In particular, the agency has launched a series of civil rights investigations into the permits approved in St. John and St. James parishes. The strip connecting the region’s cultural capital of New Orleans with the Louisiana state capital of Baton Rouge is known colloquially as “cancer alley,” as chronic air pollution is believed to trigger an above-proportion number of cancer cases in majority Black communities.

EPA administrator Michael Regan, himself Black, visited the area late last year and pledged to follow up information provided by activists calculated using the environmental watchdog’s own figures.

As a principal offender in St. John parish, the agency has identified a chloroprene plant formerly owned by DuPont and now operated by Japanese petrochemical producer Denka. This is the only location in the US to emit the chemical that the agency classified as a “likely human carcinogen” as early as 2010. Chloroprene feeds production of polychloroprene, used in Neoprene-branded wetsuits and waterproof gloves as well as laptop sleeves, electrical insulation and automotive fan belts and hoses.

In neighboring St. James parish, the EPA investigations will also scrutinize permits related to the sprawling petrochemicals and plastics complex being pieced together by Taiwan-based polymer giant Formosa Plastics. New facilities at the site have been delayed for years due to internal glitches, Covid-19 and an uproar over the impact on the environment. In one case, the US Army Corps of Engineers is reviewing its own permit allowing the emission of up to 15,400 lbs (nearly 7 million t) of ethylene oxide annually.

While racial justice advocates maintain that the state and local permitting process is biased against African-Americans, in a statement the LDEQ defended its permitting process as “fair and equitable,” but said it would work with the EPA to resolve the matter.

Author: Dede Williams, Freelance Journalist