Louisiana

How One Louisiana Chemical Plant Poisoned An Entire Black Neighborhood

Published

2 years ago

March 17, 2023

How One Louisiana Chemical Plant Poisoned An Entire Black Neighborhood

This month, the US Division of Justice filed a lawsuit towards two petrochemical corporations that could be the rationale why St. John the Baptist Parish of Louisiana or “Most cancers Alley” has the very best most cancers threat in your complete nation, per The Guardian. Residents say the swimsuit is too late, after being topic to poison pumped into their air and water for over 5 a long time.

Harmful Ranges of Chemical Emissions

DuPont Merchandise USA LLC constructed the Pontchartrain Works facility proper beside the Black Louisiana neighborhood within the Sixties, the report says. They managed its operations till 2015 after they bought the plant to a Japanese chemical firm, Denka. A month later, the parish’s most cancers threat skyrocket.

Denka produces artificial rubber for issues like wetsuits or laptop computer sleeves. Nevertheless, the manufacturing of this materials emitted chloroprene into the air – a “doubtless” human carcinogen being emitted at 14 instances the really useful degree for the encircling neighborhood, in line with the Division of Justice.

If that sounds brutal, contemplate the very fact the plant has been releasing these toxins simply 450 ft from the Fifth Ward Elementary college and a mile away from East St. John Excessive College, per the DOJ. The swimsuit says the emissions are so excessive within the space, that youngsters underneath 18 respiration air anyplace close to the power’s fence would “exceed their lifetime extra most cancers threat by two years.”

Failure to Cease the Poisoning

To handle the priority, the corporate tried scale back emissions as requested by the Environmental Safety Company a number of years in the past. Nevertheless, in 2020, the EPA discovered chloroprene ranges across the elementary college have been 8,300 p.c larger than the really useful degree, pet NBC. Alternatively, the EPA might’ve made an order to simply shut down the plant altogether, in line with a former deputy director of the EPA enforcement division.

“EPA might have instantly shut down, however they didn’t try this,” mentioned Steve Gilrein to NBC Information. “It’s unconscionable that it has taken this lengthy. When the EPA suspected that this was a carcinogen, they need to have acted with urgency.”

Although hopeful, the lawsuit comes far too late as parish residents have been identified with numerous types of most cancers and watched their family members or neighbors die from the identical sickness.

Learn extra from NBC Information:

The fond reminiscences usually give option to an intense disappointment every time Patrick Sanders thinks concerning the mates and neighbors he grew up with right here on East thirty first Road. So a lot of them have died of most cancers that he mentioned he has misplaced rely. The illness additionally took the lives of his father and his sister, on the age of 44. Sanders himself is going through a recurrence of prostate most cancers. He spent greater than twenty years on the district college board that oversees Fifth Ward Elementary, till he retired as president in December.
“There’s a robust feeling of remorse,” mentioned Sanders, 56, who owns a funeral house. “We have been ensuring youngsters have been educated, however we weren’t ensuring youngsters have been secure.”
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Lots of the households right here stay in houses that have been constructed by their ancestors and handed down via generations. Mary Hampton, 83, mentioned her father labored his complete life to purchase a bit of land from which he gifted sections to every of his 9 youngsters. “He thought he was leaving us a legacy,” she mentioned. “Really, he left us a dying sentence.”
On a current Monday, Hampton sat in her entrance yard and pointed at a number of close by ranch homes as she ticked off the relations and mates she has misplaced to most cancers. Her son. Her brother. Her father. Her sister-in-law. One other brother, who lives subsequent door to the one who died, has most cancers too, she mentioned. “We’re like a bunch of guinea pigs over right here,” she added.

St. John the Baptist Parish alone has been thought of the place with the very best most cancers threat within the nation for the previous decade. Their threat now remains to be seven instances the nation common, per the EPA. Regardless of the direct connection between the chemical emissions and most cancers diagnoses, Denka responded to the lawsuit and accusations of poisoning the neighborhood in full denial.

“There’s merely no proof to counsel the corporate’s operations trigger elevated threat of well being impacts in St. John the Baptist Parish,” a spokesperson mentioned to NBC. In one other assertion, the corporate insisted they have been in compliance with the air permits underneath Louisiana legislation.

Everybody has a human proper to the essential wants of fresh water and clear air. That’s till capitalism takes precedence over folks’s well-being. More often than not, Black communities bear the burden of the unethical practices of corporations similar to these.

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Louisiana

Louisiana prisons routinely hold inmates past their release date, Justice Department argues

Published

2 hours ago

December 23, 2024

Press Room

Louisiana prisons routinely hold inmates past their release date, Justice Department argues

Louisiana’s prison system routinely holds inmates for weeks or months after they were supposed to be released from custody following the completion of their sentences, the U.S. Justice Department said in a lawsuit filed Friday.

The lawsuit against the state comes after a multi-year investigation into a pattern of “systemic overdetention” that violates inmates’ rights and costs taxpayers millions of dollars per year.

Since at least 2012, more than a quarter of the inmates scheduled to be released from Louisiana prisons have been held past their release dates, according to the DOJ.

