A woman protesting Alabama’s unlined coal ash ponds on Wednesday poured water over the head of former Alabama State Rep. Kyle South during a public hearing on the state’s coal ash plan.

The EPA has proposed a denial of Alabama’s state coal ash plan on grounds that it does not meet Agency rules for coal ash.

At the hearing, several concerned residents and environmental groups lobbied the EPA to require Alabama utilities to dig out and remove unlined coal ash pits that sit near the banks of rivers.

Utilities and business groups argued that the existing state coal ash program was adequate and that removal of that much coal ash would be costly and dangerous.

South had spoken in favor of reinstating Alabama’s state program when a woman who identified herself as Anne DiPrizio began to speak.

Rather than walking to the microphone at the front of the room, DiPrizio shouted from the back of the room that Alabamians were being poisoned by toxic chemicals in the water.

DiPrizio then proceeded to pour water over South’s head twice during her speech before beginning a screaming tirade that was laced with obscenities and directed ire at nearly everyone present – the EPA, Alabama Power, and people she said are not doing enough to stop pollution.

When moderators attempted to stop DiPrizio, she continued to shout while standing on a chair in the conference room at the Embassy Suites hotel in Montgomery. The hearing adjourned early for lunch, resuming an hour later.

South, a Republican from Fayette who had represented the district since 2014, resigned in June to become president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of West Alabama.

DiPrizo has been arrested multiple times for her protests, according to news reports.

In 2019, she reportedly threw paint in the state house, during the debate of a bill that would ban nearly all abortions, WSFA reported at the time.

Diprizio was arrested in 2018 when Hoover police received a report of someone in front of Hoover City Hall throwing Christmas ornaments into traffic in a protest following the shooting death of E.J. Bradford in the Riverchase Galleria by a Hoover police officer on Thanksgiving Day of that year.

Authorities said Diprizio also was standing in traffic on U.S. 31 and tried to climb on the hood of a vehicle while stating she was “going to stop traffic until there was justice for EJ.”

In 2015, she was arrested on a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge when she offered to marry a lesbian couple inside the Autauga County Probate Office, The Montgomery Advertiser reported. Probate Judge Al Booth had halted all marriage ceremonies in the office and she reportedly refused to leave.