Toxics Action Center (operating under the name Community Action Works) is a left-of-center MASSPIRG-aligned environmental advocacy organization that coordinates activist campaigns and trains environmental activists to further left-leaning energy and environmental policies.

Background

Toxics Action Center originated as a community organizing group formed by MASSPIRG in 1987. The organization was called “Massachusetts Campaign to Clean Up Hazardous Waste” and was initially focused on water contamination in Massachusetts. The organization adopted the Toxics Action Center name in 1997 while expanding its activities to several other states in New England. ^{1 2}

Toxics Action Center officially changed its name to Community Action Works in 2020 to expand its community organizing campaigns to issues outside of the environmentalist issue sphere. By this time, the organization had expanded its operations to Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. ³

The organization has remained closely aligned with MASSPIRG. The President of Toxics Action Center, Janet Domenitz, is also the executive director of MASSPIRG. The executive director of Toxics Action Center, Leigh-Ann Cole, is a former Deputy Director of Student PIRGs and former President of the PIRG New Voters Project. Board member Johanna Neumann is also Senior Director for U.S. PIRG-aligned Environment America’s campaign for adoption of 100 percent weather-dependent energy. ⁴

Activities

Toxics Action Center’s efforts focus on community organizing campaigns and ballot measures to advance left-leaning environmental and energy policy objectives. The organization claims to have trained over 20,000 activists since its founding. ⁵

Toxics Action Center’s campaigns against the use of conventional energy, claiming that the “dirty energy” sources of coal, oil, “fracked gas”, and nuclear energy negatively impact health and contribute to climate change. The organization spearheads activism campaigns to shut down conventional energy projects and replace them with weather-dependent energy sources. ⁶

Toxics Action Center claims credit for halting or shutting down several conventional energy projects. In 2004, Toxics Action Center organized a campaign marred by vitriol, a bomb threat, and vandalism that ultimately stopped a planned liquefied natural gas terminal from being constructed in Harpswell, Maine. ⁷ Toxics Action Center also spearheaded successful campaigns to shut down the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant and a coal power plant in Holyoke, Massachusetts. ⁸

Toxics Action Center also campaigns against new landfill projects, claiming that landfills exacerbate climate change through methane emissions. The organization led a successful campaign to stop a planned landfill project in Vermont and the expansion of a waste incinerator project in New Hampshire. Toxics Action Center instead promotes the adoption of “zero waste” measures, a vague policy that argues for a “whole-system approach that targets a major change in the way materials flow through our economy.” ⁹

Toxics Action Center also opposes the use of pesticides and has organized campaigns to restrict their use in Maine and Vermont. ¹⁰

Finances

In 2022, Toxics Action Center reported holdings of $2 million in securities managed by Paradigm Partners, a Public Interest Network-aligned holding company in Denver. ¹¹ Paradigm Partners owns Green Century Capital Management, which was founded in part by MASSPIRG. ^{12 13}

Toxics Action Center reported $5.5 million in revenue between 2017 and 2021. The organization’s revenue includes membership dues, which were reported in the amount of $286,601 in 2021.  The organization also reported government grants totaling $92,685 in 2021. ¹⁴

Toxics Action Center reported $756,882 in lobbying expenditures from 2018 to 2021. The organization also issues grants to other groups, which totaled $216,979 in 2021. The largest grant recipient in 2021 was Neighbor to Neighbor Massachusetts, which received $98,000 from Toxics Action Center. ¹⁵

1. “Toxics Action Center Changes Name to Community Action Works.” Wicked Local, July 6, 2020. Accessed August 29, 2023. https://www.wickedlocal.com/story/sun-advocate/2020/07/06/toxics-action-center-changes-name-to-community-action-works/114619450/.
2. “Annual Reports.” Community Action Works. Accessed August 29, 2023. https://communityactionworks.org/about-us/annual-report/.
3. “Toxics Action Center Changes Name to Community Action Works.” Wicked Local, July 6, 2020. Accessed August 29, 2023. https://www.wickedlocal.com/story/sun-advocate/2020/07/06/toxics-action-center-changes-name-to-community-action-works/114619450/.
4. “Leadership.” Community Action Works. Accessed August 29, 2023. https://communityactionworks.org/our_staff/.
5. “About Us.” Community Action Works. Accessed August 29, 2023. https://communityactionworks.org/about-us/.
6. “Energy.” Community Action Works. Accessed August 29, 2023. https://communityactionworks.org/issues/energy/.
7. “Residents Find Little to Dispute.” Lewiston Sun Journal, March 15, 2004. Accessed August 29, 2023. https://www.sunjournal.com/2004/03/15/residents-find-little-dispute/.
8. “Energy.” Community Action Works. Accessed August 29, 2023. https://communityactionworks.org/issues/energy/.
9. “Waste.” Community Action Works. Accessed August 29, 2023. https://communityactionworks.org/issues/waste/.
10. “Pesticides.” Community Action Works. Accessed August 29, 2023. https://communityactionworks.org/issues/pesticides/.
11. Toxics Action Center. Return of an Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990). 2022.
12. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Green Century Funds: Form N-1A Registration Statement. November 27, 2013. Accessed August 29, 2023. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/877232/000119312513456041/d613564d485bpos.htm.
13. “About Us.” Green Century. Accessed August 29, 2023. https://www.greencentury.com/about-us/.
14. Toxics Action Center. Return of an Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990). 2022.
15. Toxics Action Center. Return of an Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990). 2022.