[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 1]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 189-190]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



    RECOGNIZING THE WORK OF DIANE HEMINWAY: COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENTAL 
                                ACTIVIST

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN J. LaFALCE

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, January 27, 2000

  Mr. LaFALCE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay special tribute to an 
outstanding environmental crusader in my district: Diane Heminway, 
former Western New York coordinator of the Citizens' Environmental 
Coalition [CEC]. I commend Diane on her decade of effective, energetic 
leadership as a community environmental activist on behalf of the 
people of Orleans County, NY.
  In 1984, an accident at a local chemical plant adjacent to her 
children's school propelled Heminway from homemaker and mother to 
leader in the grassroots environmental movement in New York State. 
Overnight, she formed COPE, Citizens Organized to Protect the 
Environment, to fight toxic pollution and other environmental hazards 
in her community. In 1990, she broadened the scope of her work, taking 
the reins of the CEC in Western New York, fighting for clean drinking 
water, restoration of the Great Lakes, remediation of brownfields and 
Superfund sites, and greater corporate accountability.
  Recently, Diane Heminway resigned her position with the CEC to embark 
on a new endeavor as a health and safety trainer for the United 
Steelworkers of America. Though she has left the CEC, Diane will 
continue to be a tireless advocate for eradicating exposure to toxic 
chemicals--this time on behalf of America's workers.
  I include in the Record an article that appeared in the Rochester 
Democrat and Chronicle on January 10, 1999, detailing Diane's many 
accomplishments. On behalf of the residents of Western New York, I 
extend heartfelt thanks and appreciation to Diane Heminway for her long 
and continuing commitment to making our community, State, and Nation a 
cleaner, healthier, and safer place for all of us.

                  Activist Departs, But Leaves Legacy


   Even her foes respect environmental work of Orleans watchdog who 
                             targeted Kodak

                          (By Corydon Ireland)

       With the new year comes a new look for area environmental 
     advocates.
       Diane Heminway, the Orleans County activist who for years 
     was the chief critic of Eastman Kodak's environmental 
     policies, has resigned her paid role to pursue an interest in 
     workers' rights. For nearly a decade, Heminway was western 
     New York coordinator of the Citizen's Environmental 
     Coalition, a statewide group. The sudden absence of a figure 
     many regard as the godmother of area activists will not leave 
     a void in environmental causes, but it does leave a hole. ``I 
     wish her well in any new endeavor,'' said Judy Braiman, who 
     sought Heminway's help in 1987 when she organized 
     Rochesterians Against the Misuse of Pesticides. ``But in 
     reality, I want her to come back.''
       As of December, Heminway became a full-time health and 
     safety trainer for the United Steelworkers of America, which 
     will require frequent national trips away from her 
     Lyndonville, Orleans County, home. ``Workers are the most 
     exposed group to toxic chemicals--and worker-exposure laws 
     are truly inadequate,'' said Heminway. The onetime homemaker 
     and 4-H leader was propelled into action by a 1984 chemical 
     accident, which sent a toxic cloud over the school her 
     children were attending. Noted Braiman: ``She started out 
     like any activist. She was protecting her children.'' ``I was 
     just this domestic kid who won the apple pie contest--who 
     thought that was going to be the high point of her life,'' 
     said Heminway.
       Leaders in the grass-roots environmental movement, she 
     said, often share the same profile. They're women, most often 
     mothers, who have to overcome shyness and mild manners to 
     confront polluting industries, wrestle with arcane 
     regulations and challenge an indifferent public. Among her 
     heroes, said Heminway, are ``the most frustrated people I 
     know.'' They're the scientists and policymakers who regularly 
     tipped her to abuses from within the state and federal 
     agencies designed to protect human health and the 
     environment. ``We all want to be moral people, we all want to 
     do the right things,'' said Heminway. But those impulses are 
     often submerged by the fear of losing a job, offending a 
     friend or bucking the system, she said. While on the job as a 
     paid coalition staffer--and for six years before that--
     Heminway studied issues and organized citizen protests over 
     environmental hazards in dozens of counties. The hazards 
     ranged from aging dumps in the industrial heart of Niagara 
     Falls to a massive new glass plant in Geneva, Ontario 
     County--which tightened its air standards after the protests.
       Heminway's last official act was to co-author a 90-page 
     coalition report on industry-related pollution in the Great 
     Lakes. Even her antagonists note her parting.
       ``I found her to be a worthy ally, rather than an extremist 
     to be shunned,'' said John Hicks, regional administrator of 
     the state Department of Environment Conservation. His branch 
     of the DEC, in Avon, Livingston County, was a frequent target 
     of Heminway's criticism. ``She was a determined and 
     passionate advocate for environmental improvement,'' said 
     Kodak spokesman James E. Blamphin, who often locked horns 
     with Heminway. ``Despite her impassioned rhetoric, I think 
     Diane Heminway wants the same thing Kodak people want--a 
     sustainable and healthy future for ourselves and our 
     children.''
       Heminway said going after Kodak was a David-and-Goliath 
     story. The photo giant, she said, was not too big to hit, as 
     many local activists feared. It was too big to miss. ``I 
     insisted on calling her our fearless leader,'' said Helen 
     ``Gilly'' Burlingham, who worked with Heminway on a three-
     year Kodak task force of local activists. Burlington, co-
     chairwoman of the Sierra Club Rochester Regional Group, is 
     still active on the task force. ``Diane was the main person, 
     the point person, the hardest worker.'' Indeed, among area 
     activists, Heminway's departure prompts enough praise to fill 
     a hymnal.
       ``New York state is a cleaner place because of Diane,'' 
     said Judy Robinson, who now overseas the coalition's Buffalo-
     based office. She pointed to Heminway's work on issues as 
     diverse as groundwater, incinerators, brownfields, corporate 
     accountability and Superfund refinancing. ``Diane provided 
     the environmental movement with leadership, unsurpassed 
     dedication, intellect and grace,'' said William J. Appel, 
     organizer of Metro Justice of Rochester. ``Her absence will 
     be felt not only among her fellow activists, but in the halls 
     of power as well.''


                       The making of an activist

       Like many grass-roots activists, Diane Heminway was 
     transformed by an environmental incident.
       1984: A toxic cloud from a Middleport, Orleans County, 
     chemical factory contaminates a nearby school, making 
     Heminway an activist overnight. Co-founds COPE, Citizens 
     Organized to Protect the Environment.
       1985: Joins the statewide Toxics in Your Community 
     Coalition (now Citizens' Environmental Coalition).
       1990: Becomes CEC's western New York coordinator.

[[Page 190]]

       1992: Begins part-time health and safety training for 
     United Steelworkers of America.
       1995: Opens CEC office, Medina, Orleans County.
       1996: Starts a groundwater education program for elementary 
     schools.
       November 1999: Resigns.

       

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