Hilton Kelley left a burgeoning career in Hollywood in 2000 and moved back to his Texas hometown, a refinery and chemical manufacturing region, to clean things up.

Mr. Kelley has won a lot of victories in 11 years. Now, the Port Arthur native has received a $150,000 Goldman Environmental Prize for his efforts to fight pollution.

It started in 2000, when he formed the Community In-Power and Development Association to collect data on pollution levels. Armed with air samples and statistics, he stormed corporate shareholder meetings and distributed photographs of Port Arthur children wearing respirators.

(READ the Making A Difference story in CS Monitor)