Louisiana’s lone Democratic congressman Cedric Richmond has taken his first public stance on air pollution in the town of Reserve and has committed to holding a public meeting with residents later in the year, following a report in the Guardian examining his track record on local environmental issues.
Richmond, a senior House Democrat who co-chairs Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, has held Louisiana’s second congressional district since 2010. The area covers some of the most polluted air in America, along a corridor of industrial facilities between New Orleans and Baton Rouge known colloquially as “Cancer Alley”.
Richmond, one of the highest recipients of oil, gas and chemicals industry donations in the Democratic House caucus, had made scant public remarks about pollution in Reserve, the subject of a year-long Guardian series “Cancer Town”.
In one census tract in Reserve the risk of cancer due to air pollution is 50 times the national average. The primary cause of this risk is a pollutant named chloroprene, listed by the EPA as a likely human carcinogen, which is emitted by a synthetic rubber plant operated by the Japanese chemicals company Denka since 2015 and by chemicals giant DuPont from 1967.
But in a letter sent this week to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Louisiana’s environment secretary, Chuck Carr Brown, Richmond states: “Louisiana has been disproportionately affected by the detrimental environmental effects of plant emissions. While economic vitality is important, it cannot ignore the reality of deteriorating air quality and the risks it poses.
“For far too many years, people in communities along the Mississippi River have repeatedly expressed these very concerns which has prompted the federal government to intervene in the absence of action.”
The EPA has moved to change its air monitoring system in Reserve, which currently takes air quality readings once every six days to examine whether Denka is emitting chloroprene over the lifetime exposure guidelines, set by the agency, of 0.2 micrograms per cubic meter. Readings are often still dozens of times above the threshold but have fallen since Denka entered a voluntary agreement with the state to reduce emissions by 85%.
From April, the EPA will use new “Spod” air monitors that are designed to track spikes in pollutants. While some local environmentalists have hailed the move, others remain concerned that the new technology will not record dangerous levels of chloroprene emissions above the 0.2 guidelines set by the EPA but below a significant “plume” of the toxin.
Richmond commended the EPA’s move in his letter, acknowledging the “importance of closely monitoring dangerously high chloroprene emissions moving forward”. But he called on the EPA and Carr Brown to call a meeting to explain the new technology to local residents.
Jalina Porter, a spokeswoman for Richmond’s office told the Guardian that a date for the meeting had not yet been set as the congressman was awaiting a response. Porter said it was expected the congressman would hold a town hall on the issue at a venue close to one of his office locations in New Orleans.
Robert Taylor, executive director of the Concerned Citizens of St John the Baptist parish, the community group fighting for clean air in Reserve, said Richmond’s proposed town hall meeting was “a good thing, but only if he’s sincere in helping us in this serious dilemma”.
“What is more important to me is to stop that plant from poisoning us,” Taylor said. “It’s puzzling to me that this meeting will be held in New Orleans. Should we move all of the people out of Reserve to New Orleans? Maybe we should move the Denka plant to New Orleans too?”
