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Article: 'We're losing our democracy.' (excerpt from Goldman Prize acceptance speech)(Transcript)
- Article from:
- Earth Island Journal
- Article date:
- June 22, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Earth Island Institute. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Terri Swearingen received the Goldman Prize - the environmental equivalent of the Nobel Prize - for her work in East Liverpool, Ohio, where she has fought construction of a huge hazardous waste incinerator for the past seven years. The Waste Technologies Inc. (WTI) incinerator, built by Von Roll of Switzerland, stands 1,100 feet from an elementary school.
Since 1990, approximately 200 citizens have been arrested for protesting the incinerator and numerous court battles have been waged. In March 1997, WTI hit 33 citizens, including Swearingen, with a $34 million "SLAPP" (Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation) lawsuit.
The following is excerpted ...