The Ironbound district of Newark, New Jersey, is one of the most toxic neighborhoods in the country. This residential community, home to Portuguese, Brazilian, Central American, and African American families, is separated from New Jersey’s Chemical Corridor, an apocalyptic landscape of incinerators, factories, and airplane and diesel-truck traffic, by nothing more than a railroad track.  Maria Lopez-Nuñez, a Honduran-American resident there, is waging a war for environmental justice. She is part of the Ironbound Community Corporation, one of the most effective environmental justice organizations in the country.

 

THE SACRIFICE ZONE follows Maria as she leads a group of environmental justice fighters determined to break the cycle of poor communities of color serving as dumping grounds for our consumer society. After the film's completion, Maria led the successful fight to pass S232, the strongest environmental-justice measure in the United States. Signed by Governor Phil Murphy in September 2020, the law protects overburdened communities by requiring the state’s Department of Environmental Protection to evaluate permits based on cumulative impacts of pollution.