In 2000, the Toxic Release Inventory data showed that Louisiana ranked second in the nation for total factory onsite releases, producing 9.42 billion pounds of waste.
Louisiana is known for having a high rate of mortality due to cancer. In 2009, the death rate reached 266.5 per 100,000 while the national average was 225.9, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
The area along the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, commonly referred to as the Industrial Corridor, has also been dubbed “cancer alley” due to the record numbers of people who have contracted cancer in this small area.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), there are seven oil refineries, 50 paper producing factories and 175 heavy industrial plants along this small span of land.
Researchers have attempted to prove that the large number of refineries and plants is contributing to nearby residents contracting cancer from the emissions and carcinogens released from the plants. However, statistics have proven inconclusive.
Almost all of the plants along cancer alley refuse to safely remove waste material and instead dump into nearby lakes, ponds and the Mississippi River. Shintech Inc., headquartered in Houston, Texas, has been cited by the EPA for over $2.5 million in fines in 2008 to resolve violations of the Clean Air Act of 1990. In 1996, the same company attempted to build a similar, polyvinyl chloride facility in St. James Parish, right in the heart of cancer alley.
The Shintech Case is one of the most influential cases in regard to environmental racism. Environmental racism refers to any law or regulation put in place by the state that could affect racially diverse or low income communities at a different rate than other well-off communities.
According to the Environment Resource Justice Center, the community of St. James Parish consisted of 49 percent African-Americans and the specific area where Shintech was planned to build, Convent, had an 84 percent black population.
The citizens of this area were concerned about the addition of another dangerous
chemical facility in their neighborhood. They were aware that the existing companies were releasing chemicals, such as vinyl chloride, into the air and seeping other possible carcinogens into the nearby soil and water, potentially contributing to cancer.
Cancer clusters, a group of cancer victims in one small area that could be connected to one single cause, have also been under investigation in the surrounding parishes. St. James citizens began to fight the location of the plant by forming a grassroots environmental campaign called the St. James Citizens for Jobs and the Environment (SJCJE). The SJCJE called on the Tulane Environment Law Clinic (TELC) for legal assistance against Shitech Inc.
Mike Murphy is the Community Outreach Director for the TELC. The clinic represents clients who are otherwise unable to afford legal assisatance. Murphy said that the Clinic has Tulane law students performing as attorneys under supervision and explained that the TELC takes clients that private lawyers would not normally take.
“We represented the community of Convent. This was a textbook case of environmental
injustice. There were no other cases that claim environmental injustice as a precedent.”
The Shintech Case caused controversy because the EPA had neglected disparate areas due to their lack of voice against major corporations. This case would test the EPA to whether they would protect people of color and low-income communities in compliance with the Executive Order on Environmental Justice put in place during the Clinton administration. The EPA had the final decision in whether Shintech would build in St. James, but in late 1998, the company announced they would not be building their $700 billion factory.
“It was an incredible learning opportunity for everyone involved. There was some element of victory because it was like David versus Goliath. The community did suffer some collateral damage and the people lost some of the neighborliness,” Murphy said.
Later in 2005, Shintech announced plans to expand from their existing location in Houston to Iberville Parish.
Murphy said, “The government is lacking in justice, and we fulfill the social need to represent clients to bring up the injustice for the good of the people.”