Erica Fernandez - speech at Brower Youth Awards 2007

When Erica found out that a liquefied natural gas facility was proposed for the coast of Oxnard and Malibu with a 36-inch pipeline routed through low-income neighborhoods, she was outraged. She worked in concert with the Sierra Club and Latino No on LNG group to mobilize the youth and Latino voice in protests and public meetings. She organized weekly protests at the BHP Billiton offices in Oxnard, met regularly with community members, marched through neighborhoods that would be most impacted, reached out to the media, and brought more than 250 high school students to a critical rally. Her passionate testimony at the California State Lands Commission meeting was quoted in news articles, and helped convince the Commission to vote to deny the project. Next, she helped convince the California Coastal Commission to vote 12-0 against the project, and worked on a letter writing and phone call campaign to the Governor asking him to veto the project, just as the commissioners did. Erica's community organizing and dogged determination played a crucial role in helping her community to resist a multinational billion-dollar corporation.

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People & Blogs

Tags:

• brower
• youth
• activist
• global
• warming
• natural
• gas
• environment

[MsMobilizer333]

@Protesto2012

Please send me your email is me Erica...I have been working in Mexico on the last couple years. I would love to tell you more about it.

[Protesto2012]

I don't know where Erica is now but, Erica don't forget about Mexico, because there is much pollution there and much corruption and they don't care about the little people. You must have lived in the country, the cities in Mexico are horrible. I am Mexican and I try to make a difference...I pray you don't forget where you came from!

[KhansProductions]

Hey great work erika