“Hellcat” v. Big Oil: How a Great-Grandmother Is Fighting to Protect a Texas Fishing Bay

Title“Hellcat” v. Big Oil: How a Great-Grandmother Is Fighting to Protect a Texas Fishing Bay
Publication TypeWeb Article
AuthorsRedfern, Jerry
AbstractPlans to dredge a fragile Gulf Coast estuary and Superfund site are being ‘fast-tracked’ in a rush to export Permian oil to Europe
Notes'Prof. Fortun annotated. Fall 2021.\nFull citation:\nRedfern, Jerry. “‘Hellcat’ v. Big Oil: How a Great-Grandmother Is Fighting to Protect a Texas Fishing Bay.” \"Hellcat\" v. Big Oil: How a Great-Grandmother Is Fighting to Protect a Texas Fishing Bay. Capital & Main, June 3, 2021. https://capitalandmain.com/hellcat-big-oil-great-grandmother-is-fighting....\n\n\n\n\n\nWhat information is provided about your setting and its assets?\n\n\n\n\nLocal shrimper Diane Wilson has become a vocal environmental activist. Matagorda Bay Foundation also works to protect the bay.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWhat information is provided about environmental health threats (from explosions, everyday pollution, climate change, etc ) in your setting?\n\n\n\n\n\"During the 1960s and 1970s, a neighboring Alcoa plant dumped mercury into the bay, and in 1988 waters around the plant and port were closed to fishing. Now, locals say the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is fast-tracking a project that would disturb sediment anchoring that toxic mercury to the bay bottom\" (Redfern 2021).\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWhat stakeholders are identified and how are they described?\n\n\n\n\nCommercial shrimpers Recreational fishing community \"Last fall, Max Midstream, a pipeline company incorporated a year earlier, announced plans to expand oil export operations at the port as part of a larger project to tap into record amounts of oil being pumped out of places like the Permian Basin\" (Redfern 2021) Army Corps of Engineers Calhoun Port Authority\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWhat stakeholder actions are described?\n\n\n\n\nDiane Wilson went on a long hunger strike to protest the planned dredging.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWhat extra-local actions (at state, national or international levels) to reduce environmental vulnerability and injustice are described or suggested?1 response\n\n\n\n\nClimate activists argue that the US should not be exporting oil and gas at all (which would make the new port unnecessary).\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWhat is said about the data and research that would be useful for characterizing and addressing environmental threats in this setting and other settings facing similar hazards?1 response\n\n\n\n\nThere hasn\'t been a thorough assessment of the impacts that dredging (and unsettling the mercury at the bottom of the bay) would have on marine life.\n\n\n\n\n\n - brendavuong'
URLhttps://capitalandmain.com/hellcat-big-oil-great-grandmother-is-fighting-to-protect-texas-fishing-bay-0521
Short Title“Hellcat” v. Big Oil
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