‘Like a Rolling Cannonball to Hell’ | Sojourners

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The author of this piece, Diane Wilson, is wearing a tan vest with a purple long-sleeve shirt, jeans, and brown boots. She's rolling up rope on a boat, which is docked next to another one to the left.

In 2019, shrimp boat captain Diane Wilson won a landmark case against Formosa Plastics for illegal dumping of toxic waste on Texas’ Gulf Coast. / Goldman Environmental Prize

‘Like a Rolling Cannonball to Hell’

The shrimp boat captain who took on toxic chemical plants in Texas.
August 2023
By Diane Wilson

Diane Wilson, a 2023 Goldman Environmental Prize winner, spoke with Sojourners’ associate news editor Mitchell Atencio.

I'M A FOURTH-GENERATION FISHERWOMAN. In 1989, I was working in Froggy’s Shrimp Company as one of the only woman fish house managers. A shrimper came in the office and pitched a [newspaper] article on the desk. It was the first time the toxic release inventory ever was made public. It was part of the Community Right-to-Know Act. Calhoun County is a small, rural county, but we were number one in the nation for toxic disposal.

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That information just blew me out of the water. I walked down to city hall demanding a meeting. The backlash to that simple request was how it started — and it’s been like a rolling cannonball to hell ever since. We have Alcoa, Formosa, Union Carbide, and they all dumped into the head of the bay. The head of the bay is the nursery area — yet these chemical plants are discharging there. Fishermen would bring me fish that were rolling on top of the water, alligators rolling on top of the water. Shrimp had black spots in their heads. Juvenile black drum fish had stomachs that were disintegrating.

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The cover for Sojourners' August 2023 issue, called "The Paradox of Poverty." Small figurines of a white couple in fancy garbs stand on top of a tall stack of silver and gold coins. There are other figurines below working by carrying around dollar bills.
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Diane Wilson

Diane Wilson, a 2023 Goldman Environmental Prize winner, won a landmark case against Formosa Plastics in 2019 for illegal dumping of toxic waste on Texas' gulf coast.

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