Petition

No More Toxic Plastic Plants in Cancer Alley

9,194 signatures. Let’s get to 30K
Stopping the devastating expansion of polluting petrochemical plants hinges on blocking the buildout of an industrial dock and grain facility in Wallace, Louisiana. Tell Governor Edwards and Louisiana leaders to #BlockTheDock.

In Wallace, nearly every family has a story about cancer. The small town, nestled on the West bank of the Mississippi River, is part of an 85-mile stretch where the risk of cancer from air pollution is up to 50 times higher than the rest of the country. 

The deadly pollution that gave Cancer Alley its name comes largely from the area’s high density of industrial plants – including petrochemical facilities that turn oil into plastic. Their fumes are toxic, and the community has been left with little to no support.

In the surrounding Parish, children keep towels under their school desks, so that they can wrap them around their faces when nearby facilities start spewing thick smoke and fire plumes into the sky, a procedure known as flaring.

Every year, U.S. petrochemical companies set fire to billions of cubic feet of natural gas. The process pollutes the atmosphere with hazardous, global-warming gasses, such as methane.

Like many of the United States’ worst industrial offenses, environmental justice is also deeply intertwined with this issue. The area being considered for further industrial expansion lies in the backyard of historically Black neighborhoods, and would require corporations to dig up pristine land that likely contains the ancestral graves of Wallace's enslaved people.

Born and raised in Wallace, Jo and Joy Banner founded the Descendants Project, a nonprofit working to protect the descendants of enslaved peoples' past, present, and future from petrochemical expansion.

Right now, Wallace and the surrounding Parish’s fight to stop additional petrochemical plants from entering their community hinges on another, unexpected industrial project: A proposed $479m deepwater dock and grain terminal. 

The grain dock and terminal are disastrous in their own right: Grain pollution often contains bacteria, rodent feces, and pesticides. But even worse, if the Louisiana government approves the project, it will open the door for a massive expansion of toxic petrochemical plants. 

How Blocking the Dock Stops Plastic: 

Greenfield, Louisiana LLC, the company building the dock and grain terminal, purchased a remarkable 1,700 acres of land in the area, but the actual facility would only require the use of around 250 acres. This means Greenfield won't be building on almost 90% of their property, and they will almost certainly lease the rest to petrochemical corporations.

This domino effect is not hypothetical. Plastics companies have already filed for permits to build on the grain company's land in the past and will do so again - all they need is for the Louisiana government and permitting agencies to give Greenfield the go-ahead to start building. 

But there’s still time to prevent this from happening, and we need your help. Together with the Descendants Project, an organization based in Wallace that advocates for the descendants of enslaved people, we’re calling on local and state leaders to take action. Put simply, if we can block the grain buildout, we can block the petrochemical buildout, and prevent a grave injustice from taking place. 

Please add your name to the petition on behalf of the frontline communities facing the worst impacts of the plastics industry, then share the campaign on social media to help build momentum. 

Supporters
Fernando90 P

Justice over greed

1 year ago
Wisdom O

of the love i have for humanity.

1 year ago
Erika M

it is

1 year ago
Kayleigh B

Corporate grants should be investing in sustainable alternatives to plastics! Think the future of the planet rather than greed!

1 year ago
JEFFREY S

I care about Earth

1 year ago
Pennie P

Invent less toxic plastic production facilities

1 year ago
Jackie G

Humans need to stop being a disease on this planet. At all costs.

1 year ago
Venera F

i care and want to safe this world

1 year ago
Imogene C

cancer runs in my family: it is a terrible disease; industrial sites are causal

1 year ago
Teo A

Plastic is the Ultimate Toxicity.

1 year ago
Erin H

enough is enough. find a better way.

1 year ago
Elise H

Environmental justice is social justice.

1 year ago
Maissa A

we have to protect this planet!!

1 year ago
KELLY W

Plastic is hazardous

1 year ago
since I

stop trashing our ozone and oceans. It's causing cancer in everybody. Do you not see rhis?

1 year ago
Cyrus C

Petrochemicals should not be created within the vicinity of residential space, and plastic alternatives need to be made mainstream.

1 year ago
Elouise M

this planet deserves better

1 year ago
Kerry R

I hate plastic

1 year ago
jade P

i want to live

1 year ago
Renee W

healthy environment

1 year ago
Katie R

It’s time to use plastic alternatives. its beginning to harm humanity internally and externally.

1 year ago
Sheena O

of my son and may he have a cleaner earth than i do when hes my age.

1 year ago
eithne c

It's the right thing to do!

1 year ago
Valerie C

alternatives to plastics having been developed, coipled with the known toxicity of plastics, there is little excuse for producing it.

1 year ago
Catalina B

I care

1 year ago
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