Phyllis Glazer

Winona | Rancher, Activist

Ms. Glazer ran a ranch in Winona, located some 2 hours east of Dallas. She became concerned about public health dangers from a hazardous waste recycling, blending and injection facility that had been constructed in 1981 near this low-income, African-American community, and decided to start MOSES, Mothers Organized to Stop Environmental Sins, in 1992. Following many complaints against the waste operation regarding releases, spills, upsets, fires and strong odors by the Winona community and MOSES, the facility was successfully shut down in the late 1990s.However, the experience left Ms. Glazer with a strong sense of the injustice and indifference that often mark government and industry in their dealings with poor and minority communities. She has carried on MOSES’ efforts to educate other disadvantaged communities, and to seek reforms in the state environmental agency, TCEQ, to make it more responsive and accountable.