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A Hunger Strike Against Big Oil

May 5, 2021

A Hunger Strike Against Big Oil

Ann Wright reports on Diane Wilson’s stand against channel dredging in mercury-laden Matagorda Bay, Texas. 

Diane Wilson in mid April. (Diane Wilson)

Texas shrimper, fisherwoman, author and internationally known environmentalist Diane Wilson on Monday was on Day 27 of her hunger strike to gain national solidarity and publicity to pressure the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to rescind its permit for big oil to dredge a channel in mercury-laden Matagorda Bay, Texas.

The dredged channel would allow massive oil tankers into the bay to take on crude oil that will be exported from the U.S.

“I am risking my life to stop the reckless destruction of my community. Oil and gas export terminals like the project I am fighting pollute our air, water, and climate — only to pad the pockets of fossil fuel CEOs,” said Diane Wilson. “The Biden administration needs to stop the dredging and stop oil and gas exports.”

The Army Corp of Engineers is not commenting.

Expansion of Ship Channel

Wilson is challenging the dredging operation funded by Houston-based oil and gas firm Max Midstream to expand the Matagorda Ship Channel in order to bring massive ships into the oil terminals to increase global oil exports out of Texas. The dredging will stir up mercury contamination in the area around the 3,500-acre Alcoa Superfund Lavaca Bay site, one of the largest polluted areas in the U.S., as well as covering up 700 acres of oyster reefs and increasing salinity in the bay, which would devastate local fisheries. The U.S. government has issued pollution reports over the past 30 years concerning the dangerous levels of mercury contamination from the Alcoa site.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Mercury rising

December 7, 2018

Mercury rising

Mercury is back in the news. And it’s not good.

A new report just released by IPEN (a global network of public interest NGOs) documents the high levels of this potent neurotoxin found in women surveyed in 21 countries, including many small island states. Almost 75 % of the women surveyed had mercury levels greater than 0.58 ppm in hair samples—a level considered the threshold for potentially harmful effects in women of child-bearing age. The predominant cause of this toxicity is the mercury found in fish—the main source of protein in numerous populations on small islands and isolated coastal communities, particularly in regions close to the Arctic. The consumption of fish and other marine animals is considered to be the main source of methylmercury exposure in most populations worldwide.

But a more dramatic report was actually published a few weeks earlier–and seems to have gone unnoticed by the mainstream media. A comprehensive review of mercury levels in human populations over the period 2000 to 2018, was published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives in October this year. Led by Dr Niladi Basu at McGill University in Montreal, the team analysed almost 435,000 mercury biomarker measurements from 335,391 individuals across 75 countries.

Within the cross-sectional studies, the researchers identified 71 populations from 18 countries that were specifically studied because of concerns associated with the consumption of fish and other aquatic animals. Exposure to mercury in this group of people was approximately four times higher than in the general background population.

Not surprisingly, populations associated with bodies of water tend to have higher levels of mercury. Inland groups that were linked to rivers and lakes had almost seven times more mercury in their blood than normal levels.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Mercury levels still rising near Grassy Narrows First Nation, report says

June 15, 2015

Mercury levels still rising near Grassy Narrows First Nation, report says

50-year-old contamination that was never cleaned up still polluting water and fish, report says

Fifty years after a Dryden pulp mill dumped its effluent into a northern Ontario watershed, mercury continues to rise in some lakes, according to a study commissioned by the provincial government and the Grassy Narrows First Nation.

The report released Monday also reveals how little is known about the environmental and health consequences of the mercury that flowed freely into the English-Wabigoon water system between 1962 and 1970.

The research review of human and ecological health in Grassy Narrows was conducted by fresh water scientist Patricia Sellers. It takes a wide-ranging look at all published research into the contamination and mercury poisoning of people at Grassy Narrows.

“We have bits and pieces, small amounts of data here and there throughout the years of the human health in Grassy Narrows and various health issues and an assessment of initiatives to address those health issues,” Sellers said. “But there hasn’t been anything very comprehensive.”

hi-grassy-narrows_0169

Fish remains a staple in the diet for the people of Grassy Narrows, despite the contamination. A new report says information about how much is safe to eat must be better communicated and supports put in place for people who can’t afford any other food. (CBC)

People in Grassy Narrows continue to suffer the effects of mercury poisoning, exhibiting symptoms such as loss of motor function, tingling and weakness in limbs, difficulty speaking and swallowing.

“We know little about the effects of low-dose exposure [to mercury] over the long-term,” Sellers wrote in the report.

Residents believe developmental delays and physical abnormalities in children are also related to the contamination, but Sellers says no studies have been conducted in Grassy Narrows on the effects of pre-natal exposure to mercury.

 

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

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