The air we breathe
11th November 2019 · 0 Comments
Everyone in Louisiana has heard of “Cancer Alley,” recently renamed “Death Alley” by the Coalition Against Death Alley (CADA), and formerly known as “Petrochemical Corridor,” an 80-mile stretch along the Mississippi River lined with more than 200 petrochemical plants and refineries, which runs from New Orleans to Baton Rouge.
The stories of strange cancers and illnesses have resounded for years, without politicians being held accountable for allowing the poisoning of their constituents in East Baton Rouge, West Baton Rouge, Iberville, Ascension, St. James, St. Charles, and St. John parishes, where the majority of plants are located, and in Orleans Parish, where residents are fighting several dangerous, life-threatening environmental racism situations.
So is it irony or hypocrisy for some state legislators to promote the “heartbeat” bill, aka, an anti-abortion bill that was passed during the last legislation session, while they are silent about the high number of maternal deaths, the state’s high infant mortality rate, and childhood deaths and illnesses caused by their unholy alliance with polluters who fill the air with dangerous toxics that are known to cause cancer and death? If they care about unborn fetuses, why don’t they care about the untold numbers of youth, babies, and mothers lost to strange illnesses and cancer caused by chemical emissions from these industrial plants?
Citizens have been fighting the petrochemical plants in their communities since the 20th century However, armed with concrete studies of environmental racism and its accompanying pollutants, residents in affected areas are banding together to demand accountability from politicians and that they stop putting profit over people.
On October 16, more than 50 residents marched under the banner of “CADA” (Coalition Against Death Alley) in a March Against Death Alley. Among them were members of Rise St. James, Concerned Citizens of St. John, 350 Louisiana, The Bucket Brigade, Extinction Rebellion, and Justice and Beyond (a New Orleans-based group), among others, who marched to Baton Rouge to call attention to the proliferation of deaths and strange cancers affecting members in those communities and to call for a moratorium on new plants and lower air emissions.
Orleans Parish activists have been fighting to end toxic pollutants in New Orleans, too. They are demanding that city officials pay for the relocation of Gordon Plaza homeowners, who bought homes built on a toxic waste dump (without their knowledge) and demanding that city officials not grant a permit for Entergy’s proposed Natural Gas Plant in New Orleans East, and they are calling for an end to radiation emissions in Gert Town.
Rev. Gregory Manning, the co-coordinator of Justice & Beyond, called the event a “21st Century March.” CADA was joined by Rev. Dr. William Barber, II, the North Carolina minister who restarted the Poor People’s Campaign, on October 23 in St. James Parish.
CADA reached Baton Rouge on October 30, determined to speak with officials at LABI (Louisiana Association of Business and Industry), an organization whose membership includes the industrial plants. The coalition assembled in the lobby of LABI but were prohibited from going to the director’s office.
While Manning, who is legally blind, was speaking to the group, Baton Rouge police arrived, wrestled him to the floor, one cop put his knee in the minister’s back, then handcuffed and arrested him. Manning was charged with unlawful assembly, resisting arrest, and inciting a riot.
Earlier this week, during Manning’s arraignment, he and his lawyer, Loyola Law Professor William P. Quigley, learned that the Baton Rouge District Attorney hadn’t submitted any charges and the arraignment was reset for December 17.
Manning admitted to yelling on the LABI property but says the cops didn’t read him his rights, and his hands and back sustained injuries in the arrest.
So, the question becomes, are people supposed to allow themselves to be poisoned without responding to the environmental racism thrusted upon them?
These plants are disproportionately located in African-American communities. However, several polluters have moved into gentrified communities, including in Ascension Parish, which, according to news reports, is now among Louisiana’s whitest and most affluent parishes.
Judging from news reports, some white residents are satisfied to live among cancer-causing toxins in lieu of high paying jobs, while many in African-American communities, who have lived for decades in the shadows of belching smokestacks and lost numerous family members to cancer and strange illnesses, as result of exposure to these toxics, want to live surrounded by clean air; devoid of the poisonous fumes that they are forced to inhale in their communities, without their consent.
Studies show toxic emissions in Ascension Parish increased by 109 percent, over a ten year period. Currently, another major new plant and two major plant expansions are in the works in Ascension Parish.
“For most people in Ascension Parish… the pollution and attendant cancer risk of living in the river corridor is an acceptable cost for achieving a certain lifestyle,” according to a investigative series produced through a partnership with The Times-Picayune/Advocate and ProPublica. One man told a reporter, a friend of his recently made $60,000 in two months working at a plant in Ascension.
Clearly, some people value money over their own lives and those of their children, but there are some activists in Ascension Parish who are fighting against the death merchants (foreign plant owners), who are putting profits over human life. “Together Ascension” colleague Henrynne Louden, a former pediatrician and the first Black woman to graduate from Tulane Medical School, is a determined and passionate advocate for children’s well-being. She is in the struggle for clean air.
CADA marched on the State Capitol on June 3, to bring attention to the oppressive environmental injustices being committed by the plants, and to send a message to Governor John Bel Edwards. They were met by State Representative Randal Gaines, the head of the Louisiana Black Caucus, whose district includes parts of St. John and St. Charles Parishes. Gaines praised the group’s action.
CADA members know, however, that it will take more than just marching to get relief from the toxin-belching plants. A September 2019 victory let them know that their combination of marching, applying political pressure, and lobbying is an effective strategy for effecting change: Wanhua Chemical officially withdrew its plans to build a $1.25 billion plastics manufacturing complex in St. James, Louisiana.
CADA continues to meet monthly and are planning more actions, including drafting legislation and seeking legislators to sponsor a moratorium on new plants and legislation to lower the percentage of allowed emissions from existing plants.
If we continue to elect uncaring politicians, especially those who profess to be businesspeople and outsiders to state government, we will continue to see profit chosen over people. And if we don’t hold the pols’ feet to the fire, money earned will be paying for many a funeral. We should all think about that when we step into the voting booth on November 16.
This article originally published in the November 11, 2019 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
