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Summary

From 1978 to 1995, residents of Emelle, Alabama, organized to close the Chemical Waste Management hazardous waste landfill, the largest in the United States. The campaign, led by Alabamians for a Clean Environment (ACE), used petitions, rallies, and coalition-building to protest environmental racism and health hazards. Despite bringing national attention to the issue, the landfill remained open and ACE dissolved after key leaders left for other organizations.

Background

In 1978, Chemical Waste Management Inc. bought land near Emelle, Alabama, for a hazardous waste landfill without informing residents, who thought a brick plant was being built. The landfill expanded to nearly 2,700 acres, and by the early 1990s, it received about 40% of America’s hazardous waste from federal Superfund sites. One-third of Sumter County lived below the poverty line, 90% of Emelle residents were Black, and the landfill lay above the Eutaw Aquifer, raising environmental justice concerns.

What happened

In 1981, employees staged a walkout over dangerous work conditions, led by civil rights activist Wendell Paris and the Minority Peoples Council [source: nv-database]. Shortly after, the majority-white Sumter Countains Organized for the Protection of the Environment (SCOPE) formed to regulate the landfill, but a radical faction split off to create Alabamians for a Clean Environment (ACE), which sought to close the landfill entirely [source: nv-database]. ACE, with about 300 members, worked with Greenpeace and the Sierra Club to petition the EPA, but the EPA denied their petitions on 10 July 1987 [source: nv-database]. In 1987, ACE held the Toxic Trail of Tears rally in Montgomery, Alabama, followed by a caravan to the landfill, integrating Black and Native American voices and using civil rights songs [source: nv-database]. In 1988, ACE participated in the Southern Environmental Assembly ‘88 in Atlanta, spreading its message to over 1,000 activists [source: nv-database]. ACE expanded collaboration with the Sierra Club and formed Southern Women Against Toxics in 1991, receiving legal advice and elite support from Alabama Attorneys General Don Siegelman and Jimmy Evans [source: nv-database]. A 1992 U.S. [source: nv-database] Supreme Court ruling and a 1994 Alabama waste management ordinance reduced waste entering Emelle from 788,000 tons in 1989 to 290,000 tons in 1995, but the landfill remained open [source: nv-database]. ACE dissolved after key members left to work for the National Toxics Campaign and other organizations [source: nv-database].

Key people & organizations

  • Alabamians for a Clean Environment (ACE)
  • Chemical Waste Management Inc.
  • Waste Management Inc.
  • Wendell Paris
  • Minority Peoples Council
  • Sumter Countains Organized for the Protection of the Environment (SCOPE)
  • Greenpeace
  • Sierra Club
  • Citizens Clearinghouse for Hazardous Wastes
  • Kaye Kiker
  • Alabama Attorney General Don Siegelman
  • Alabama Attorney General Jimmy Evans

Tactics used

ACE combined petitions, rallies, and coalition-building with national environmental groups to amplify local grievances and pressure authorities, while using symbolic actions like the Toxic Trail of Tears rally to link environmental racism to historical injustices. [source: nv-database]

Outcome

Verdict: lost.

ACE did not achieve its goal of closing the landfill, scoring 0 out of 6 points for success in the database, and the group dissolved after key leaders were hired by other organizations. However, the campaign is recognized as one of the first environmental justice campaigns in America, bringing global attention to environmental racism. [source: nv-database]

Lessons

  • Building coalitions across racial and organizational lines can amplify a local campaign’s reach and legitimacy.
  • Symbolic actions that connect current grievances to historical injustices can mobilize broader support.
  • Reliance on key leaders can make a movement vulnerable if those leaders are recruited by partner organizations.

Sources

Disclaimer: Included as a teaching example of campaign craft, not as endorsement.

Sources & verification

  • nv-database — grounding: primary — license: link-only
  • Rewritten: 2026-06-25 via worker_casestudies_v2.py

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