tulane environmental law clinic

In Louisiana, few people of color are getting high-paying jobs in the industry — or even low-paying ones

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.

Documents show staff spent months negotiating an agreement that would have fundamentally changed Louisiana's air pollution permitting program.

Residents in one of Louisiana’s most heavily-industrialized parishes sued their local government in federal court on Tuesday, accusing officials of cramming petrochemical plants into Black communities.

As the Supreme Court’s term wound down, its slate of conservative justices cast a shadow of uncertainty over the future of federal environmental protection — a move that environmental and legal experts say could have wide-ranging effects in industry-friendly states like Louisiana.