One of the first gifts is smell, says Shamelle Lavigne, explaining how to recognize when the area she grew up in is steeped in “dirt.”
He grew up in the 85-mile stretch between Baton Rouge and New Orleans known as ‘Cancer Alley’, where nearly 200 fossil fuel and petrochemical plants are located along the mighty Mississippi River.
The region handles about a quarter of America’s petrochemical production, meeting public demand for things like chemicals, fertilizers and plastics. It got this serious nickname due to having some of the highest cancer risks in the US.
“There are so many houses on every street that have been affected by cancer,” Lavigne says. She explains that sometimes this happens in every second household, or even several households in a row where at least one or two members of the family have fallen ill.
For decades, ‘Cancer Alley’ facilities have been releasing a variety of toxic pollutants into the surrounding soil, water and air and local communities say they are paying a heavy price for the mountains of plastic produced around the world. Additionally, the region has long ranked in the top 5% nationally for cancer risk. thought Recent research from Johns Hopkins University In the US it has been suggested that the overall cancer risk is 11 times higher than government estimates.
Lavigne, now an environmental activist, said, “I would describe it as a sacrifice zone.” “We have become the sacrificial lamb for the rest of the world for single-use plastics.”
The US is one of several countries – including China, South Africa, Brazil, Iran and Saudi Arabia – that are expanding their petrochemical capacity as projections point to further growth in plastics production.
Cancer, respiratory disease and infertility
After it was announced that a $9.4 billion plastics plant would be built a few miles from the family home, Lavigne and her mother were inspired to act. He founded a campaign organization called Rise St. James, which has helped lead local resistance against industrial pollution that is also linked to other health issues.
The US Toxic Release Inventory reveals a range of harmful pollutants linked to respiratory and reproductive problems, birth defects and autoimmune diseases that are released into the air, water and land in ‘Cancer Alley’.
Lavigne says health problems affect every person, including her own. She struggled with infertility and miscarriages before the birth of her daughter, who grew up suffering from regular nosebleeds, allergic reactions and sinus infections, which sometimes caused her to miss school.
Now her daughter is 10 years old and she limits her time outside so she doesn’t fall ill. “It’s really heartbreaking,” Lavigne says.
The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, however, denies that area residents face excessive pollution burdens and health effects.
environmental racism
Despite growing up in ‘Cancer Alley’, environmental justice activist Joy Banner said it wasn’t until adulthood that she understood that at the heart of the pollution problem “is racism.”
Four years ago, she and her twin sister Jo Banner founded The Descendants Project to raise awareness of how ‘Cancer Alley’ is linked to the legacy of slavery.
“The industrial pollution and proliferation we are now surrounded by began hundreds of years ago,” Banner said.
This area of Louisiana is where, historically, slavery helped sugar plantations flourish, before petrochemical and fossil fuel companies came to the area in the 1960s.
The Banner twins argue that black residents, many of whom are descendants of people forced to work in the fields here, are now being disproportionately affected by petrochemical companies in ‘Cancer Alley’.
The United Nations has said what is happening there A case of “environmental racism”. Multiple studies have shown that black residents face significantly higher pollution exposure rates. Where Lavigne grew up, most of the plants built since 1958 are in majority black neighborhoods.
Failure to monitor and regulate
Although the US has regulations in place to combat pollution – notably the Clean Water and Clean Air Act – Banner believes ‘Cancer Alley’ is where it is today because officials are willing to turn a blind eye to plants exceeding pollution limits.
“You’re next to the Mississippi River and you have a government that’s looking the other way, it’s really, really easy for them to come in and pollute,” Banner said.
Although companies are obliged to report their emissions data to the Environmental Protection Agency, the requirements do not cover all types of pollution, and self-reported data is often found to underestimate the true picture. Activists have criticized the lack of consequences beyond fines for those who exceed their limits.
Companies are also not required to install pollution monitors. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University say there are only one or two in the thick of industrial activity in ‘Cancer Alley’ – not enough to really understand what people are breathing.
Local resistance and litigation
Groups like Lavigne’s Rise St. James have become important in the growing focus of resistance to petrochemical expansion. And despite David and Goliath’s odds, they’re seeing some wins.
As part of the protest against a proposed plastics plant near her family home, Lavigne’s group has been active in local councils and the community, as well as encouraging banks to divest from the project, and taking the issue to court.
“We’ve been fighting them since 2018 and we’ve kept them out of St. James and we’re still fighting to keep them out,” Lavigne said.
Other local initiatives have succeeded in preventing many major projects from going into ‘Cancer Alley’. Yet some local activists fear the toughest battles lie ahead, as the Trump administration vows to expand fossil fuel production and roll back environmental protections.
But Lavigne says she’s in for a long fight. “Not seeing our people die prematurely is one of the main things that keeps me going,” she says. “If we’re silent, they’re thinking it’s OK to pollute us, it’s OK to poison us, it’s OK to keep building these plants on top of us.”
Edited by: Tamsin Walker
This story was taken from an episode of DW’s Living Planet podcast. Find the audio version here.