In Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley,’ Black communities get all of the pollution—but very few of the jobs

Residents of the mostly Black communities sandwiched between chemical plants along the lower Mississippi River have long said they get most of the pollution but few of the jobs produced by the region’s vast petrochemical industry. 

A new study led by Tulane University backs up that view, revealing stark racial disparities across the U.S.’s petrochemical workforce. Inequity was especially pronounced in Louisiana, where people of color were underrepresented in both high- and low-paying jobs at chemical plants and refineries. 

“It was really surprising how consistently people of color didn’t get their fair share of jobs in the petrochemical industry,” said Kimberly Terrell, a research scientist with the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic. “No matter how you slice or dice the data by states, metro areas, or parishes, the data’s consistent.”

Toxic air pollution in Louisiana’s petrochemical corridor, an area often referred to as “Cancer Alley,” has risen in recent years. The burdens of pollution have been borne mostly by the state’s Black and poor communities, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 

The Tulane study’s findings match what Cancer Alley residents have suspected for decades, said Joy Banner, cofounder of the Descendants Project, a nonprofit that advocates for Black communities in the parishes between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. 

“You hear it a lot—that Black people are not getting the jobs,” she said. “But to have the numbers so well documented, and to see just how glaring they are—that was surprising.”

People of color were underrepresented in all of the highest-paying jobs among the 30 states with a large petrochemical industry presence, but Louisiana and Texas had “the most extreme disparities,” according to the study, which was published in the journal Ecological Economics. 

While several states had poor representation on the upper pay scale, people of color were typically overrepresented in the lower earnings tiers. 

In Texas, nearly 60% of the working-age population is nonwhite, but people of color hold 39% of higher-paying positions and 57% of lower-paying jobs in the chemical industry. 

Louisiana was the only state in which people of color are underrepresented in both pay categories. People who aren’t white make up 41% of the working-age population but occupy just 21% of higher-paying jobs and about 33% of lower-paid jobs. 

The study relied on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Louisiana Economic Development.

The chemical industry disputed the study’s findings. 

“We recognize the importance of examining equity in employment, however, this study offers an incomplete and misleading portrayal of our industry and its contributions,” David Cresson, president and CEO of the Louisiana Chemical Association, said in a statement. 

Cresson pointed to several industry-supported workforce development programs, scholarships, and science camps aimed at “closing the training gap in Louisiana.”

But the study indicates education and training levels aren’t at the root of underrepresentation among states or metro areas. Louisiana’s education gap was modest, with college attainment at 30% for white residents and 20% for people of color. In places like Lake Charles and St. John the Baptist Parish, where petrochemical jobs are common, the gap was minimal—five percentage points or less.

The industry’s investments in education are “just public relations spin,” Banner said. 

“The amount of money they’re investing in schools and various programs pales in comparison to how much they’re profiting in our communities,” she said. “We sacrifice so much and get so little in return.”

Louisiana is also getting little from generous tax breaks aimed at boosting employment, the study found. 

The state’s Industrial Tax Exemption Program has granted 80% to 100% property tax exemptions to companies that promise to create new jobs. For each job created in Cameron Parish, where large natural gas ports have been built in recent years, companies were exempted from almost $590,000 in local taxes. In St. John, each job equated to about $1 million in uncollected tax revenue.

“This tradeoff of pollution in exchange for jobs was never an equal trade,” said Gianna St. Julien, one of the study’s authors. “But this deal is even worse when the overwhelming majority of these companies’ property taxes are not being poured back into these struggling communities.”  

— Tristan Baurick, Grist

This article originally appeared in Grist, a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Sign up for its newsletter here.

This coverage is made possible through a partnership between Grist and Verite News, a nonprofit news organization with a mission to produce in-depth journalism in underserved communities in the New Orleans area.

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