Stop the Matagorda Ship Channel Dredging Project & Stop Oil Exports!
On April 7th, 4th generation shrimper, activist, and author Diane Wilson began a hunger strike to protest a dangerous, dirty, and destructive crude oil export dredging project, and she urgently needs your voice.
Tell President Biden NOW: #StopTheDredging in Matagorda Bay and #StopOilExports!
The US Army Corps of Engineers is planning to dredge the Matagorda Ship Channel – straight through a mercury-contaminated Superfund site – to make room for giant crude oil tankers to export Permian oil to global markets. The project is being bankrolled by little-known oil company Max Midstream, as part of a Gulf-Coast wide race to build new oil and LNG export facilities.
Just last year, Diane Wilson won a historic $50M Clean Water Act settlement against “serial offender” Formosa Plastics for dumping billions of plastic pellets and powder into her beloved Lavaca Bay. Her victory is the culmination of decades of tireless advocacy and direct action, rooted in her fierce determination to protect her community from industrial polluters. Diane has been working to deploy resources from the settlement to clean up the Bay and revitalize the area’s fisheries, even working with the Federation of Southern Cooperatives to develop a multiracial fishing coop. But Max Midstream’s oil export dredging plan threatens to destroy the fragile ecosystems and sustainable economy Diane is working so hard to restore.
As commander-in-chief, President Biden can direct the US Army Corps to cancel this dangerous and unnecessary project. Tell the Biden Administration to #StopTheDredging and #StopOilExports!
Since the decades-old ban on crude oil exports was lifted in 2015, oil companies have been racing to rapidly expand fracking in the Permian Basin, the world’ biggest climate bomb in west Texas and southeast New Mexico, and build new pipelines and polluting facilities like Max Midstream’s proposal along the Gulf Coast. Community groups are uniting from the Permian to the Gulf who are fighting to protect their communities and the climate from the harms of fracking, petrochemical production, and fossil fuel exports. We invite you to join the movement, led by heroes like Diane Wilson.
As Diane’s hunger strike continues, we’ll keep you posted on other ways to support her campaign to stop dredging in Matagorda Ship Channel and protect Lavaca Bay from crude oil exports. You can follow her daily updates on Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok.
