John,

Keeping low-income communities of color safe from corporations who produce toxic chemicals is environmental justice.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has designated vinyl chloride—a volatile substance to make polyvinyl chloride (PVC)—as a “High Priority Chemical” under the Toxic Substance and Control Act. It has been associated with liver and other forms of cancer.¹ Unfortunately, due to corporate lobbying of lawmakers, its use is expanding like never before.²

After a train derailment in the eastern Ohio town of East Palestine, a low-income community that is 98% white, lawmakers rightfully rushed to offer support for the community and quickly passed bipartisan legislation to strengthen safety regulations for the transportation of hazardous chemicals.³

But in low-income communities across the South—most notably in Louisiana’s “cancer alley,” no such help is on the way, or has been in the decades since the poisonous effects of these hazardous chemicals were first discovered.

In 1998, after pressure from residents, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)—a federal agency within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—performed toxicology tests on the residents of Mossville, Louisiana and found that the average amount of cancer-causing drugs per person was triple that of the general U.S. population.⁴

Mossville was founded in 1790 by Freedmen—free Black men and women who had been formerly enslaved. Its long history of being a haven for Black people—especially during the violent backlash of Reconstruction and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups in the 1950s and 1960s—is at risk today because of cancer-causing chemicals from vinyl plastic plants and dump sites, which are significantly more likely to be located in or near low-income communities and low-income communities of color, specifically.

According to a report issued by Toxic-Free Future, of the people living within a three mile radius of these chemical plants, 63% are people of color (with 27% being children), while making up only 41% of the population nationwide.⁵ Residents in these areas earn an average of $23,747 per capita, compared to the national average of $37,638.⁶

These plants have had devastating consequences on low-income communities of color in Louisiana and have forced entire communities to relocate.

This is an environmental injustice and cannot be allowed to continue. The EPA is holding a public comment period until October 23rd and we must raise our voices to express the deep environmental injustice concerns associated with this chemical.

Click here to send your official comment to the EPA today to demand the federal government protect low-income communities and communities of color from the dangers of vinyl chloride.

Just 5 chemical companies release more than 97% of the vinyl chloride in the U.S.: Westlake Chemical, Formosa Plastics, Occidental Chemical, Shintech, and Orbia (Mexichem). At least three of these companies have been repeatedly fined for violating federal environmental and safety laws.⁷

From Toxic-Free Future:

In the United States, vinyl chloride and PVC plants are primarily concentrated in Texas, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Jersey, Illinois, and Mississippi. In 2021, vinyl chloride and PVC plants reported the following cumulative releases of vinyl chloride into the air⁸:

• 138,577 pounds in Texas

• 117,526 pounds in Kentucky

• 110,399 pounds in Louisiana

• 24,407 pounds of in New Jersey

• 19,115 pounds of in Illinois

• 4,779 pounds of in Mississippi

Vinyl chloride is an invisible threat, particularly in communities burdened by industrial pollution. This comment period is a rare chance to demand accountability and stronger protections for vulnerable communities.

Click here to send a comment to the EPA urging them to protect vulnerable communities from the harm of vinyl chloride.

Thank you for all you do,

Deborah Weinstein
Executive Director, CHN Action

¹ NIH National Cancer Institute
² Client Profile: Vinyl Institute
³ Vinyl Chloride Industry Keeps Expanding Despite East Palestine Disaster
⁴ Erasing Mossville: How Pollution Killed A Louisiana Town
⁵ Vinyl plants release cancer-causing chemicals into low-income communities of color
⁶ United States Census Bureau
⁷ The pollution resulting from the vinyl chloride train derailment is not an isolated incident
⁸ Toxic Free Future: The largest vinyl chloride polluters