Court Bars EPA Probes in Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’

Louisiana climate activists are grappling with the repercussions of a federal court ruling that prevents the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from investigating civil rights claims in a heavily polluted part of the state, reports Victoria St. Martin for Inside Climate News.

“The ruling, issued earlier this month by the U.S. District Court in Western Louisiana, dealt a blow to the EPA’s use of the “disparate impact” provision of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars racial discrimination by people and organizations that receive federal funding.” The ruling makes permanent an injunction against using the disparate impact clause.

According to St. Martin, vice president of Earthjustice Patrice Simms said the ruling could have a ‘chilling effect’ on environmental justice movements around the country. “Debbie Chizewer, the managing attorney for Earthjustice’s Chicago office, said after the ruling that attorneys will be ‘considering all the strategies available to us’ to protect the health and continue the fight of community members.”