Statement from the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice on DOJ’s Filing Against Cancer Alley Chemical Plant

Mar 1, 2023

Statement from the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice on DOJ’s Filing Against Cancer Alley Chemical Plant
​​​​​​​FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 1, 2023

Contact:
Ginger LeBlanc | gingerl@dscej.org
Valerie Keys | vkeys@skdknick.com
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NEW ORLEANS, LA – New Orleans, LA -- In response to the Department of Justice’s recent filing against Denka Performance Elastomer, Dr. Beverly Wright, Executive Director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, released the following statement:

“When EPA Administrator Michael Regan visited Cancer Alley more than a year ago, he had the opportunity to see firsthand the disproportionate impact these chemical plants have on the majority Black communities in the Mississippi River Chemical Corridor. He made a commitment to hold these industrial polluters accountable and today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Justice delivered. For decades Black families have been human experiments for the petrochemical industry in Louisiana, forcing people to choose between leaving a community their family has been a part of for generations or risk illness or even death. 

While this has certainly been no secret, as we have been fighting alongside community activists for decades, this filing is a major step in helping to correct years of inaction. We look forward to continuing to work with the EPA to ensure that all communities can live and thrive in an environment free of deadly pollution.”

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About the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice
Families in the Gulf Coast deserve to live in communities that are free from deadly air and are more resilient to climate change and extreme weather. The Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DSCEJ) works to empower and engage communities to put environmental justice and equity at the center of all climate action. Led by environmental justice scholar and advocate, author, civic leader and professor of Sociology Dr. Beverly L. Wright, the DSCEJ uses research, education, and community and student engagement to advocate for policy change, lead health and safety training for environmental careers, develop social and emotional community wellness programs, and create new and environmentally healthy opportunities for the residents of communities disproportionately impacted by historic environmental injustice.