Save Our County, East Liverpool (1995 winner)
“We are here not only to celebrate Citizen Action’s 20th anniversary, but to honor Alonzo Spencer, who has led a brilliant fight against the WTI incinerator in E. Liverpool. I can’t miss this opportunity to state my firm conviction that the WTI incinerator should be shut down, immediately and permanently.
“As everyone knows, the sordid history of the ownership and permitting of this plant are enough to warrant locking the door, but all that aside, the plant is simply a public health menace: no school kid should be forced to breathe into their lungs the lead and other toxics this plant puts into the air 1,200 feet away: and no incinerator should be sitting on the bank of the Ohio River. Any accident is a major disaster for every town and city down the Ohio and into the Mississippi. (If this seems unlikely, look up the 1988 Ashland Chemical spill into the Ohio River for a preview).
“So, we honor Alonzo Spencer first because he is right. He was right about this 15 years ago, and he’s right tonight.
“But being right is not enough. Alonzo Spencer has also been tenacious, pursuing angle after angle in organizing opposition to the plant. No level of government, no jurisdiction has been safe from him. Just when the company thinks they have him beaten, he’s back. He’s stubborn. He’s my kind of citizen.
“But he’s been more than that – because he knows you can’t do this kind of thing on your own. Alonzo is the leader of a strong community organization dedicated to wining this fight – called Save Our County—and they’ve been together for 15 years. Some groups break up after their first block party. This remarkable group has faced the toughest odds, and made WTI a national symbol of the dangers of hazardous waste incinerators.
“For all these reasons, I’m honored to be able, on behalf of Citizen Action to present him with the first Howard M. Metzenbaum Citizen Action Award.”