Kick-off Speaker: Lisa Crawford

"Environmental Activism: One Woman's Story" - Friday, November 18, 2011

Lisa Crawford did not start out to be an environmental activist but she has always helped people, working for Hamilton Country Welfare Department and the one of Ohio’s psychiatric hospitals.  Yet this good work is not what she is known for.  

“She was a force to be reckoned with and I was happy I was on her side.”   - Stanley M. Chesley

Ms. Crawford is known around the world for successfully taking on the U.S. Department of Energy in a class-action suit for $300 million.  Although FRESH (Fernald Residents for Environmental Safety and Health) later settled for $78 million dollars, they brought the pollution by Fernald uranium processing plant to the attention of the entire nation.

 

Ms. Crawford and FRESH forced the 1989 closing of the plant that released over 1 million pounds of airborne radioactive emissions and 215,000 pounds of waterborne radioactive emissions into her neighborhood during its 36 years of operation.  The plant, eventually designated as a Super Fund cleanup site, underwent a $4.4 billion clean-up which continues today.  The site is now a nature preserve with a $3 million visitors center, Ohio’s first LEED platinum building.  

“It is amazing, when I think about the various kinds of people she has dealt with, from members of Congress and vice presidents to agency people and contractors . . . and she has the temperament and vision to deal with them.  She knows her stuff.” 
- Former U.S.  Representative Tom Luken

In 1979 when Ms. Crawford moved to the country, she was seeking a healthy environment for her family including her 2-year-old son.  The first time she doubted her decision was in 1984 when the Fernald plant, after years of denial, notified her family that their well was contaminated.   Over the next 10 or so years, more and more disturbing information came to light about radioactive leaks from the Fernald plant.  Ms. Crawford and other mothers in her neighborhood founded FRESH and started demanding that the government stop lying and share accurate information, close the plant, remediate the site and take care of their neighbors.  Nobody in FRESH knew anything about uranium processing or its risks.  Ms. Crawford had to learn quickly in order to advocate her community.  She demanded that the government provide understandable answers her questions and those of her community.  She is regarded as one of the founders of U.S. environmental activism.

“And I feel like we’ve left our mark.  We’ve done something really, really good here – we’ve left our community better and safer.” 

- Lisa Crawford