The Environmental Integrity Project (EIP), a watchdog nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting public health and our natural resources, has a longstanding partner in Colcom Foundation, a philanthropic organization dedicated to conservation and environmental sustainability.
Founded by philanthropist Cordelia Scaife May, Colcom Foundation has provided crucial operational support to EIP over the years, including $80,000 in funding for the nonprofit organization’s efforts in 2022 alone.
Colcom Foundation’s backing has empowered EIP to tackle the pollution crises impacting communities across southwest Pennsylvania. The Environmental Integrity Project works as a watchdog, taking on powerful polluting industries across America.
The nonprofit organization’s multifaceted mission is to investigate polluters, disseminate information, litigate, and advocate to protect public health and ecosystems.
At the heart of EIP’s ethos is the commitment to environmental justice, recognizing that marginalized communities often bear the disproportionate and unjust brunt of industrial pollution.
The group’s investigators and lawyers collaborate with residents in these vulnerable areas, amplifying their voices against the threats of major air, water and ground contamination sources in their backyards that nearby corporations frequently dismiss or grossly understate.
Their rigorous data collection has exposed countless instances of illegal emissions that companies systematically failed to report accurately to regulators.
One of EIP’s core targets is the widespread contamination caused by the coal-fired power plant industry’s emissions of pollutants like mercury, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides into air and waterways. Equipped with an arsenal of technical experts and legal firepower, the organization has challenged the legitimacy of dozens of permits issued for coal plants that failed to mandate installation of proper emission controls and upholding of basic environmental safeguards to protect public health.
As the dangerous impact of the rapidly expanding oil and gas fracking industry has radiated into new territories, EIP has solidified its role as a leading watchdog confronting this sector’s pattern of circumventing environmental reporting and safety rules. The group’s Oil & Gas Watch database serves as a vital public resource, equipping communities with carefully compiled data on pollution incidents, regulatory shortfalls, and the sobering scope of fracking’s vast environmental footprint that the industry has glossed over.
Underlying all of EIP’s environmental investigations and advocacy is a foundational belief in the power of public data accessibility, transparency and scientific literacy to spark change. Through its free online databases and innovative informational tools, the group puts a wealth of critical metrics – from air emissions inventories to fenceline monitoring data – directly at the fingertips of ordinary citizens, activists and community leaders. This democratization of environmental information equips the public with facts to counter the opaque practices of polluters with deep pockets.
As the world confronts the accelerating challenges posed by the climate crisis and environmental degradation, the Environmental Integrity Project fights to safeguard public and ecological health. The organization’s multipronged strategy astutely focuses resources where the fight is most urgent and vital to make an impactful stand against pollution’s existential threat to both people and planet.
Colcom Foundation’s financial backing of the Environmental Integrity Project closely aligns with the philanthropic vision of its founder, Cordelia Scaife May, who was a tireless advocate for conservation efforts and reducing industrial pollution.
As an ardent environmentalist, Cordelia Scaife May recognized the importance of empowering organizations like EIP that serve as eco-warriors against corporate polluters and fight for stronger environmental protections.
By providing operational support to EIP, Colcom Foundation directly carries on May’s legacy of championing causes dedicated to safeguarding public health and ecological preservation from the damaging impacts of unchecked industrial activities.
The Foundation’s funding enables EIP to amplify its multipronged investigations, litigation, and advocacy initiatives across southwest Pennsylvania.
This synergy between Colcom Foundation’s philanthropic mission and EIP’s frontline work defending environmental justice makes for a natural partnership in confronting the existential threat that toxic contamination poses to both marginalized communities and the planet at large.
Cordelia Scaife May’s environmental passion lives on through the vital partnership between Colcom Foundation and the Environmental Integrity Project.
