environmental toxins

Kaitlyn Joshua is a native of the southeast corridor of Louisiana dubbed “Cancer Alley,” and has spent the last few years leading the fight against a hydrogen and ammonia facility being built within 2,000 feet of an elementary school in Ascension Parish. Joshua says she is ‘horrified’ about the recent deregulation measures the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently announced for the petrochemical industry.

As EPA pulls back, schoolchildren could face the steepest risks

Communities living and learning near petrochemical plants will face more pollution and less federal protection under Trump’s new policies.

FILE - EPA Administrator Michael Regan, left, arrives at the Fifth Ward Elementary School, which is near the Denka plant, with Robert Taylor, second left, founder of Concerned Citizens of St. John's Parish, and Lydia Gerard, third left, a member of the group, in Reserve, La., Nov. 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

Coastal Desk

Trump administration to drop lawsuit against Louisiana petrochemical plant, AP sources say

The Associated Press

The Trump administration plans to drop a federal lawsuit against a synthetic rubber manufacturer accused of worsening cancer risks for residents near its Louisiana plant, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Actress Jane Fonda and environmental advocate Roishetta Ozane appear at a rally in New Orleans on Jan. 19, 2024, held by a coalition of environmental groups opposed to the expansion of the liquified natural gas export capacity along the Gulf Coast. Ozane is among the Black women in Louisiana leading environmental justice efforts that have drawn new support from funders and legal advocates — and racked up some unlikely wins.

Coastal Desk

Black women are leading the fight against polluters in Louisiana — and they’re winning

Terry L. Jones (Floodlight)

Philanthropic and government investments in environmental justice are helping nonprofits push back against industrial development.

St. James Parish activists and residents Barbara Washington, Gail Lebouef and Shamyra Lavigne (left to right) hold a fist up after their groups filed a lawsuit against their local government on Tuesday, March 21, 2023 outside of the U.S. District Court of Eastern Louisiana in New Orleans.

Coastal Desk

'Cancer alley' residents ask federal court to revive lawsuit over new chemical plants

Halle Parker

Federal appeals court considers lawsuit aimed at pausing new chemical plants in St. James Parish.

River Parish homes with industrial smokestacks as their backdrop. Over generations, racially discriminatory zoning laws have transformed majority-Black communities into what is now known as Cancer Alley, say lawyers for residents of St. James Parish, who have filed suit against the Parish Council.

Coastal Desk

The majority-Black districts that became Cancer Alley

Delaney Dryfoos (The Lens)

Lifelong residents of St. James Parish will speak in federal court on Monday about how parish officials and ordinances have, for generations, explicitly directed industrial plants into predominantly Black neighborhoods.

Gordon Plaza is a small New Orleans neighborhood that was built on top of a "remediated" landfill in the late 1970s. EPFRs emanating from hazardous waste, which was buried under sand and soil, have caused high rates of cancer and respiratory diseases in the area.

Local News

How Do Environmentally Persistent Free Radicals (EPFRs) Affect Our Health? - Science Next

It's tough to fight what you can't see. We should all have a keen understanding of this, especially since the coronavirus came to be. But what other unseen things could be a danger to our health?

Doctors may be more hesitant to discuss environmental hazards than the risks of smoking and drinking.

Health

Few Doctors Warn Expectant Mothers About Environmental Hazards

Kara Manke

Chemicals and other toxic substances in the environment can cause premature birth, birth defects and developmental delays, but obstetricians say they're reluctant to discuss the threats with patients.