Cancer Alley, more officially known as the Mississippi River Chemical Corridor, stretches 85 miles along the winding Mississippi River from Baton Rouge to New Orleans. And along that narrow stretch of former farmland, more than 150 oil-refining and chemical processing plants now crowd the shoreline, dumping dangerous pollutants into the nearby environment (Colten). This has had wide-reaching impacts on the health of nearby communities, who have faced increased risk of cancer and other illness from polluted air and water for decades (“Waiting to Die:” Toxic Emissions and Disease near the Louisiana Denka/Dupont Plant.). This problem is now compounded by the twin risks of climate change and reckless human action in the area. As the Mississippi rises and floods at historic rates, the nearby communities sink and disappear in a natural process accelerated by government projects and underground oil and gas pipelines (Kolbert; Mallman and Zoback). This brings the pollutants of the Mississippi ever closer to these frontlines communities, presenting them with an alarming and overwhelming combination of natural and man-made hazards. Change is needed, but the path forward is winding and steep.
The issues affecting Cancer Alley are multi-faceted and influenced by powerful players. International, multibillion-dollar petrochemical corporations employ thousands in the region and account for an enormous chunk of the taxes and profits that flow to the complicit state government. In contrast, the residents of the frontline communities are overwhelmingly African American and low-income, and have historically been silenced and marginalized in decisions regarding pollution and the destruction of their homes (Surviving
Cancer Alley).
As the situation is so complex, the responses to the problems facing these communities have been varied in scale and form. The current solutions to the myriad of issues facing Cancer Alley range from lawsuits by concerned citizens against chemical corporations, to the construction of physical barriers and pumps from the government to stop flooding, to the attempted incorporation of cities by residents to increase political power (Surviving Cancer Alley; Kolbert; Baurick, Younes and Meiners). But if one takes a look at the common indicators of success or failure in these solutions, one tactic always seems to come out on top—education. In this community, like in most others, it seems like the most powerful path for change is to empower the residents themselves to stand up and speak out. To give them the data, the know-how, and the confidence to exact change. To give them a fighting chance.
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