EPA opens civil rights investigations over pollution in Cancer Alley
Agency will look at whether Black citizens ’ rights were violated in polluted industrial corridor in Louisiana
The Denka facility in Reserve , Louisiana . The neoprene facility is the only location in America to emit the pollutant chloroprene . Photograph : Emily Kask / AFP / Getty Images
Oliver Laughland in New Orleans @ oliverlaughland Thu 14 Apr 2022 08.54 EDT
The Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ) has opened a series of civil rights investigations into state agencies in Louisiana to examine whether permits granted in the highly polluted industrial corridor , known locally as Cancer Alley , have violated Black citizens rights .
The news , first reported by the New Orleans Advocate , marks further enforcement action taken by the federal agency in the region since the EPA administrator , Michael Regan , visited the area late last year .