(CN) — In a court filing Tuesday, the Biden administration closed its civil rights investigation of two Louisiana state agencies without finding any discrimination against Black communities exposed to an increased risk of cancer.
Despite initial findings that the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and the Louisiana Department of Health failed to provide residents or relevant government agencies with accurate information about ongoing chloroprene emissions and resulting adverse human health impacts, the Environmental Protection Agency said those failures were not discriminatory, and that it did not make any findings of discriminatory actions made by those air pollution regulation agencies.
In letters sent to the two state agencies, the EPA said it has taken "a series of significant actions” directed at reducing chloroprene emissions and their impact from Denka, a Japanese-operated chemical plant at the heart of the investigations, while also informing the public of the associated health risks.
Denka also faces a lawsuit from the EPA for violations of the Clean Air Act, which would compel the facility to take immediate measures towards eliminating "the imminent and substantial" dangers posed by its emissions of chloroprene, a chemical used to make synthetic rubber.
The administration's decision comes after Louisiana challenged the investigation in court just last month. The state's attorney general, Jeff Landry, argued in a federal lawsuit that the EPA was overstepping its authority and does not have the power to take action against alleged Civil Rights violations.
"EPA officials have lost sight of the agency’s actual environmental mission, and instead decided to moonlight as a social justice warriors fixated on race," wrote the Republican, who is also a gubernatorial candidate.
The investigation was launched as part of President Biden's focus on prioritizing environmental justice, especially in poor and minority communities subjected to pollution. To do so, the Biden administration and EPA administrator Michael Regan created a new Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights.
By utilizing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which forbids anyone who receives federal funds from discriminating based on race or national origin, the office initiated the investigation in April 2022, after receiving complaints from citizens, environmental and civil rights activists.
The complaints alleged state regulators failed to control air pollution in the industrial section of Louisiana often referred to as "cancer alley," where they allegedly allowed the Denka plant to expose the residents who live nearby — the majority of whom are Black — and children at an elementary school to enough chloroprene to increase their cancer risk.
While the Denka plant’s emissions have gone down significantly over recent years, the EPA found chloroprene levels were higher than what activists claimed to be safe.
“We are deeply disappointed by EPA’s decision to close an investigation that could have brought justice to the community members of St. John the Baptist Parish, who have long borne the brunt of environmental injustice and discrimination,” said Earthjustice Vice President of Healthy Communities Patrice Simms. “Title VI is a critical tool that EPA must use to bring relief to communities like St. John so that they can breathe clean air. EPA’s decision to abandon its civil rights enforcement effort deprives these communities of an important avenue for securing justice and addressing longstanding and unconscionable toxic exposures.”
One of the complaints also concerned a local affiliate of the Taiwanese company, Formosa Plastics, called FG LA and its plans to build a $9.4 billion petrochemical complex in the area.
In September, a state judge in Baton Rouge revoked the 14 air permits issued for the complex from the state, that would have allowed more than 800 tons of toxic pollution. But the judge's ruling was stayed, after the state appealed.
The U.S. Department of Justice has also opened environmental Title VI investigations into officials in other states, including in Alabama over chronic sewage water problems affecting the Black residents of Lowndes County. Another is looking into illegal dumping in Black and Latino neighborhoods in Houston.
However, President Biden's promises on prioritizing environmental protection have often been tethered by federal courts, including by major rulings from the Supreme Court against the EPA's power to regulate global warming contributions from power plants and wetland protections.
A study by the Clean Air Task Force, found that Black people are almost four times more likely to die from pollution exposure than white people. It also found that Black Americans are exposed to 38% more polluted air than white Americans, and are 75% more likely to live in communities that border a plant or factory.
Officials with the EPA and Louisiana’s Department of Environmental Quality and Department of Health did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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