Environmental Justice, Racism and the Struggle for Black Lives in Louisiana
“When I was growing up, St. James was a vibrant place and I lived the American Dream as a little girl. But today, we’re living through a nightmare of industrial pollution and disease,” said Sharon Lavigne, founder and organizer with Rise St. James, one of the Peace Development Fund’s 2020 Community Organizing Grantees. Every year, the Peace Development Fund supports dozens of grassroots organizations like Rise St. James, all of whom are challenging injustice and making concrete changes in their communities.
According to Lavigne, “In the 1960s, the first industrial plant came to St. James and many more followed.” In what is known as “Cancer Alley,” there are over 100 petrochemical plants between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Pollution of the air, land, and water correlates to a cancer rate in the region 700 times the national average. St. James alone has 32 industrial plants and half of its population of 21,000 is Black, a clear illustration of ongoing systemic injustice and environmental racism.
In November of 2019, Formosa Petrochemical, a Taiwan-based plastics producer, announced plans to build a multi-billion dollar petrochemical plastics facility in Sharon’s neighborhood, close to an elementary school. The proposed petrochemical plant would be the largest plastics plant in North America and would nearly double the already high toxic emissions in St. James. The facility would emit more than 13 million tons of greenhouse gases each year — the equivalent of operating three coal plants.
“The 5th district of St. James is already surrounded by industry and it is making us sick. Maybe you’ve seen the press coverage of ‘Cancer Alley,’ where I live, which we’re now calling ‘Death Alley’ because the health threats we face take so many forms,” said Lavigne, “I have auto-immune hepatitis and aluminum in my body. My grandchildren have breathing problems, and when they are outside playing for any period of time, they develop rashes.”
Rise St. James is a faith-based community organization building power to advance racial and environmental justice and organizing to stop the construction of yet another toxic facility in their community. Their ongoing campaign to stop Formosa is critical to combatting environmental racism and defending Black lives in Louisiana. The backdrop of the COVD-19 pandemic and continued police brutality, which is disproportionately killing Black people, make the timing of this fight especially pressing.
Rise St. James Juneteenth Action:
To make matters worse, Formosa Petrochemical is planning to build its industrial plant on a Black ancestral burial ground of enslaved people. Despite an on-going fight and multiple legal efforts raised by Rise St. James and another environmental justice group, the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, Formosa is still pushing to expedite construction.
In light of Juneteenth — a holiday on June 19th that celebrates the end of slavery in the United States, Lavigne and her supporters commemorated their enslaved ancestors by holding a memorial on their burial site, which would be desecrated if Formosa’s $9.4 billion chemical manufacturing complex is built.
“I feel like our ancestors are shouting and rejoicing in heaven about what we did for them today,” Lavigne said, “We did not forget them on Juneteenth. We honored them by leaving roses at the site where their remains are buried.”
Rise St. James’ request to hold the ceremony was met with resistance by Formosa, who tried to block the event from taking place. District Judge Emile St. Pierre denied Formosa’s request and cleared the way for the ceremony to take place, stating it was unlikely any harm could be done to an open field in a matter of one hour.
“Let’s look at where we are in America,” Judge St. Pierre said, “We need healing.”
Lavigne was prepared to advance with the ceremony whether or not it was permitted. This event built on two years of organizing to Stop Formosa Plastics and protect their community, and further shed light on the irreparable damage that yet another plant would cause.
During the hour they were there, participants were singing songs and remembering and praying for their ancestors that suffered during enslavement. Flowers were also left hanging on the high fences the company placed to protect the construction site.
“We are seeing change that should have been here a long time ago,” Lavigne said, “The world will change. The young people are coming out.”
Criminalizing Dissent in Louisiana:
On June 26th, 2020, the organizing to stop Formosa took another significant turn when Kate McIntosh and Anne Rolfes, two environmental activists and members of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade faced felony charges for “Terrorizing” Formosa’s oil and gas lobbyist, Greg Bowser, by placing a box of plastic pellets outside his home last December.
“We have delivered this package of nurdles as a reminder — Louisiana does not need any more pollution, plastics or otherwise,” the letter attached to the package said.
The activists eventually turned themselves in to the Baton Rouge Police department. Rolfes was charged with Terrorizing, a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison, while McIntosh was charged with Principal to Terrorizing. The same evening, both of them were released after posting a $5,000 bond.
The plastic pellets, also known as nurdles were delivered in response to a plastic pollution awareness event back in December called “nurdlefest.” The nurdles were found in Texas waterways near a manufacturing facility owned by Formosa Plastics. The letter further read, “These are just some of the billions of nurdles that Formosa Plastics dumped into the coastal waters of the state of Texas, from their Point Comfort Production Facility.”
The note triggered the charges for “Terrorizing,” according to the arrest warrant issued by 19th Judicial District Judge Anthony Marabella, as it cautioned to not be opened around children due to the hazardous materials it contained.
The advocates’ lawyer, Adam Spees, dismissed these charges as meritless and framed them as an attempt to discourage protestors. He affirmed that the package was “Obviously not intended to scare — it was intended to raise awareness and also show very tangible evidence, in the literal sense of the word, because it was evidence in Texas of the company’s track record.”
Tamara Toles O’Laughlin, director of 350.org North America expressed, “This is a clear instance of the law and law enforcement being used to protect corporations, profit, and property over people,” she said in response to the charges against Rolfes and McIntosh. “Louisiana is criminalizing protesters for speaking out against environmental injustice that the state has done next to nothing to address.” This follows on similar actions by other states, such as South Dakota, which have criminalized dissent and protest in recent months.
While Louisiana prosecutes protesters raising awareness of these issues, the contrast could not be starker: large, multinational corporations continue to receive permission and often tax incentives to continue polluting in communities of color.
Despite this, Rise St. James and the Louisiana Bucket Brigade continue the fight towards racial and environmental justice by organizing to stop the construction of Formosa’s plant. To learn more about their campaign to block the Formosa petrochemical plant, visit: www.stopformosa.org/.
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Author: PDF Intern, Shanze Hasan
Hailing from Karachi, Pakistan, Shanze is a rising senior at Mount Holyoke College, pursuing a degree in International Relations and a minor in law, public policy and human rights. She frequently writes for Mount Holyoke News, Mount Holyoke College’s official newspaper and has recently joined the PDF team as an intern.
Sources:
*Photos courtesy of https://www.stopformosa.org/*
https://kairoscenter.org/the-fight-for-life-in-death-alley-sharon-lavigne-testimony/
https://www.nola.com/news/environment/article_ebee9ed6-b586-11ea-8819-439269c90a96.html
