Film Screening: Under the Stack

From the Sierra Club –

SCHEDULE:
5:30 pm to 6:30 pm – food and refreshments

6:30 pm – film screening

7:40 to 8:30 pm – Discussion

Meet the directors and join us for a screening of Anne Fischel and Lin Nelson’s documentary, “Under the Stack.” Following the film, Fischel will facilitate a panel discussion featuring Nelson, Kelly Haragan, director of Texas Law’s Environmental Clinic, Dave Cortez, senior organizer of the Sierra Club, and community activist Carlos Rodriguez. What began as a class project for Fischel and Nelson, two professors from Evergreen State College, grew into a multi-media project that documents the experiences of three communities with prolonged relationships with the American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO). Through research, film, photography, oral history, analytical writing, a website, and their documentary, Their Mines, Our Stories document the experiences and struggles of these communities, left to deal with the fallout of ASARCO smelter’s decades of unregulated pollution once they closed their doors and filed for bankruptcy.

Carlos Rodriguez is an ex-ASARCO worker. A lifelong resident of El Paso, he worked for the company for 32 years as an electrician, while serving as chief steward for his union, the United Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Carlos was a leader in the struggle to prevent ASARCO from re-opening in El Paso. Since its final closure, he has been active in seeking medical monitoring and compensation for ASARCO’s workers.

Dave Cortez is the Senior Organizing Representative for Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign in Texas. He is in his 6th year with the organization and previously served as the Club’s coordinator for the Texas BlueGreen Alliance – a coalition of labor and environmental groups advocating for family-supporting green jobs. He now serves as a lead organizer working to retire the several coal mines and coal-fired power plants across Texas. Building on his previous environmental justice work against the ASARCO copper smelter in his hometown of El Paso, Dave is currently working to incorporate anti-poverty and anti-racist principles and organizing strategies into Austin’s and Texas’s environmental advocacy communities.

Anne Fischel is a documentary filmmaker and member of the faculty at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington where she teaches programs in Documentary Media and Community Studies. She is co-director of No Borders: Work, Environment and Justice in ASARCO-impacted Communities, and has worked extensively with local communities, unions and environmental groups.

Kelly Haragan is a clinical professor and Director of the Environmental Clinic at Texas Law. Prior to joining the Clinic, Haragan worked as legal counsel for national nonprofits including: the Environmental Integrity Project in Washington DC, Environmental Defense Fund in Austin, and Public Citizen’s Austin office. She also worked at the Austin firm Henry, Lowerre, Johnson, Hess & Frederick, representing citizen and environmental groups in permitting and enforcement matters. Kelly specializes in Clean Air Act permitting and enforcement.

Lin Nelson is a writer, researcher and faculty emeritus at the Evergreen State College, where she taught programs in Environmental Health and Community Studies. She is co-director of No Borders: Work, Environment and Justice in ASARCO-impacted Communities. Lin has served on the board of the Washington Toxics Coalition and is the former co-director of the Central New York Committee on Occupational Safety and Health.

Supporters

Presented by the Humanities Institute, with support from the Rapoport Center, Environmental Clinic, Sierra Club, and Evergreen State College