Visualizing Environmental Injustice with Interactive Data: Cancer Alley, Louisiana

What is Cancer Alley?

The nexus of environmental justice and petrochemicals is epitomized in Cancer Alley, Louisiana. Cancer Alley spans across 10 parishes from Baton Rouge to New Orleans: East Baton Rouge, West Baton Rouge, Iberville, Ascension, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Charles, Jefferson, and Orleans. The region is an 85-mile stretch of petrochemical plants, oil refineries, and other industrial operations.  Within a 10-mile radius, 12 industries are operating and subsequently polluting the region (Grist 2023). Cancer incidence rates soar up to 47 times higher than the EPA’s acceptable rate and Black communities are hit the hardest—an issue inherently related to systemic racism (Shaw and Younes 2023).

Cancer Alley Environmental Justice—Industry and Racism

The development of petrochemical and industrial facilities concentrated in this predominantly Black region is undeniably linked to the history of slavery and racism in Louisiana. Cancer Alley encompasses land previously near plantations—where previously enslaved people settled. These giant, open plots of land were ideal for oil refineries and petrochemical plants because of their proximity to the river and the convenience of a sole landowner. Resultantly, developers’ deliberate location choices put Black communities “right up against the fence line” (Parker 2023). Once corporations build just a single plant, more development follows in this path of least resistance. The pattern of industrial development perpetuates environmental racism. Effectively, development continues and keeps the region in a state of disarray at the cost of public health and clean air (The Big Switch 2022). The adverse impacts of industrial development disproportionately impact individuals in Cancer Alley—tying Cancer Alley directly to environmental justice.

By the EPA’s definition, environmental justice issues include: “disproportionate and adverse human health and environmental effects (including risks) and hazards, including those related to climate change, the cumulative impacts of environmental and other burdens, and the legacy of racism or other structural or systemic barriers” (Environmental Protection Agency 2024). Cancer Alley’s history and current conditions aptly align with environmental justice and the stats prove this disproportionality.

Cancer Incidence Rates

Cancer incidence rates in Cancer Alley are extremely high. The EPA sets an upper limit of acceptable risk at about a 1-in-10,000 (or 100-in-1 million) lifetime cancer risk for the most exposed person (Environmental Protection Agency 2023). The highest risk in Cancer Alley is 1 in 210 or 47 times the EPA’s acceptable risk. Notably, Denka Performance Elastomer LLC alone increases the excess cancer risk for people living within five miles by an estimated average of 1 in 15,000 (Shaw and Younes 2023). These rates are alarming and unacceptable: corporations must be held accountable. So, in creating the Cancer Alley Dashboard, I hope to inform and facilitate action backed by data—data that represents the real experiences of and disproportionate impacts on Cancer Alley residents.

A Statement of Privilege and Perspective

However, it’s crucial to acknowledge my inherent privilege and detachment from the issue at hand. I am a wWhite woman writing about Cancer Alley. Resultantly, my presentation of the environmental injustices in Cancer Alley is not exhaustive or wholly representative of the issue. I have intentionally bolstered my research with first-hand experiences from people of color who live in Cancer Alley and Louisiana. The dashboard tool supports advocacy related to an issue I will never understand through my lived experience. I hope this tool can be a vital resource for raising awareness and action in enacting change. Importantly, the next section highlights the experiences of Black women in the face of petrochemical and environmental injustices. We must center and value their voices in this conversation.

Firsthand Perspectives

Sharon Lavigne

Sharon Lavigne, from St. James Parish, Louisiana, is an environmental justice advocate and founder of Rise St. James. Lavigne successfully stopped the construction of a $1.25 billion plastics manufacturing plant in St. James parish, protecting the health and safety of her community (Goldman Environmental Foundation 2024). Sharon Lavigne is also a Sentinel award winner. Here are some of Sharon’s notable quotes:

• “My brother’s wife, the one that had the prostate cancer, his wife died with cancer in the breast, and she worked at industry. That was a friend of mine, we were the same age. Sometimes I don’t like to talk about it. It hurts. And I feel like. I feel like we are next. I just feel like that” (Grist 2023).
• “I’m going to a funeral Saturday. I have a funeral tomorrow of a friend. I imagine myself laying in that casket. I really do” (Grist 2023).
• “When I realized that this was called Cancer Alley, I felt like we didn’t have long to live. I felt like it was a death sentence to us. I really felt like that” (Grist 2023).
• Hear more from Sharon here: Listen: In ‘Cancer Alley,’ a teacher called to fight.

Debra Ramirez

Debra Ramirez, from Lake Charles, Louisiana, is an activist and founding member of Mossville Environmental Action Now. Her environmental activism began in the 1980s after Condea Vista (SASOL) announced that ethylene dichloride (EDC), a suspected human carcinogen used in the production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), leaked into the groundwater beneath the neighboring Mossville community (FracTracker Alliance 2023). Here are some of Debra’s notable quotes:

• “Fight until the day I die” (FracTracker Alliance 2024).
• “Until they come clean with transparency and clean up our water, our land, and our air—I serve them notice today—we will not stop fighting” (FracTracker Alliance 2024).
• Hear more from Debra and other Community Sentinels here: 2023 Community Sentinel Awards for Environmental Stewardship

Jo and Dr. Joy Banner

Jo and Dr. Joy Banner, are sisters, co-founders, and co-directors of The Descendants Project. Jo is a resident of Cancer Alley and utilizes her background in communications to fight for legal reform. Likewise, Joy works on the frontlines in the struggle against environmental racism in Cancer Alley and focuses on systemic reform. Both Jo and Dr. Joy Banner are Sentinel award winners. Together, the Banners aim “to preserve and protect the health, land, and lives of the Black descendant community located in Louisiana’s River Parishes” (“Our Team” 2024) Here are some of their notable quotes:

Jo Banner: “My sister and I cannot ignore our future and seeing the environmental battles that were happening along with us, how the system of enslavement is still over us today” (Harris, 2024).
“There’s so many of these towns that have just been ripped apart. Their history has been denied. They’re no longer free. The descendants aren’t living in freedom because they’re now on the fence line of petrochemical plants like in Saint James” (Harris, 2024).
Dr. Joy Banner: “[We are] a Black community being literally overshadowed” (Groner, 2024).
“If I say ‘descendant’ it means I’m a person that descends from ancestors that I love. I’m acknowledged in that rootedness. It also means that I am here, I am here in the now. I’m not just a placeholder” (Groner, 2024).

The Role of Data: Cancer Alley Dashboard 

The Cancer Alley Dashboard aims to give an overview of major petrochemical facilities and related features. The dashboard includes the following data:

By providing an interactive and informative dashboard with quantitative metrics, I hope to raise awareness and action regarding petrochemical advocacy in Cancer Alley. This data and informed perspective can help buttress the concerns of residents in the region when organizing for change. For a more extensive explanation of methodology and data credits, click here.