RISE ST. JAMES

Petrochemical Giants Are Slowly Killing Black Louisiana Communities "Between these plants and [the Louisiana parish of] Welcome lie large tracts of agricultural land slated to host a $9.4 billion plastics plant proposed by the Taiwanese company Formosa. Formosa's plant would use 'ethane crackers' to turn natural gas products into feedstock for making artificial turf, throwaway bottles, grocery bags and other plastics. The plant would emit roughly 28 million tons of air pollutants each year, including large amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, according to a permit application. Tons of health-endangering pollutants, including volatile organic compounds like benzene and toluene, which are known to cause cancer and acute health problems, would be released as well. It all started in 1965 when we had Hurricane Betsy,' Milton Cayette says. "And that's when all these plants start coming up. Before the hurricane, Cayette remembers gathering blackberries, pecans, honeysuckle and maypop fruit along the river. The area had been agricultural since the plantation days, when free people of color who survived slavery established settlements along the river. About 86 percent of the roughly 2,800 people currently living across the 5th District's unincorporated hamlets are Black. Cayette's father planted corn, but everything changed after the storm. Farmers began spraying their sugar cane fields with harsh pesticides as heavy industry crept into the area, replacing farms across St. James and neighboring parishes. By 1968, Cayette says, blackberries and pecans were difficult to find. Nowadays, odors associated with petrochemicals are a fact of life. From 2017 to 2018,37 chemical accidents were recorded in St. James Parish, including the releases of noxious fumes and reports from residents of strong chemical odors in the air. Residents in the 5th District report skin rashes, difficulty breathing and cases of cancer, according to a letter to local officials written by Cayette's sister, Sharon Lavigne. Despite protests, heated public hearings and the company's record of chemical accidents and pollution, Formosa's proposal is sailing through the approval process at the state and local level. RISE St. James activist Rita Cooper addresses the St. James Parish Council in January. Despite vocal opposition from residents, the council approved a crucial land-use agreement for the proposed Formosa plant. While researching the proposal, environmentalists discovered that a 2014 'comprehensive plan' produced by the St. James Parish government had designated the Welcome and St. James portion of 5th District as an 'industrial' and 'residential/future industrial' on map detailing future land-use. About 1,500 people live in the area, and over 90 percent are Black, according to census data. 'They don't think we are human beings, I guess,' Lavigne says. Plenty of data from across the country shows that sources of industrial pollution are more likely to be located near low-income communities and neighborhoods of color, and Black and Latinx people often bear the brunt of toxic accidents and emissions. Adrienne Bloch, an attorney for the environmental group Earthjustice, told Truthout that observers believe emissions from Formosa plant would increase local cancer risks in an area where resident say air pollution is already causing health problems. 'For instance, the ethylene oxide emissions will cause ambient levels of ethylene oxide that are 246 times that which EPA has found can cause cancer,' Bloch said in an email. Throwaway plastics are a persistent pollutant, particularly in the world's oceans, where trash islands make alarming headlines and tiny bits of plastics are penetrating deeper into organisms and ecosystems than previously thought. If current consumption trends continue, analysts estimate that the plastic manufacturers would consume 20 percent of the oil produced globally by 2050, and the amount of plastic in the world's ocean would outweigh the entire mass of fish still living in them."