NEW ORLEANS (CN) - Black residents of Louisiana's "Cancer Alley" argued in federal court Wednesday that St. James Parish's land use designations are unconstitutionally discriminatory because they allow for heavy industry to be pushed toward predominantly Black areas.
Following the 1958 construction of the first plant in the parish, at least 28 of 32 are in the majority-Black 4th and 5th Districts. Residents in these areas face much higher cancer rates, as well as respiratory and infant ailments.
Residents of the majority-Black districts say the disproportionate placement of petrochemical plants in their neighborhoods violates, among other laws, the 13th and 14th Amendments - outlawing slavery and ensuring equal protection.
Last year, the Fifth Circuit ruled the residents' lawsuit could proceed, rejecting the lower's court finding that the statute of limitations to bring their claim had expired. In a unanimous opinion, the appeals court found the scope of the suit extended beyond the ordinance to include a decades-old and still-existing discriminatory practice, and that plaintiffs had standing to bring all of their claims.
Arguing Wednesday on behalf of St. James Parish, Dani Borel, an equity partner with the firm Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson, told Senior U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier that the 13th Amendment doesn't apply in this case because there is no "violence" in the parish's zoning ordinances. Louisiana has parishes instead of counties.
Borel further said the parish does not zone according to race but because the majority-Black districts happen to be near the Mississippi River, which is necessary to heavy industrial development because of its access to water and transportation.
But Astha Sharma Pokharel, staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, who argued on behalf of Black residents said the parish's actions are absolutely a continuation of slavery. As for the district's proximity to the river, Pokharel pointed out that District 3, which is "overwhelmingly white," is also along Mississippi River.
"After emancipation, instead of free people having the ability to cultivate, lease and then eventually own these properties that they were promised," Pokharel told Barbier, "this property was given back to former enslaver plantation owners, and those properties were passed down to their descendants who eventually sold them at a profit to private corporations that, like I said, were steered there by the parish, and that is how you end up, for example, with Nucor Steel on the former Colomb Park plantation."
Wednesday's hearing was on a motion by the parish to dismiss the landmark lawsuit. Black residents are seeking to stop further petrochemical plant development in two predominantly Black districts.
Districts 4 and 5 are mostly black communities in "Cancer Alley," along the Mississippi River in St. James Parish. As of 2014, these communities went from being zoned as "Residential" to, ambiguously, "Residential/Future-Industrial," paving the way for more industry to flow in.
The designations, critics pointed out at the time, came under the tenure of a parish president and commissioner, both of whom were indicted on charges of fraud in 2016 for favoring industry.
St. James Parish, with a population just under 19,000, is midway between New Orleans and Baton Rouge in an 85-mile stretch along the Mississippi River called "Cancer Alley" because of its many petrochemical plants. Environmental groups and local residents have taken to calling the area "Death Alley" because they say that if all the industries proposed move in, that is what it will be.
About 90% of District 5 is black; District 4 is 65% black; 28 refineries already operate in the area, with just four operating other, predominately white parts of the parish.
In whiter areas around the parish, stricter land-use designations are in place and in at least two instances growth proposals from industry have been denied. No refineries have been approved in the whiter parts of the parish in the past 50 years, an attorney for the residents said during the hearing.
Barbier, a Bill Clinton appointee who appeared poised to side with residents throughout the hearing, asked how parish officials might have steered industry toward predominantly Black areas.
"They steered by some sort of permitting decision, or what?" Barbier asked Pokharel.
The parish offered tax credits, Pokharel replied.
"With Nucor, which was around 2010, 2011, we have alleged in the Second Amendment complaint a series of tax breaks. Actually, with Nucor, it's the biggest tax incentive in parish history that the parish at the time gave to Nucor to locate it in the 4th District."
The plaintiffs' lawsuit says that the population surrounding Nucor Steel, which was constructed in 2011, is 74% Black and that those who live within three miles of the facility live in the 95th percentile for Air Toxic Cancer Risk in Louisiana.
Borel, who argued on behalf of St. James Parish, said the 13th Amendment claim cannot stand unless there is some evidence of force or violence to the Black residents of districts 4 and 5.
With regard to the tax incentive given to Nucor Steel, Borel said that the parish offered an economic deal to the company but there is not evidence that in doing to it pushed the company into a specific district.
"The parish was excited to have a new industry. That alone is not intent," Borel said.
Parish residents are seeking to stop all further development of plants in their district and to protect the land the plants are moving onto, as there is evidence it contains the remains of formerly enslaved people there.
Barbier did not say when he will rule on the matter.
The lawsuit was brought in 2023 on behalf of Black residents by Inclusive Louisiana, Mt. Triumph Baptist Church and RISE St. James.
Source: Courthouse News Service
