US Ends Critical Investigation in Louisiana s Cancer Alley
hrw.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from hrw.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
US Ends Critical Investigation in Louisiana s Cancer Alley
batonrougepost.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from batonrougepost.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Click to expand Image Fossil fuel and petrochemical plants line the area known as 'Cancer Alley," near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, October 15, 2013. 2013 Giles Clarke/Getty Images On Tuesday, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) abruptly closed a critical environmental justice investigation into whether the state of Louisiana had failed to protect predominantly Black communities living within the area known as "Cancer Alley." More than 200 industrial plants - primarily fossil fuel and petrochemical operations - line the 85-mile (135 km) stretch along the Mississippi River. Toxic air pollution has resulted in among the highest cancer risk in the nation and documented elevated cancer rates, among other ailments, with harm disproportionately concentrated within Black communities. "We're dying from inhaling the industries' pollution," Sharon Lavigne, President and Founder of Rise St. James, told Human Rights Watch in March. "I feel