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‘PEOPLE ARE DYING’: AIR IN ‘CANCER ALLEY’ LOUISIANA MORE
TOXIC THAN PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT  
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Edward Carver
June 11, 2024
Common Dreams [[link removed]]

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_ Ethylene oxide, a carcinogenic gas, is nine times more prevalent
than the EPA estimated, a study shows. And inside petrochemical
plants, workers are likely subjected to much higher concentrations, an
author said. _

Smoke billows from chemical plants in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in
2013. "Cancer Alley," a concentration of petrochemical plants amid
residential homes, runs along the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge
to New Or, Giles Clarke/Getty Images

 

The presence of a dangerous chemical in the air of southeast
Louisiana's "Cancer Alley," which has a substantial Black population,
is far greater than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimated
and exceeds safe limits, a study
[[link removed]] published Tuesday
found.

The levels of ethylene oxide, exposure to which can cause lung,
breast, or other cancers, are nine times higher than the EPA estimated
[[link removed]], the study, which was published in
the journal _Environmental Science & Technology_, shows. Ethylene
oxide is a gas used in plastic production and in the sterilization of
medical equipment. Long-term exposure is exceptionally dangerous: The
EPA regards it as unsafe, due to cancer risk, at a level above about
11 parts per trillion (ppt) in the air.

The new study found that the gas' presence averaged about 31 ppt in
Cancer Alley, and was far higher in certain locations within the
industrial corridor, which runs alongside the Mississippi River from
Baton Rouge to New Orleans. In each of the census tracts the
researchers studied, the level of the gas was higher than the EPA had
estimated for that area, in most cases significantly, with a median
discrepancy of about 21 ppt.

"We expected to see ethylene oxide in this area," Peter DeCarlo, an
associate professor at Johns Hopkins University and an author of the
study, told
[[link removed]]_The
Guardian_, noting that it was "worrisome," especially for children.
"But we didn't expect the levels that we saw, and they certainly were
much, much higher than EPA's estimated levels."

Concentrations of ethylene oxide could be much higher "inside the
fenceline" of petrochemical plants—areas which couldn't be
studied—where workers are "getting much, much higher concentrations
over the course of their day," DeCarlo told
[[link removed]]_Grist_.

A groundbreaking study by @JohnsHopkins
[[link removed]] in @EnvSciTech
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alarming levels of ethylene oxide emissions from petrochemical
facilities in Cancer Alley, Louisiana. #BeyondPetrochemicals
[[link removed]] #PeopleOverPollution
[[link removed]] pic.twitter.com/s9vygj8RlV
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— Beyond Petrochemicals (@BeyondPetrochem) June 11, 2024
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People in Cancer Alley are nearly twice
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as likely to get cancer as other Americans, and ethylene oxide
accounts for most of the known carcinogenic risk there, roughly 68%,
if EPA estimates are correct. "The fact that so much of the
environmental risk in this area seems to come from a single chemical
is remarkable," the study authors wrote.

DeCarlo said this is why the authors deemed it important to study the
amount of ethylene oxide in the air there. However, he cautioned that
ethylene oxide is far from the only problem.

"The reality is people aren't just breathing ethylene oxide, they are
breathing a whole soup of chemicals," he told _The Guardian_. "When
you start to add everything up it becomes a much more problematic
picture."

The risk to human health is likely not limited to facilities that are
emitting ethylene oxide, as the researchers found plumes of gas that
were miles long. East Ascension High School in Gonzales, Louisiana, is
about five miles from an ethylene oxide hotspot, the study notes.

In 2021, United Nations experts called for an end to environmental
racism [[link removed]] in Cancer Alley,
and the organization's special rapporteur on the issue of human rights
called
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the area a "sacrifice zone" the following year. In January, Human
Rights Watch released a report
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systemic injustice there.

Sharon Lavigne, the founder of Rise St. James, a community
organization in St. James Parish, said the findings were a "step in
the right direction" but must lead to accountability and change.

"These monitors are good, but in the meantime, people are dying," she
told
[[link removed]]_Grist_.

Earlier this year, the EPA announced new ethylene oxide rules that
could cut Louisiana emissions of the gas by nearly 80%—"the first
time that federal regulations for chemical plants have been updated in
decades," _Grist_reported
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in April. Cancer Alley had been among the places that EPA
Administrator Michael Regan visited on his 2021 "Journey to Justice
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the new study may lead to calls for further action.

"The EPA's new rule was necessary but should only be the start of how
we begin to make things right here," Heather McTeer Toney, who leads a
Bloomberg Philanthropies campaign
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to end petrochemical plant expansion, told _Grist_. "I'm hopeful to
see levels go down, but the data suggest we have a long way to go."

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Edward Carver is a staff writer for Common Dreams.

* Cancer Alley
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* Louisiana; Ethylene Oxide; Environmental Racism;
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