May 1, 2011 | Read Time: 2 minutes
The award: The Goldman Environmental Prize, which annually recognizes six people from around the world who are working to protect the environment and their communities. Each winner receives $150,000.
The winner: Hilton Kelley, a former movie and television stunt man and actor, and founder of the Community In-Power and Development Association, in Port Arthur, Tex., who was given the prize for the North American region.
His work: For the past 10 years, Mr. Kelley, 50, has fought to improve the environmental and economic conditions in the west side of Port Arthur, a largely black neighborhood surrounded by petrochemical and hazardous-waste facilities that has among the highest levels of toxic-air releases in the country, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
About the winner: Mr. Kelley, a Port Arthur native, joined the U.S. Navy in 1979 and later settled in California, where he pursued an acting career. He says that during a visit to his hometown in 2000 he was struck by how poor and environmentally contaminated it had become. “I went back to California and kept thinking about the devastation in Port Arthur and how there didn’t seem to be anyone there who cared,” he says. “Then I looked at myself and said, What are you doing?” Within months, he returned, and started educating residents about the health dangers of pollution and began lobbying for clean air and water.
Why he won: Lorrae Rominger, deputy director at the prize, cites a deal he negotiated in 2006 with Motiva, an oil-refinery company that wanted to expand its Port Arthur operations. Through the deal, the company agreed to provide health coverage for residents in the neighborhood for three years and to establish a $3.5-million fund to help entrepreneurs there start businesses. The company also earlier agreed to install state-of-the-art equipment to reduce emissions. Ms. Rominger also points out a successful campaign Mr. Kelley led to prevent Veolia Environmental Services, a hazardous-waste company, from importing toxic materials from Mexico for incineration at its Port Arthur plant.
Plans for the future: “We’re not out of the woods yet,” Mr. Kelley says. In addition to Port Arthur’s continued struggle, he says, several other low-income areas around the state have high levels of pollution but lack advocacy muscle. He is working to persuade plants around Port Arthur to install an audible alarm that would warn residents about large emission releases.
