An official in Louisiana says that the investigation into Louisiana’s departments of environmental quality and health is ongoing.
The Environmental Protection Agency is investigating whether Louisiana’s environmental and health agencies discriminated against Black residents due to air pollution from existing and planned facilities between New Orleans & Baton Rouge.
Lilian Dorka (Director of EPA’s Civil Rights Compliance Office) recently notified environmental groups as well as the state about the investigation into Louisiana’s departments of Health and Environmental Quality.
It involves two complaints. Both the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and the state Department of Health are accused of not paying enough attention to environmental justice.
The complaints concern at least seven existing plants as well as two large planned projects in two parishes along the industrial corridor that connects Louisiana’s largest cities.
Both are important in planning a $9.4 billion Formosa Plastics complexIn St. James Parish A $400 million grain terminalIn St. John the Baptist Parish. The following plants are currently in existence: Denka Performance Elastomers plantWhich was purchased by the Japanese company in 2015 in St. John.
Gregory Langley, press secretary at the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, stated that officials of the agency’s permit process are impartial. TelledThe Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate.He said that LDEQ deals with all issues in a fair and equitable manner. EPA and LDEQ will work together to resolve this issue.
Steven Russo was the general counsel of the Louisiana Department of Health. We have received the entire complaint from EPA and we are looking into it carefully.
In January, Administrator Michael Regan said EPA will conduct surprise inspections at industrial sitesAir and water pollution are suspected to cause health problems.
Environmental groups refer to the southeast Louisiana industrial corridor as Cancer Alley.
Nearly every census tract between Baton Rouge & New Orleans has a higher risk of cancer from air toxics than at most 95% of U.S. residents. According to a Tulane Environmental Law Clinic complaint, the environmental department.
Professor Lisa Jordan, the director of the law clinics, stated that the department should establish policies and procedures that address and prevent air pollution from Black communities. The Associated Press.
The complaint alleges that air emissions permits approved for the chemical complex and grain terminal were part of a pattern going back at most to 2016 and involving permits at least six existing plants.
The clinic represents several groups opposing plans for the grain terminal. They say it is likely to release fine particulate pollution.
Cal Williams, Greenfield’s Chief Executive Officer, stated to the newspaper Friday that terminals’ emissions would be below the EPA’s strictest air quality standards.
Earthjustice, along with the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law have filed a complaint to both state departments. They claim that Denkas continues to release chloroprene and that other nearby plants are emitting cancer-causing levels of ethylene oxide.
According to the complaint filed by the Concerned Citizens of St. John (Sierra Club) the health department failed to provide information to predominantly Black residents of St. John about health risks from Denkas emissions.
They also complain that the Sunshine Project complex near Donaldsonville, planned by Formosa Plastics Group member FG LA LLC, would release particulate matter and volatile carbon monoxide.
Sunshine Project has been approved by state and parish bodies. It relied on sound science and met all regulatory criteria. Janile Parks, spokesperson for the Sunshine Project, stated in a statement sent to the email. AP.
Jim Harris, Denka spokesperson, said that the state tumor registry data do not show an increase in cancer rates in St. John the Baptist Parish.
He stated that state agencies are more interested in real science than sensational pseudo-studies to the newspaper.
According to a 2014 National Air Toxics Assessment (EPA), the individual lifetime cancer risk from both ethylene oxide and chloroprene was at the rate 2,000 per 1,000,000 people, which is the highest rate in the country.
Since Denkas agreed to install new equipment, chloroprene levels have fallen dramatically. However, the levels at several local monitoring stations have been higher than the EPA cancer risk level (0.2 micrograms per cu meter) for the past year.
Denka asked EPA to reconsider listing chloroprene in the list of human carcinogens likely to be caused by it based on a peer-reviewed study sponsored by the company.
Dorka stated that her agency will investigate whether DEQ conducts its air pollution control program in a way that could lead to individuals being subject to racial discrimination.
She wrote that the committee will also examine whether the health department provided any information regarding health threats from Denka or other nearby sources of polluting substances.
TheGrio is free on your TV via Apple TV and Amazon Fire, Roku, Roku, Roku, or Android TV. Download theGrio mobile apps today!
The post Louisiana Projects: Environmental Justice Probed by the EPAThe first to appear on TheGrio.