Residents living in a heavily industrialized area of Louisiana known as “Cancer Alley” have threatened to sue local regulators if they do not withdraw an ordinance that would allow even more pollution-spewing plants to be built in a majority-Black community.
In a Monday letter to the St. James Parish Council, attorneys for several advocacy groups said the ordinance exemplifies a discriminatory land-use system rooted in slavery — a system that has sparked legal challenges from some of the same organizations.
The ordinance would affect Romeville, which is home to the estate of Harriet Jones, an enslaved woman who bought the property after her liberation more than 150 years ago. The plan also threatens cemeteries that are thought to contain the remains of many formerly enslaved people whose descendants still live in the community.
“This ordinance is not just about land use, it is about whether Black communities in St. James Parish have the right to exist without being slowly erased by industry,” said Gail LeBoeuf and Barbara Washington, co-founders of Inclusive Louisiana, in a joint statement Monday.
