Cancer Alley
In just a short stretch of 85 miles, environmental deterioration and food and water chemical contamination are killing residents along the Mississippi River, from Baton Rouge down to Louisiana (Pasley, 2020).
The largest manufacturing industries in Louisiana are gasoline and coal among other basic chemicals like styrofoam and plastic (St. Gabriel, LA).
Income disparities among the gender binary alongside environmental racism are also grimly obvious.
Black American Demographic Makeup in Cancer Alley
New Orleans: 59.7%
-74.9% of residents living in poverty are Black.
Baton Rouge: 54.7%
-The largest demographics living in poverty are males between the ages of 18-24 and females between the ages of 18-34. Of the total population below the poverty line, 64.6% of residents are Black.
St. James: 49.6%
-67% of the city’s population below the poverty line are Black residents.
Reserve: 59.6%
-86.8% of the population in poverty are Black.
St. Gabriel: 61.1%
-The largest demographic of citizens living in poverty in St. Gabriel, LA are females between the ages of 18-24. Young women account for 28.6% of the city’s population living below the poverty line.
-Black people account for 62% of the city’s total population in poverty.
-The lowest paid occupations in this town are food, agriculture, and environment protection-related positions.
“Unlike the black soot that used to linger in mining towns, here, the pollution registers quietly. It's in the oily taste of the water, on the blackened leaves of fruit trees, and in the acrid odor in the air…” (Lerner, 2017).
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"‘Cancer Alley’ is an 85 mile-long stretch of the Mississippi river lined with oil refineries and petrochemical plants, between New Orleans and Baton Rouge.”
New EPA rules exclude existing and future chemical plants in Louisiana from limiting toxic emissions.
However, current political powers are further limiting EPA protective and preventative actions will only cause more death and illness in Louisiana as a whole.
Watch
What it’s Like Living in Cancer Alley
Explore
Check out this map that shows existing and future plants (future as in, will be fully operating by 2022).
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References
Baton Rouge, LA. (n.d.). Retrieved from here.
Lerner, S. (2017, March 24). A Louisiana Town Plagued by Pollution Shows Why Cuts to the EPA Will Be Measured in Illnesses and Deaths. Retrieved from here.
Pasley, J. (2020, April 09). Inside Louisiana's horrifying 'Cancer Alley,' an 85-mile stretch of pollution and environmental racism that's now dealing with some of the highest coronavirus death rates in the country. Retrieved from here.
Reserve, LA. (n.d.). Retrieved from here.
St. Gabriel, LA. (n.d.). Retrieved from here.
St. James, LA. (n.d.). Retrieved from here.
U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: New Orleans city, Louisiana. (n.d.). Retrieved from here.