Editing Cancer Alley (section)

==Community organizing==
In 1996, [[Shintech|Shintech Inc.]] announced that they would be creating three new [[polyvinyl chloride]] (PVC) manufacturing plants in [[Convent, Louisiana|Convent]], a small majority Black community ([[Convent, Louisiana#Demographics|2010 population of 711, 65.7% Black]]) that serves as the parish seat of [[St. James Parish, Louisiana|St. James Parish]]. The state of Louisiana issued Shintech permits to proceed with the project in 1997, despite their acknowledgement that these locations would be adding 623,000 pounds of pollutants to the air annually.<ref name=Berry2003/> The residents of Convent formed a coalition called St. James Citizens for the Environment (SJCJE) that drew the attention of outside legal groups including the [[Tulane University]] Environmental Law Clinic and the [[Sierra Club]] Legal Defense Fund.<ref name=Berry2003/><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kuehn |first=Robert R. |title=Denying Access to Legal Representation: The Attack on the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic |url=https://journals.library.wustl.edu/lawpolicy/article/1685/galley/18519/view/ |access-date=March 12, 2024 |website=journals.library.wustl.edu |page=16}}</ref> In 1998, after considerable pressure and lobbying, Shintech withdrew its project plans.<ref name=Berry2003/>

In 1992, the Taiwanese-owned [[Formosa Plastics Corporation]] proposed to build a $700&nbsp;million [[rayon]] and pulp processing plant in [[Wallace, Louisiana|Wallace]], a small majority Black community ([[Wallace, Louisiana#Demographics|2000 population of 570, 93.7% Black]]) in [[St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana|St. John the Baptist Parish]]. This plant would have been the world's largest of its kind if completed, and was expected to create 5,000 jobs. The 750 residents of the town waged a legal battle and eventually won forcing Formosa to build their plant elsewhere.<ref name=Taylor2014>{{cite book |last1=Taylor |first1=Dorceta |title=Toxic Communities: Environmental Racism, Industrial Pollution, and Residential Mobility |date=2014 |publisher=NYU Press |isbn=978-1-4798-6178-1 }}{{page needed|date=December 2022}}</ref>

