Massive petrochemical fire breaks out in Cancer Alley

Trevor Jones
Trevor Jones

On Friday, a massive fire and chemical leak broke out at a petrochemical facility in St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana. Many residents were evacuated and more still were under a shelter-in-place order. Let us be clear: This is what the plastics crisis looks like. The facility โ€” the Marathon Oil Refinery โ€” turns oil into plastic, among other toxic products. Itโ€™s located in Cancer Alley, where hundreds of toxic, industrial plants like this one have been built in Black and Brown communities with little to no accountability. Itโ€™s also just miles away from the town of Wallace, where one of our partners, The Descendants Project, is fighting to stop new toxic facilities from building in their community. Itโ€™s time to act and stand up for the communities who are paying with their health and safety for the profit of oil and plastics companies.

You can support The Descendants Project's fight against new toxic industry by signing our petition to save their town. We're getting closer to our goal of 20,000 signatures!

Contributors

Trevor Jones

Senior Manager of Campaigns

Someone who loves to be both surrounded by people and isolated in nature, Trevor values the dualities within each of us and hopes to leave the world a better place than he found it.

New York, United States

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