EPA: Louisiana may have discriminated against Black communities facing air pollution

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in a Wednesday letter said Louisiana may have discriminated against Black communities who live near air pollution sources in the state. 

In the letter to the leaders of the state’s Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) and Department of Health (LDH), the federal agency specifically raised concerns about residents who live near a facility that emits chloroprene, which the agency says is likely to cause cancer. 

The letter said that LDEQ’s “actions and inactions” may have subjected Black residents living or attending school near the facility in question to discrimination. 

Specifically, it said that the department didn’t appropriately act on the facility’s permit renewal, failed to appropriately apply nondiscrimination requirements and failed to provide accurate information to impacted residents. 

The letter said that in one instance, state environmental officials, during the few meetings they attended on the facility’s emissions, referred to resident concerns about chloroprene as “fear mongering.”

“There appears to be a causal link between LDEQ’s actions and inactions in administering its air permitting program and the adverse and disproportionate distribution of the cancer and toxicity risks from chloroprene exposure, by race,” the letter said. 

“EPA has significant concern that LDEQ’s methods of administering its air pollution control program may have subjected and continues to subject the predominantly Black residents and school children of St. John the Baptist Parish who live and attend school near Denka, to disparate impacts on the basis of race,” it added, referring to the company Denka, which owns the facility. 

The letter was first reported by The Lens, a local news outlet, but was later circulated by environmental groups. 

LDEQ spokesperson Greg Langley declined to comment on the letter’s specifics, including its accusations of discrimination. But he stressed that the letter was not a final finding. 

“It was a letter of concern, it was not a finding,” Langley said. “We will continue to engage with the EPA to try to resolve any issues and we remain committed to being protective of human health and the environment.”

Jim Harris, a spokesperson for Denka Performance Elastomer, the company behind the facility in question, argued that the EPA was overestimating chloroprene’s risks and highlighted steps the company was taking to cut its releases.  

“Since purchasing the facility in 2015, DPE has invested over $35 million to reduce its emissions by over 85 percent. In addition, the company has conducted ambient air monitoring at sites throughout the community since 2016, results of which have shown similar reduction in concentrations measured,” Harris said in a written statement. 

Meanwhile, environmental advocates said that the EPA’s letter was a positive step toward addressing a serious wrong. 

“The arrogance of our state agency not to deal with the serious environmental health problems related to this plant, it’s just outrageous,” said Darryl Malek-Wiley, a senior organizing representative with Sierra Club’s Environmental Justice and Community Partnership Program. 

The letter comes as the Biden administration seeks to address disproportionately high levels of pollution faced by communities of color.

The EPA’s probe was taken regarding residents in the state’s Industrial Corridor, sometimes referred to as “Cancer Alley.”  EPA Administrator Michael Regan visited the area last year. 

Malek-Wiley said that the letter shows the administration acting on its promises. 

“We’re really happy with the Biden administration and the EPA taking a new focus on environmental justice,” he said. 

The EPA also said the state’s health department may be “causing and/or contributing to disproportionate and adverse impacts on the Black residents” who live near the facility. 

It said that the LDH may have failed to provide locals with “critical information about cancer risks associated with chloroprene levels in these areas”

In response, department spokesperson Alyson Neel shared a written statement saying the department was “closely reviewing” the report and was cooperating with the agency. 

“We take these concerns very seriously and are committed to health equity — which is why we are fully cooperating with the EPA’s investigation into Denka Performance Elastor,” the statement said.  

The report also faulted the environment department over its handling of permits for a separate proposed plant, saying it did not adequately consider factors related to a discrimination statute called Title IV. 

“Given the apparent existing disparities outlined in this Letter, EPA remains concerned that such a failure does not take into account the distribution of associated cancer risks in St. James Parish,” the agency said. 

FG LA LLC, which is behind the proposed facility, told The Hill that its project would meet both state and federal standards. 

“We believe the permits issued to FG by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality are sound and the agency properly performed its duty to protect the environment in the issuance of those permits,” said Janile Parks, the company’s director of community and government relations in an emailed statement.