[New post] Cancer Alley on air quality regression and the suffering Black communities of Louisiana
Joey Oh posted: " Photoshopped by Joey OhPhoto of the Formosa plants, one of the largest plastics producer in the world; source from https://www.ecowatch.com/cancer-alley-petrochemical-plant-2653102027.htmlPhoto of Shintech, one of the largest company polyvinyl chloride; "
Overall Air quality in the United States has been improved due to some effect of policies against industrial pollutants. However, Louisiana has been and yet facing serious air pollution as swamping influx of petrochemical plants has taken over the land that used to be small hamlets residing alongside lower Mississippi River in Louisiana. Now it's known as "Cancer Alley", as the industrial facilities emit enormous amount of cancer-causing chemical pollutants that hovers around as oxygen in this area. The "Cancer Valley" or the petrochemical corridor inundates from Baton Rogue, Louisiana to the borderline of New Orleans, approximately 85 miles down the River (NowThis, 2017). The most victimized communities located in St. Gabriel and St. James Parish adherent to the capital, Baton Rouge, especially from Formosa Plastics Group, one of the biggest plastic facilities in the world (UN, 2021). Additionally, with around 150 oil refineries, chemical and plastics facilities surrounding the residences have produced exceeding level of hydrogen sulfide which approved by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as it raised a red flag (NowThis, 2017; UN, 2021). Moreover, EPA has revealed the deepened disparity between black and white neighborhoods in the Cancer Alley that the cancer risks is double times higher in the black neighborhoods in comparison to white neighborhoods, almost 800% of cancer hazard increase has been detected from its Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators database (Salahuddin, 2021; Wilkins, 2021). The basic life quality, the right to breath clean air, has been deprived from the communities and call for environmental justice is desperate.
History:
The regions where lower Mississippi runs down through the southern state, Louisiana, was originally known as "Plantation Country", where enslaved Africans were exploited and more so, the land was famous for being white owned black town (Baurick, et al., 2019; UN, 2021). And over time, the small towns that reside around the lower Mississippi River has been a peaceful homes to black communities who are descendants of past shame time of slavery.
"Some people still lived in those plantation houses, and there was nothing but cornfields around them," she said. "I remember that coming in on the train. It was so pretty to see the cornfields blowing in the wind. We didn't have cameras to take pictures, but that stays in my head."
statement from Hazel Schexnayder, 89 years old Louisian, quoted by Tristan Baurick (2019)
Overall, Louisiana had a slow pace of economic development in the 20th century, hence the politicians sought for a transition from farming to industry, which was a profitable decision that they have made so that the state could save itself from poverty by earning tax incentives (Baurick, 2019). The first boom of emerging petrochemical industry started in 1940s, gradually occupying the the streams of lower Mississippi River from the starting point of Baton Rogue, Louisiana to opening borderline of New Orleans. Then in the 1950s, as facilities filled up the Baton Rogue, it went down to St. Gabriel and hence then on spreading down to the stretch of River that arrives to New Orleans. In 1969, The National Environmental Policy Act has passed which the act was to required the federal agency to oversee the reports of setting up operations in certain areas. However, as federal agency has the authority to ramify, the emergence of petrochemical facilities on the Cancer Alley is entirely up to its discretionary power (Salahuddin, 2021).
From then on, the environmental racism has been in place deeply soaked in the lands of petrochemical corridor and according to EPA database, chemical plants have increased from 255 to 320 from the past 30 years, nearly 25% of increase.
Plants with emissions above certain thresholds are required to report them. According to EPA data, the number of industrial plants in Louisiana that reported their toxic releases grew from 255 to 320 in the last three decades, an increase of 25%. In contrast, the report reveals that number of plants has declined by 16% nationally during the same period of time (Baurick, 2019).
How is Cancer Alley supported?
Many non organization firms, like Louisiana Bucket Brigade, Sierra Club are joining the forces of activism and environmental social justice movements to fight back against the environmental racism that the black communities in Cancer Alley is experiencing. Louisiana Buck Brigade has been exclusively focusing on the local parameters of Cancer Alley and supports people from donation, charity, education on how to document pollution. From the aid that Sierra Club, as it is one of the largest environmental organization, it sets its goal to reduce new developments and reduce carbon emissions. Moreover, Center for Constitutional Rights and Impact Fund are public interest law non-profit organizations that provide legal aid and education on policies on behalf of he communities that are facing environmental racism.
UN. "Environmental Racism in Louisiana's 'Cancer Alley', Must End, Say UN Human Rights Experts | | UN News." United Nations, United Nations, 2 Mar. 2021, https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/03/1086172.
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