Cancer Alley
Cancer Alley is the regional nickname given to an 85-mile (137 km) stretch of land[1] along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, in the River Parishes of Louisiana, which contains over 200[2] petrochemical plants and refineries.[3] This area accounts for 25% of the petrochemical production in the United States.[4] Environmentalists consider the region a sacrifice zone where rates of cancer caused by air pollution exceed the federal government's own limits of acceptable risk.[5]
Community leaders such as Sharon Lavigne have led the charge in protesting the expansion of the petrochemical industry in Cancer Alley, as well as addressing the associated racial and economic disparities.[6]
History
Following an oil and gas boom around the time of World War II, a number of refineries spawned along the Mississippi River near the Gulf Coast.[8] Many of these facilities were previously located in major population centers, such as Baton Rouge and New Orleans, but during the 1950s, many sought to migrate to less densely populated places.[9] Many relocated near majority Black communities in the area.[9] By the 1970s, the area had a proliferation of plants producing vinyl chloride, nitrogen fertilizers, and chlorine.[8] By the 1970s, serious air pollution and water pollution was noted by federal agencies. An EPA report found 66 pollutants in New Orleans drinking water, and 31 lethal chemicals in the air of Plaquemine.[8][10] In 1976, Coast guard divers retrieving sediment samples from a bayou suffered second-degree burns on their hands.[8] By the early 1980s, residents in the neighborhood of Good Hope had grown accustomed to regular fires at a local oil refinery, and developed their own informal evacuation plans for their occurrences.[8] Despite the known problems with pollution, the petrochemical industry in the area continued unabated, and even continued expanding. In the early 1980s, an oil refinery purchased the land of Good Hope for expansion.[8]
Beginning in the 1980s, locals also perceived certain species of plants and animals becoming less common.
Industrial plants emitting toxic waste in Louisiana continued to proliferate in the 21st century.[9] According to EPA data, the number of industrial plants in Louisiana that reported their toxic releases grew from 255 to 320 from 1988 to 2017, an increase of 25%, even as the number of such plants nationwide dropped by 16% over that period.[9]
Per a 2003 study that surveyed 11 plants in St. James Parish, researchers found that the plants employed between 4.9% and 19.4% African Americans, which is low in comparison to the overall population of the county (49.2% in 2000).[11]
In 1969,
Community organizing
In 1996,
In 1992, when the Taiwanese-owned
In 2018, the
While developments in
Criticism
On March 2, 2021, the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Committee discussed the continued industrial projects along the Mississippi River in Louisiana. The UN council on contemporary racism strongly condemned what they defined as environmental racism in their discussion with experts and other UN officials:
This form of environmental racism poses serious and disproportionate threats to the enjoyment of several human rights of its largely African American residents, including the right to equality and non-discrimination, the right to life, the right to health, right to an adequate standard of living and cultural rights.
The sentiments stated by environmental activists were echoed by the Human Rights Commission.[27]
On January 27, 2021, President Joe Biden signed an executive order regarding environmental justice and specifically cited Cancer Alley as a hard-hit area.[28] Louisiana Chemical Association President Greg Bowser responded to President Biden's remarks on the region, refuting claims that residents of the industrial corridor have a higher risk of developing cancer in multiple articles.[29][30] Furthermore, he cited Louisiana Tumor Registry (LTR) data to support his claims.[31][32] The LTR claims that there has not been an increase in cancer deaths connected to industrial pollution.[32]
Activists and locals have disputed the conclusions of the LTR asserting the tracts used cover large areas and the data does not allow for specific locations adjacent to chemical plants to be analyzed individually.[33] They also posited that the data may be incomplete as those that died during the COVID-19 pandemic who also had cancer might not be included.[34] Louisiana health officials are unable to release the specific cases and data because of medical privacy laws.[35]
Government action
The EPA's National Air Toxic Assessment looked at toxic emissions around the nation in 2011 and released the findings in 2015. The study found that the air in LaPlace, Louisiana, which is an area in Cancer Alley, had a higher-than-expected level of chloroprene.[36] This subsequently caused the EPA to begin working closely with the owner of the neoprene plant in the area, Denka Performance Elastomer, and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality to lower chloroprene emissions. The overall goal was to lower chloroprene emissions by 85%.[36]
The state of Louisiana says that Denka has reached the goal of lowering emissions by 85%, but some residents remain skeptical. Many residents believe that instead of reducing emissions by a percentage, the emissions should be 0.2 micrograms per cubic meter of air, which is what is considered a safe level by the EPA.[36]
In April 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency initiated civil rights investigations of Louisiana state agencies. The probe focused on whether the process of granting permits along the industrial corridor violated the civil rights of residents who live nearby.[37] The probe specifically examined the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and Department of Health regarding the permitting of a Denka Performance Elastomers plant, as well as a proposed Formosa Plastics Sunshine plane and a proposed Greenfield Exports grain terminal.[37]
In February 2023, the EPA and prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's office for the Eastern District of Louisiana filed a complaint against Denka Performance Elastomer under Section 303 of the Clean Air Act.[38] The complaint asserted that the company's LaPlace, Louisiana, plant posed an imminent danger to public health based on its emissions of cancer-causing chloroprene.[38] Air monitoring near the Denka plant found chloroprene levels as high as 14 times the recommended level.
