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The Guardian - Back to homeThe Guardian

Cancer town

A year-long series reporting from Reserve, Louisiana, where the risk of cancer from air toxicity is 50 times the national average for the United States. This series of reports, films and public meetings will ask what residents have to do to win the right to a safe environment for their children

11 June 2024

  • emissions rise from a smokestack at a plant behind a grassy field

    Air in Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’ likely more toxic than previously thought

    New research reveals levels of ethylene oxide more than 1,000 times above previous measurements

2 February 2024

  • From left: Myrtle Felton, Sharon Lavigne, Gail LeBoeuf and Rita Cooper, members of Rise St James, stand on property owned by Formosa in St James Parish, Louisiana, in March 2020.

    Louisiana governor accused of using public records law to intimidate EPA and ‘Cancer Alley’ community

    Deep south state escalates its fight against environmental protection with ‘rare’ use of public record laws

10 August 2023

  • A yard sign protesting Formosa in St James parish, Louisiana. Photograph: Edmund D Fountain

    Revealed: Louisiana created alleged conflict of interest in ‘Cancer Alley’ case

    Louisiana AG hired lawyers for EPA negotiations who were also representing chemical firm at center of inquiry, documents show

21 March 2023

  • ]The Denka, formerly DuPont, factory in Reserve, Louisiana, in August 2021. The lawsuit also calls for a moratorium on the construction of new plants and the extension of existing facilities in St James parish.

    Residents of Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’ announce lawsuit against local officials

    Residents accuse St James parish officials of civil rights and religious liberty violations by approving petrochemical plants

28 February 2023

  • The former Dupont, now owned by Denka chemical plant located in Reserve, La. on July 11th, 2019. Bryan Tarnowski for The Guardian

    US justice department sues two companies over pollution in Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’

    Japanese company Denka, along with US chemicals giant DuPont, have operated the plant that produces cancer-causing chloroprene

16 September 2022

  • A billboard encourages St. James Parish, Louisiana residents to oppose Taiwanese industrial giant Formosa’s plans to build a $9.4 billion petrochemical plant equivalent in size to 80 football fields in the region.

    US court revokes permits for plastics plant in Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’

    Formosa’s planned petrochemicals complex would have doubled toxic emissions in area with some of the worst air quality in the US

8 June 2022

  • The Denka, formerly DuPont, factory in Reserve, Louisiana, which emits the human carcinogen chloroprene.

    Proposed deal could slash toxic emissions in America’s ‘Cancer Alley’

    Consent decree would settle two lawsuits against EPA brought by Louisiana residents in one of most polluted parts of US

14 April 2022

  • The Denka facility in Reserve, Louisiana. The neoprene facility is the only location in America to emit the pollutant chloroprene.

    EPA opens civil rights investigations over pollution in Cancer Alley

    Agency will look at whether Black citizens’ rights were violated in polluted industrial corridor in Louisiana

17 March 2022

  • A hand-painted sign hangs from a black iron fence around a white home that reads 'Fair and just relocation for Gordon Plaza residents'. A dog runs across the carport to the left.

    New Orleans residents whose homes were built on a toxic landfill win $75.3m judgement

    The Black, low- and middle-income residents who make up Gordon Plaza and Press Park have fought for decades to be relocated

26 January 2022

  • EPA head Michael Regan walks with community organizers Robert Talyor and Lydia Gerard on his “Journey for Justice” tour in the South.

    US to hold surprise plant inspections targeting pollution in Louisiana’s Cancer Alley

    Environmental Protection Agency seeks to protect local community from sites suspected of air pollution violations

17 November 2021

  • EPA head Michael Regan on his ‘journey to justice’.

    Residents of Louisiana’s Cancer Alley hopeful for action after EPA head’s visit

    Michael Regan says he aims to ‘hold everyone accountable’ on his ‘journey to justice’ through toxic sites across the south

9 September 2021

  • Robert Taylor returns to his home for the first time since evacuating from Hurricane Ida.

    He ‘put everything’ into his Louisiana home. Hurricane Ida destroyed it in one day

    Robert Taylor built his home in stages, using paychecks from three jobs – now almost the entire second floor has been destroyed and the lower floor is encased by mould

3 September 2021

  • Barbara Washington, a local environmental campaigner, with the Nucor steel plant seen behind her.

    ‘You’re poisoning us’: Ida brings fresh hell for Cancer Alley residents already battling pollution

    Hurricane hit heavily industrialized region hard shortly after it was revealed a nearby steel plant pumped sulphur gas in atmosphere for six years

19 August 2021

  • Multibillion-dollar Louisiana plastics plant put on pause in a win for activists

    According to environmentalists, the $9.4bn facility could release up to 13m tonnes of greenhouse gases a year

15 June 2021

  • Sharon Lavigne, US winner of the Goldman environmental prize

    Cancer Alley campaigner wins Goldman prize for environmental defenders

    Sharon Lavigne, a retired special education teacher, led a successful campaign to block construction of a toxic plant in Louisiana

20 March 2021

  • Karen Carter Peterson talks to Arnold Lowery at a meet and greet event during her run for a congressional seat in Louisiana’s second district in Donaldsonville, La. on Thursday, March 18th, 2021. Her husband, Dana Peterson (left), and event host, Oliver Joseph (right).

    Pollution takes centre stage for Louisiana congressional hopefuls

    Candidates to succeed Cedric Richmond in a solidly Democratic seat in Saturday’s special election have been obliged to address the toxic effects of the chemical industry in Cancer Alley

17 February 2021

  • The former Dupont, now owned by Denka chemical plant located in Reserve, La. on July 11th, 2019. Bryan Tarnowski for The Guardian

    Revealed: chemicals giant sold Louisiana plant amid fears over cost of offsetting toxic emissions

    Multibillion-dollar company DuPont worried about the potential cost of offsetting emissions of a ‘likely human carcinogen’

25 June 2020

  • A watertower in Welcome, Louisiana, near the site of Formosa’s planned petrochemical complex.

    US climate activists charged with 'terrorizing' lobbyist over plastic pollution stunt

    Anne Rolfes and Kate McIntosh face up to 15 years in prison after delivering box of plastic pellets found as pollution

7 April 2020

  • Medical personnel at the Ernest N Morial convention center prepare for coronavirus patients in New Orleans, Louisiana.

    A virus stalks a county with one of the highest death rates in US: 'People are dropping like flies'

    Louisiana’s St John the Baptist parish has the highest Covid-19 death rate of any county in America with a population of over 5,000

1 April 2020

  • Gail LeBoeuf protesting with members of the Concerned Citiznes of St. John and the Coalition Agianst Death Alley in front of the Denka Plant on the fourth day of a march through Cancer Alley in front of the Denka plant .

    In the most polluted part of America, residents now battle the US's biggest plastic plant

    Plastics factory will not only contribute to pollution in Louisiana town of Gramercy, but will also be a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions
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