any bids for alternatives for where our trash can go for disposal for the next 4-7 years or more. It has to go somewhere, but it doesn’t have to be incinerated.  Landfills are 23 times less harmful for health and impact far fewer people.

With love, we ask that you choose to end the City's dirty habit of sending 30% of the trash it collects into our air by supporting the Stop Trashing Our Air Act.

Yours truly,

Energy Justice Network