According to the EPA, air monitoring performed near Denka’s plant has shown that chloroprene levels are as high as 14 times the recommended level of 0.2 µg/m3, which poses “an imminent and substantial endangerment” to nearby communities.[39] Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry sued the EPA, challenging the government's use of the disparate impact standard of the Civil Rights Act, which says policies cannot cause disproportionate harm to people of color and continue greenlighting industrial activities in an area already overburdened by pollution. Five weeks later, the EPA dropped its Cancer Alley investigation.[40] In February 2024, the EPA requested a delay in an impending federal trial against Denko until after the agency finalized a rule expected to tighten emission limits for chloroprene.[39]
Environmental racism
Many scholars and residents of Cancer Alley have referred to the area as a "frontline example of environmental racism."[41] Environmental racism can be defined as the institutional rules, regulations, policies, or government/corporate decisions that deliberately target certain communities for locally undesirable land uses and lax enforcement of zoning and environmental laws, resulting in communities being disproportionately exposed to toxic and hazardous waste based on race.[42] Environmental racism can also be caused by several factors. These factors include intentional neglect, the alleged need for a receptacle for pollutants in urban areas, and a lack of institutional power and low land values of people of color.[42] It is also a well-documented and well-known fact that communities of color and low-income communities are disproportionately impacted by polluting industries and lax regulation of these industries.[42]
Environmental impacts
The location of Cancer Alley also poses more environmental impacts other than air pollution. Since Cancer Alley is located closer to the Gulf of Mexico, hurricanes pose a great risk and have caused large amounts of damage in past years. For example, in 2005, Hurricane Katrina caused almost 11 million gallons of oil to spill into the water near New Orleans.[43] Hurricane Harvey in 2017 caused power outages which led to unrefrigerated chemicals in a plant in Houston decomposing and igniting into a large fireball.[43] In 2020, Hurricane Laura caused a fire at a plant that produced pool chemicals which led to chlorine gas being burned for three days.[43]
One of the largest environmental impacts happened when
Activism and environmental justice
In recent years in the United States, the environmental protection and civil rights movements have merged to form an
In September 2022, environmental justice advocates in southern Louisiana were able to declare victory after two decisions denied two major petrochemical complexes from moving forward.[45] The state district court judge Trudy White released a decision that reversed and vacated 14 air regulations permits that the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) had issued for the proposed Formosa Plastics Group complex in the town of Welcome.[45] The town already has multiple oil refineries and industrial plants and is located in Cancer Alley.
Another group that has been actively fighting against the petrochemical industry in Cancer Alley is Rise St. James. Rise St. James is a faith-based grassroots organization that fights for environmental justice and works to defeat the proliferation of petrochemical industries in St. James Parish, Louisiana. The organization successfully defeated the construction of a $1.25 billion plastics manufacturing plant in 2019 and is currently fighting to prevent Formosa Plastics from building a multibillion-dollar plant in the parish.[46] Rise St. James is also committed to educating the community and those outside of the community about the chemicals they breathe in every day. The organization's website includes a "Chemical of the Month" page and provides information on a specific chemical and how much it is found in certain areas of Cancer Alley.[46]
In popular culture
British industrial metal band Godflesh used a photograph of a cemetery located in Cancer Alley as the cover art for their 1996 album, Songs of Love and Hate.
Sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild discusses the environmental and health conditions in Cancer Alley, as well as the socioeconomic and political ramifications, in her 2016 book Strangers in Their Own Land.[47]
See also
Comparable examples
General
Legal
References
- S2CID 143642013.
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- ^ Castellón, Idna (February 12, 2021). "Cancer Alley and the Fight Against Environmental Racism". Villanova Environmental Law Journal. 32 (1): 15. Archived from the original on December 10, 2022. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
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- ^ Matei, Adrienne (November 16, 2021). "What are 'sacrifice zones' and why do some Americans live in them?". The Guardian. Archived from the original on May 19, 2022. Retrieved May 19, 2022.
- ^ "Letter from Sharon Lavigne to Pres. Biden on Cancer Alley & Formosa Plastics". Louisiana Bucket Brigade. 2021. Archived from the original on July 20, 2021.
- ^ ISBN 9781483318042.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Maraniss, David; Weisskopf, Michael (January 24, 1988). "The Faces of Pollution : As Cancer, Miscarriages Mount, Louisiana Wonders If It Is a 'National Sacrifice Zone'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on September 9, 2022. Retrieved January 26, 2024.