In 2018, the [[Formosa Plastics Corp]]oration proposed the Sunshine Project, a $9.4&nbsp;billion industrial complex to be located on the west bank of St. James Parish that is estimated to become the petrochemical and plastics project with the single greatest environmental detriment, at an estimated 13,628,086 tons of greenhouse gas emissions yearly.<ref>Bernhardt, C., Shaykevich, A., & The Environmental Integrity Project. (2020). [https://environmentalintegrity.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Greenhouse-Gases-from-Oil-Gas-and-Petrochemical-Production.pdf Greenhouse Gases from Oil, Gas, and Petrochemical Production] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210906105418/https://www.environmentalintegrity.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Greenhouse-Gases-from-Oil-Gas-and-Petrochemical-Production.pdf |date=September 6, 2021 }}.</ref> The proposed complex would span 2,500 acres and will be situated one mile from an elementary school,<ref name="biologicaldiversity.org">Center for Biological Diversity. (November 4, 2020). [https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/army-corps-suspends-permit-for-formosa-plastics-controversial-louisiana-plant-2020-11-04/ Army Corps suspends permit for Formosa Plastics' controversial Louisiana plant] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129001922/https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/army-corps-suspends-permit-for-formosa-plastics-controversial-louisiana-plant-2020-11-04/ |date=November 29, 2021 }}. Center for Biological Diversity.</ref> On January 15, 2020, RISE St. James, a faith-based grassroots organization of St. James Parish community members, in conjunction with the nonprofit conservation organization [[Center for Biological Diversity]], the grassroots organization [[Louisiana Bucket Brigade]], and the nonprofit Healthy Gulf, sued the [[First presidency of Donald Trump|Trump administration]] for permitting Formosa Plastics' proposed petrochemical complex. The lawsuit sought to invalidate the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers|U.S. Army Corps of Engineers]]' fast-tracked [[Clean Water Act]] permits that the Corps issued the prior year.<ref>{{cite web|date=September 10, 2019|title=Formosa plastics' proposed Louisiana plant gets permit to destroy wetlands|publisher=Center for Biological Diversity|url=https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/formosa-plastics-proposed-louisiana-plant-gets-permit-to-destroy-wetlands-2019-09-10/|access-date=November 1, 2021|archive-date=November 29, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129181649/https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/formosa-plastics-proposed-louisiana-plant-gets-permit-to-destroy-wetlands-2019-09-10/|url-status=live}}</ref> It had come to light that independent archaeologists that Formosa Plastics hired had discovered that enslaved people were buried in unmarked graves beneath the 2,300-acre site that Formosa planned to develop their plastics complex on.<ref>{{cite news |last=Jones |first=T. L. |date=December 18, 2019 |title=Activists want the $9.4B Formosa project stopped due to the slave cemetery at the St. James site |work=The Advocate |url=https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/article_5b6b4acc-20ed-11ea-a1d8-839c5ace48ea.html |access-date=November 1, 2021 |archive-date=November 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211101022256/https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/article_5b6b4acc-20ed-11ea-a1d8-839c5ace48ea.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Citing violation of federal laws in the approval of destroying wetlands, the region's first and quickly dwindling line of defense against progressively-intensifying natural disasters, as well as the failure to protect the water, air, and health of the surrounding communities, and the violation of the [[National Historic Preservation Act]] in failing to protect the burial grounds of enslaved people, the lawsuit demanded the rescinding of the permits issued in September 2019 as well as the conducting of a full [[environmental impact study]].<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Center for Biological Diversity |date=January 15, 2020 |title=Lawsuit challenges Trump administration's fast-tracking of Louisiana Plastics project |url=https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/lawsuit-challenges-trump-administrations-fast-tracking-of-louisiana-plastics-project-2020-01-15/ |access-date=November 1, 2021 |archive-date=December 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211208011300/https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/lawsuit-challenges-trump-administrations-fast-tracking-of-louisiana-plastics-project-2020-01-15/ |url-status=live }}</ref> On November 4, 2020, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced its plans to suspend its permit for the Sunshine Project.<ref name="biologicaldiversity.org"/>

The economic stimulation and job creation that is promised with the proposal of each new plant in the area has never been fulfilled, while a tiny minority of full-time industry jobs are filled by community members who bear the brunt of the pollution burden – for example, in [[St. Gabriel, Louisiana|St. Gabriel]] of [[Iberville Parish, Louisiana|Iberville Parish]] where there are now 30 large petrochemical plants within a 10-mile radius, only 9% of the full-time industry jobs in the city are held by local residents, and at least one in four residents live in poverty.<ref name=":2">{{cite news |last1=Baurick |first1=T. |last2=Younes |first2=L. |last3=Meiners |first3=J. |date=October 30, 2019 |title=Welcome to 'cancer alley,' where toxic air is about to get worse |publisher=Pro Publica |url=https://www.propublica.org/article/welcome-to-cancer-alley-where-toxic-air-is-about-to-get-worse |access-date=November 1, 2021 |archive-date=April 23, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423194222/https://www.propublica.org/article/welcome-to-cancer-alley-where-toxic-air-is-about-to-get-worse |url-status=live }}</ref> The promised economic prosperity in these major investments has yet to be delivered, but continues to be a cited reason for the continued approval of petrochemical permits.<ref>{{cite web |author=Office of Governor John Bel Edwards |date=April 23, 2018 |title=Formosa Selects St. James Parish for $9.4 Billion Louisiana Project |publisher=Louisiana.Gov |url=https://gov.louisiana.gov/news/sunshine-project |access-date=November 1, 2021 |archive-date=November 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211101022256/https://gov.louisiana.gov/news/sunshine-project |url-status=live }}</ref>