Sharon Lavigne

Sharon Lavigne (born May 1950) is an American environmental justice activist in Louisiana focused on combating petrochemical complexes in Cancer Alley.

Lavigne is also a collaborator on the Coalition Against Death Alley, a regional environmental justice group.

Lavigne is focused in part on defending the cultural heritage of the African American community. In 2019, she organized the community against a new Formosa Plastics Corp factory that would have disrupted a slave grave in the community. She had previously help stall similar projects from Wanhua Chemical Group and South Louisiana Methanol.

Lavigne was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2021. She was named the 2022 recipient of the University of Notre Dame's Laetare Medal on March 27, 2022. The same year, RISE, Earthjustice, Louisiana Bucket Brigade, and other plaintiffs won a lawsuit against Formosa that argued the potential air pollution of the proposed plant would violate federal standards. That court decision was later reversed on appeal in 2024.

Personal life Lavigne is a retired special education teacher. Her father was a sugarcane farmer in the area, and her mother a homemaker. Her family participated in civil rights actions in the area during the civil rights movement.

She is also a Black Catholic, a parishioner at St. James Catholic Church in St. James, Louisiana.