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Jane Williams serves as the Executive Director of California Communities Against Toxics (CCAT). A network of local environmental justice groups in California, CCAT works to protect communities from industrial pollutants. Jane carries on the tradition of her mother, environmentalist Norma “Stormy” Gail Williams, working to protect the health of people and the environment as a common cause. Her mother, Norma, had launched a campaign that sought to identify toxins causing a brain cancer cluster among children in her small town of Rosamond, California. Eleven children had contracted a similar type of brain cancer in Rosamond; they all died.

This tragedy propelled Jane Williams to work toward protecting human life by safeguarding the environment. She has organized dozens of communities to successfully fight the building of facilities that would pollute their environment, such as incinerators, landfills, nuclear waste dumps, and industrial plants. Jane has organized annual conferences for affected communities. Through these events, people can unite to discuss emerging threats, share strategies, nurture broad coalitions of communities, political and industry figures toward creating solutions for environmental problems.

Additionally, Jane has served on a number of federal and state advisory committees that study the effects of toxic chemicals on children and public health. She has recently contributed to establishing a new organization, the National Disease Cluster Alliance, which seeks to help communities investigate cancer clusters in children, as well as other grave health problems caused in part or in full by environmental degradation. This new organization will provide research and related services to communities experiencing cancer clusters. Additionally, it will advocate government’s rapid response to disease clusters and strategies to reduce children’s exposure to toxic chemicals. In addition to her local efforts, Jane has contributed her time to numerous government and nonprofit environmental organizations at the state and national level, including:

• The California Department of Toxic Substance Control Regulatory Structure Update Advisory Committee
  
• California Department of Toxic Substance Control External Advisory
  Committee
  
• The California Air Resources Board Environmental Justice Advisory Board
  
• The Federal Environmental Protection Agency Federal, Advisory Committee on Industrial Combustion Coordinated Rulemaking
  
• The Sierra Club National Waste Committee (Chair); The Sierra Club National Air Toxics Task force (Chair)
  
• Department of Defense Non-stockpile Chemical Weapons Core Group
  
• South coast Air Quality Management District Workgroup on Refineries
  
• Concerned Residents Initiative (board member)
  
• Green action for Health and Environmental Justice, (Board Chair)
  

Jane makes herself available night and day for community efforts, championing human health and the environment. She works on weekends and in the evenings, helping community leaders through highly technical information regarding polluting industries. In this way, Jane Williams carries on the environmentalist tradition of her mother. But she also helps unite disparate communities, agencies, and people toward finding solutions to save the environment that sustains us all.

To learn more about California Communities Against Toxics, please visit:
www.stoptoxics.org.

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