Texas Gold

2008

21min

Portrait of Diane Wilson, local shrimper turned activist in Seadrift, Texas, along Highway 185 where giant petrochemical companies make Calhoun County the nation's most polluting. Wilson has engaged in hunger strikes seeking changes in companies' behavior, and she has embarrassed Dow/Union Carbide by entering their plant and hanging a banner from atop a tower. We meet a neighbor, see the vacant Seadrift main street (the fishing industry is virtually gone), and hear from talking heads about Texas's environmental policies since George W. Bush was governor. We see Wilson's mock commercial for "Texas Gold," the local undrinkable water. Wilson remains cheerful and tough. Written by