Local people who reside along a notorious industrial corridor in the U.S. state of Louisiana infamously known as "Cancer Alley" have highlighted the damaging results of long-term pollution and systemic neglect on their heath, particularly those from Black communities who live along this route.
Located on a 140-kilometer stretch of the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, this so-called "Cancer Alley" is densely packed with hundreds of chemical and oil-and-gas facilities. It is also home to people from predominantly Black communities whose families have lived here for generations.
Here, smokestacks belch fumes into the sky, flares burn through the night, and the air carries a chemical tang that residents say has seeped into their very bones.
"We have 12 industries within a 10-mile radius. That's too many industries for the human body to take in," said Sharon Lavigne, a resident of St. James Parish in Louisiana and founder of RISE St. James, a community organization fighting for local residents' right to live with dignity.
A new United Nations report has condemned what's happening in "Cancer Alley" as "environmental racism", noting that companies there prioritize profits while regulators fail to act.
"They don't care if we die. They don't care if we get sick. They don't care about the human life. All they care about is the almighty dollar," said Lavigne.
Lavigne said they had pleaded with the chemical giant DuPont to meet the safety standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), but the company has repeatedly refused.
Seniors like Robert Taylor, who was born in 1940, have seen the effects this heavy industry has had over the course of several decades, as the land he once knew to be rich with sugarcane fields and thriving crops is now encircled by massive chemical plants.
Trucks carrying hazardous chemicals run day and night, and acrid fumes fill the air. Fruits and vegetables that were once picked and eaten freely are long gone, and residents are afraid to even approach the trees in their own yards, which have already died from the top down.
Taylor lamented the seemingly inescapable plague of cancer that has taken many of his loved ones.
"My mother, her brother, his two children, my first cousins who are my age, who I love, my own brother and my sister, and now my wife got cancer. So for me, it was a devastating thing when I found out that this didn't have to be, that this was because of the actions of these people," said Taylor.
"This country actually considered us chattel property. Well, I don't see it any different now, [we're just] a 'sacrifice zone'," he added.
Multinational petrochemical companies secure state approvals to build with significant tax breaks and exemptions by promising jobs and economic growth in the local communities. However, local employment data tells a different story.
"When you drive through the community, it's over 90 percent black. But when you go into the site, the major jobs, the six-figure jobs are 90 percent white," said Tish Taylor, daughter of Robert Taylor.
Scientific research corroborates residents' fears about the environmental hazards in "Cancer Alley".
Kimberly Terrell, formerly a scientist with Tulane University's Environmental Law Clinic, had conducted a research study that linked elevated cancer rates in Louisiana to neighborhoods with the highest levels of air pollution.
"When we crunched the data, absolutely, the neighborhoods in Louisiana, specifically, the neighborhoods that have higher rates of pollution, specifically air pollution, have higher than normal cancer rates," said Terrell.
Soon after, Tulane University silenced further research by their Environmental Law Clinic concerning Black communities in "Cancer Alley". Terrell also resigned from her position, citing that the university succumbed to pressure from special interest groups.
"There was extreme blowback from the highest level of the university. What the provost later told me is that people were left feeling uncomfortable and embarrassed, and then the next week I was put under a gag order," said Terrell.
The multinational companies reportedly even employ 24-hour surveillance and security personnel who often pressure and harass journalists and activists investigating their operations.
Despite this, local residents have continued to call on the U.S. government and corporations to take responsibility, halt production, and restore their environment, though their voices are often drowned out by the roar of machinery at the industrial plants.
"Something needs to be done. Our government needs to stop approving these permits for these polluters to come in here to finish us off. We are human beings and we deserve to live. And we will fight to stay alive and to stay healthy," said Lavigne.
US "Cancer Alley" highlights damaging legacy of environmental racism, systemic neglect
