William “Willie” Fontenot somehow became an environmental activist with real power in Louisiana \u2014 no small feat in a state that has long embraced the oil and petrochemical industries.<\/p>\n
That power was eventually taken away, but not before Fontenot forged a lasting legacy working on behalf of Louisiana communities. He is now being remembered for those efforts, with the renowned environmental activist who held a unique role<\/a> in state government having\u00a0died on Nov. 23<\/a> at his home in Baton Rouge. He was 82.<\/p>\n His career intersected with a period of Louisiana\u2019s history when, under an environmentally minded attorney general, Fontenot was tasked with organizing community groups and helping them leverage state powers to confront polluting industries. That was a position that was created for Fontenot, and one that would not be filled after he was forced out of his job in 2005 following a tense interaction with law enforcement outside an Exxon refinery.<\/p>\n \u201cAs far as I can tell I have the only job in any governmental agency where part of my job is to go out and help organize citizens,\u201d Fontenot said in a recorded interview<\/a>. \u201cIt sounds like maybe it\u2019s the only job like it in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n He found community and common cause in the environmental movement, which was his political home for more than five decades. He got his start with the Sierra Club\u2019s chapter in New Orleans, where he focused on issues related to coastal wetlands. In Baton Rouge, he worked with the Louisiana Wildlife Federation, starting in 1975.<\/p>\n Then, under Louisiana Attorney General William Guste, he worked as an environmental community liaison \u2014 a job that was created in 1978 specifically for Fontenot \u2014 organizing communities facing environmental problems.<\/p>\n \u201cAttorney General Guste said, \u2018The citizens need some help dealing with environmental problems, how to file a complaint, how to figure out what their problems are, how to work with public officials and the news media,\u2019\u201d Fontenot told The Times-Picayune in 2005.<\/p>\n \u201cHe put his whole heart into his work,\u201d said Marylee Orr, the executive director and a co-founder with Fontenot of the Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN).<\/p>\n He seemed to know everyone in the environmental space, and everything about local environmental issues.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was like Wikipedia before they had such a thing,\u201d Orr said.<\/p>\n ‘Such an effective advocate’<\/p>\n But the political tides shifted, and in 2005, Fontenot was pushed out of the position he had held for 27 years.<\/p>\n He had recently taken a group of students on a community tour near the ExxonMobil refinery in Baton Rouge that exploded on Christmas Eve in 1989, killing two workers and injuring four others. For years, Fontenot led tours<\/a> near industry sites in Louisiana. But that day, guards confronted the group and told Fontenot to collect the students\u2019 drivers\u2019 licenses. He refused.<\/p>\n