Members of LABB and students from Xavier University survey a Baton Rouge neighborhood near ExxonMobil.

MISSION STATEMENT & PURPOSE

The Louisiana Bucket Brigade is a 501(c)(3) environmental health and justice organization working with communities that neighbor the state's oil refineries and chemical plants. Our mission is to support communities' use of grassroots action to create informed, sustainable neighborhoods free from industrial pollution.

The EPA-approved "bucket" is an easy-to-use air sampling device that people who live next to industry – fenceline neighbors – use to document pollution in their neighborhoods.

Our purpose is to assist fenceline neighbors in their campaigns to make industry accountable for its pollution. Though the bucket is an important part of the assistance we provide, it is only one part of a tool box that includes education, assistance with organizing, media and other types of sampling (water, soil, seafood). We use these tools to help community groups achieve their goals, be it relocation away from a polluting facility, reduced emissions or a moratorium on facility expansions. The more evidence the communities gather, the more power they have to achieve their goals.