Citizens Environment Alliance

The Citizens Environment Alliance (CEA) is a non-profit, grass-roots, binational, education and research organization. They are committed to an ecosystem approach to environmental planning and management. Based in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

The CEA was formed in 1985 by citizens concerned about spills from the (Sarnia, Ontario) Chemical Valley into the St. Clair River (the Toxic blob), and how those spills affected the region's drinking water. Later, the CEA began to focus on the questions of toxins in the Great Lakes, as well as air quality throughout the transboundary area.

As the group has grown, so too have the issues of concern. These now include waste management, wetland and natural areas protection, environmental land use planning, energy use and the long-term implications of economic growth on the environment. The Alliance's annual activities since its inception have aimed at increasing public knowledge of the area ecosystems and the impact humans have on these systems.

They are members of the Ontario Environment Network and the Canadian Environmental Network. The CEA is registered with the Department of National Revenue as charitable organization.

Their Mandate

The Citizens Environment Alliance will strive to protect, restore and enhance the quality of the local environment in the Detroit River and St. Clair River corridors, the western basin of Lake Erie and in the Windsor-Essex-Kent Region of the Great Lakes Basin.

Guiding Principles

* To educate the public about environmental problems and solutions as they relate to the Great Lakes Ecosystem, and in particular, to the Windsor-Essex-Kent Region and the Detroit-St. Clair Rivers' waterways along with the western basin of Lake Erie.

* To gather and disseminate information of an environmental natuto the general public, citizens' groups, labour and business groups, environmental organizations, schools and other resource groups.

* To assist and supplement the ongoing environmental programs of the Ministry of the environment, Environment Canada, municipalities, townships and international organizations; and,

* To raise funds by way of donations, grants, bequests and other similar methods for the purpose of advancing the aforesaid goals and objectives, and to increase and diversify support for the CEA's agenda.