chemical plants

People living in Louisiana’s petrochemical corridor say they’re worried about air pollution under the Trump administration. The EPA says companies can request presidential exemptions from Clean Air Act rules.

Residents of the mostly Black communities sandwiched between chemical plants along the lower Mississippi River have long said they get most of the pollution but few of the jobs produced by the region’s vast petrochemical industry.

The world’s largest ammonia producer plans to invest $4.2 billion to build the world’s largest blue ammonia plant in Ascension Parish, Gov. Jeff Landry announced Tuesday.

The Trump administration plans to drop a federal lawsuit against a synthetic rubber manufacturer accused of worsening cancer risks for residents near its Louisiana plant, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

The proposed $1.3 billion plant would have been the largest in the world.

The St. John the Baptist Parish School Board will shutter a predominantly Black elementary school that sits on the fenceline of a chemical plant. The decision came after eight years of pressure from community groups, federal agencies and lawyers.

Federal appeals court considers lawsuit aimed at pausing new chemical plants in St. James Parish.

According to new research shared exclusively with Floodlight, in Louisiana’s majority Black communities in the area known as “Cancer Alley,” because of its high concentration of polluting industries, the majority of jobs go to white workers. Similar disparities occur in minority-dominant communities along Texas’ Gulf Coast, where the majority of workers are white.

Limited details have been released following a series of explosions and a fire at one of Louisiana’s largest petrochemical complexes on Friday. Dow Chemical Company has yet to provide an explanation as of Monday, upsetting environmental advocates, after the incident rocked homes in Iberville Parish and Baton Rouge.

An employee for Denka Performance Elastomer died Thursday after they were found unresponsive at the company’s neoprene plant in St. John the Baptist Parish, according to a company spokesman.