LOUISIANA LAWMAKERS WEIGHING CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT THAT WOULD SEND MORE JUVENILE OFFENDERS TO ADULT JAILS

Louisiana’s prisons often hold inmates long after they were supposed to be released following the completion of their sentences, the DOJ says. (AP)

The Justice Department warned Louisiana officials last year that it may file a lawsuit against the state if it failed to fix the problems. Lawyers for the department argue that the state made “marginal efforts” to address the issues, noting that such attempts at a fix were “inadequate” and showed a “deliberate indifference” to the constitutional rights of inmates.

“[T]he right to individual liberty includes the right to be released from incarceration on time after the term set by the court has ended,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said in a statement.

“To incarcerate people indefinitely … not only intrudes on individual liberty, but also erodes public confidence in the fair and just application of our laws,” the statement added.

More than a quarter of the inmates scheduled to be released from Louisiana prisons since at least 2012 have been held past their release dates, the Department of Justice said. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry and state Attorney General Liz Murrill, both Republicans, attributed the problem to the “failed criminal justice reforms” pushed by “the past administration.”

“This past year, we have taken significant action to keep Louisianans safe and ensure those who commit the crime, also do the time,” Landry and Murrill said in a joint statement to The Associated Press. “The State of Louisiana is committed to preserving the constitutional rights of Louisiana citizens.”

BIDEN CONSIDERS COMMUTING THE SENTENCES OF FEDERAL DEATH ROW INMATES: REPORT

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry speaks at CPAC Texas 2022 conference at Hilton Anatole. (Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The two state officials also purported that the lawsuit is a last-ditch effort by President Biden, who leaves office next month, arguing that President-elect Trump’s incoming administration would not have pursued the case.

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Advocates have repeatedly challenged the conditions in Louisiana’s prison system, which includes Angola, the largest maximum-security prison in the nation, where inmates pick vegetables by hand on an 18,000-acre lot. The site was once the Angola Plantations, a slave plantation owned by Isaac Franklin and named after Angola, the country of origin for many of the enslaved people who worked there.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Louisiana

Army Black Knights Predicted to Beat Louisiana Tech in Independence Bowl

Published

10 hours ago

December 22, 2024

Press Room

Army Black Knights Predicted to Beat Louisiana Tech in Independence Bowl

The Army West Point Black Knights came up short in their last game, as they lost their annual rivalry matchup against the Navy Midshipmen 31-13 to lose the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy.

But, their season is not yet over, as they will have a chance to finish things on a high note in the Independence Bowl against a new opponent; the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs.

Originally, the Black Knights were supposed to face off against the Marshall Thundering Herd, but a change had to be made after they experienced a mass exodus of players entering the transfer portal following a coaching change.

Based on records, the quality of the opponent would seem to have dropped off considerably. Marshall had 10 victories, while Louisiana Tech had only five.

But, Adam Rittenberg of ESPN still believes that this will be a competitive game in Shreveport, La. in the Bulldogs’ backyard. Louisiana Tech is in Ruston, La., 70 miles away from Shreveport.

He predicted that Army will sneak away with a 23-16 victory.

“he Bulldogs have half the number of wins as the Thundering Herd, but their defense can be very stingy at times, and will need to perform against Bryson Daily and the Black Knights. … Army is undoubtedly still smarting from the Navy loss, and top running back Kanye Udoh entered the portal. Louisiana Tech jumps ahead early behind quarterback Evan Bullock, but Army eventually takes control and grinds out a low-scoring win, its 12th on the season.”

Rittenberg pointed out that several of LA Tech’s defensive linemen have entered the transfer portal. Udoh just announced his transfer to Arizona State.

This has already been one of the best seasons in program history, as they reached the 11-win mark only one other time in 2018. But, an argument can be made this is their best season since it won its last national championship because it was not independent.

The Black Knights were a member of the American Athletic Conference, the first time since 1998-2004 that they weren’t independent as a member of Conference USA. They found a ton of success, going 8-0 in the regular season before defeating the Tulane Green Wave in the AAC Championship Game in West Point, New York.

Army has shown an ability to grind out wins, playing a physical style of football on both sides of the ball. Daily is the leader offensively, producing with his arm and legs at a high level.

He threw for 942 yards with nine touchdowns and only four interceptions, three of which came in the matchup against Navy. On the ground, he led the AAC with 283 carries, 1,532 yards and 29 scores.

His 29 rushing touchdowns were the most in the country, as he won the 2024 AAC Player of the Year Award.

The Black Knights would love to see Daily provide one more memorable performance to help the team reach the 12-win mark for the first time in program history.

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Normal is unremarkable in and of itself: 2024 Inspirit winners are 'doing something bigger'

Published

18 hours ago

December 22, 2024

Press Room

Normal is unremarkable in and of itself: 2024 Inspirit winners are 'doing something bigger'

From where I stand, “finding others as weird as oneself” and working on “something that’s bigger than oneself” are two of the primary elements of happiness.

The Inspirit Award winners seem to have found ways to thrive in the work they do that is bigger than themselves.

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