Audio Interview of Fernell Cryar conducted by Peggy Frankland for Women Pioneers of the Louisiana Environmental Movement

Fernell Cryar’s activism began in 1987, after reading in the newspaper about five children living in Morgan City diagnosed with a rare form of cancer (neuroblastoma). She joined five other women to petition local and state officials to close the hazardous waste incinerator operated by Marine Shale Processors. 1997, ten years later the facility was closed and the owner agreed to pay more than $10 million to settle federal and state allegations that it incinerated hazardous waste without a permit and planned to sell the contaminated material as fill to the public. She and four other women from Morgan City were the recipients of an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) award for their role in ensuring the safety of their community in the closing of the waste company.