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- ^ US EPA, OAR (February 2, 2022). "Air Toxics Screening Assessment". www.epa.gov. Retrieved April 7, 2024.
- ^ "Louisiana's Cancer Alley Residents Sue Chemical Plant for Nearly 50 Years of Air Pollution". July 27, 2017. Archived from the original on July 24, 2019. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
- ^ Hersher, Rebecca. "After Decades Of Air Pollution, A Louisiana Town Rebels Against A Chemical Giant". NPR.org. NPR. Archived from the original on September 19, 2018. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
- ^ Lett, Victor Blackwell,Wayne Drash,Christopher (October 20, 2017). "Toxic tensions in the heart of 'Cancer Alley'". CNN. Retrieved March 12, 2024.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ EPA: Plant emits 99% of US chloroprene pollution | CNN, October 20, 2017, retrieved March 12, 2024
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- ^ Kuehn, Robert R. "Denying Access to Legal Representation: The Attack on the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic". journals.library.wustl.edu. p. 16. Retrieved March 12, 2024.
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- ^ Bernhardt, C., Shaykevich, A., & The Environmental Integrity Project. (2020). Greenhouse Gases from Oil, Gas, and Petrochemical Production Archived September 6, 2021, at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ a b Center for Biological Diversity. (November 4, 2020). Army Corps suspends permit for Formosa Plastics' controversial Louisiana plant Archived November 29, 2021, at the Wayback Machine. Center for Biological Diversity.
- ^ "Formosa plastics' proposed Louisiana plant gets permit to destroy wetlands". Center for Biological Diversity. September 10, 2019. Archived from the original on November 29, 2021. Retrieved November 1, 2021.
- ^ Jones, T. L. (December 18, 2019). "Activists want the $9.4B Formosa project stopped due to the slave cemetery at the St. James site". The Advocate. Archived from the original on November 1, 2021. Retrieved November 1, 2021.
- ^ "Lawsuit challenges Trump administration's fast-tracking of Louisiana Plastics project". Center for Biological Diversity. January 15, 2020. Archived from the original on December 8, 2021. Retrieved November 1, 2021.
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- ^ Office of Governor John Bel Edwards (April 23, 2018). "Formosa Selects St. James Parish for $9.4 Billion Louisiana Project". Louisiana.Gov. Archived from the original on November 1, 2021. Retrieved November 1, 2021.
- ^ "USA: Environmental racism in "Cancer Alley" must end – experts". United Nations Human Rights Committee. Archived from the original on March 2, 2021.
- ^ Baurick, Tristan (January 28, 2021). "Biden utters the words 'Cancer Alley,' but will he help Louisiana's chemical corridor?". NOLA.com. Archived from the original on March 27, 2021. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
- ^ "Letter to the Editor: 'Cancer Alley' moniker unwarranted by research". Hanna Newspapers. February 24, 2021. Archived from the original on April 13, 2021. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
- ^ "Opinion: The Data Doesn't Support "Cancer Alley" Designation in Louisiana". The Times of Houma/Thibodaux. February 21, 2021. Archived from the original on April 13, 2021. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
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- ^ a b "Cancer Incidence in Louisiana by Census Tract" (PDF). Louisiana Tumor Registry. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 13, 2021. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
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- ^ Dermansky, Julie (February 25, 2021). "From Pollution to the Pandemic, Racial Equity Eludes Louisiana's Cancer Alley Community". DeSmog. Archived from the original on April 12, 2021. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
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- ^ a b c Sneath, Sara (July 6, 2020). "State says St. John plant reduced emissions of a likely carcinogen by 85%, residents say it's not enough". NOLA.com. Archived from the original on December 15, 2022. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
- ^ a b Schleifstein, Mark (April 7, 2022). "EPA investigates Louisiana environmental, health for racial discrimination in air pollution permits".
{{cite news}}
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- ^ a b "EPA delays trial against neoprene manufacturer". Chemical & Engineering News. Retrieved March 15, 2024.
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- ^ a b Roewe, Brian. "Activists in Louisiana's 'Cancer Alley' hail halt to petrochemical complexes". www.ncronline.org. Archived from the original on December 15, 2022. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
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- ^ McCann, Sean (August 22, 2016). "What's the Matter with Cancer Alley? Arlie Russell Hochschild's Anatomy of Trumpism". Los Angeles Review of Books. Archived from the original on July 7, 2020. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
Further reading
- Nitzkin JL (April 1992). "Cancer in Louisiana: a public health perspective". Journal of the Louisiana State Medical Society. 144 (4): 162. PMID 1613306.
External links
- Cancer Alley: Myth or Fact?, Unwelcome Neighbors: How the poor bear the burdens of America's pollution. New Orleans Times-Picayune.
- Cancer Alley. BBC.
- Cancer Alley: Big Industry, Big Problems Archived December 17, 2016, at the Wayback Machine at MSNBC