Last year, an oil refinery in Louisiana let massive amounts of combustible chemicals escape, an error that exposed residents to toxic contaminants.
But as the Guardian recently detailed, authorities in the area were slow to take action and minimized the legitimate concerns of citizens.
What happened?
On a late August 2023 morning, one woman recounted to the Guardian, a "stench like burning oil" descended outside her southeast Louisiana home.
Nearby, another woman dialed emergency services. "I'm having trouble with breathing," she said. "I taste oil in my mouth." Eyes itched. Throats burned. Clouds of dark smoke gathered. "I thought I was back in Vietnam, in the combat zone," recalled an older resident.
Company and local authorities told everyone not to worry, but nearby, the giant Marathon Petroleum facility "had been leaking for more than 13 hours," with two containers full of a hazardous, highly volatile chemical up in flames.
Why is the situation concerning?
The whole event, stated the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, according to the Guardian, was "one of the largest accidental releases of flammable chemicals" in three decades.
While the company and local officials said "that 'no offsite impacts' were detected during the entire four-day episode, citing company, state and third-party air monitoring," the Guardian noted interviews and records have shed doubts on those claims.
It took 16 hours from the time the leak was reported for residents to receive evacuation orders. Many have now experienced medical problems associated with the toxic exposure — and are frustrated with the lack of transparency from corporations and some politicians.
Even after evacuation orders were lifted, the Guardian noted that Forensic Architecture modeling showed benzene concentrations in the Lions neighborhood were above the acute risk levels, according to EPA standards.
It's emblematic of what the Guardian calls an "embedded culture of secrecy" shrouding the "heavily polluted region … known as 'Cancer Alley'" — an 85-mile stretch between Baton Rouge and New Orleans where over 200 chemical plants and refineries exist alongside everyday citizens — and one where economic priorities "[have] largely overpowered the concerns of the communities that sit a stone's throw from its stacks."
Marathon Petroleum has a long history of obscuring its harmful activities, but the full scope of damage from the dirty energy industry is impossible to ignore.
Oil, gas, and coal companies generate enormous amounts of destructive air pollution. For Cancer Alley residents, it's an ever-present concern.
What can we do to help?
Do your research so you know you're spending on businesses that put your health, well-being, and budget before their bottom line and that, when mistakes happen, are honest and accountable. (Same goes for politicians.)
Don't fall for greenwashing: Instead, explore eco-friendly efforts with substance — working to create communities, not destroy them.
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