close
close

Ourladyoftheassumptionparish

Part – Newstatenabenn

Louisiana’s majority-black elementary school to close amid lawsuits over toxic air exposure
patheur

Louisiana’s majority-black elementary school to close amid lawsuits over toxic air exposure

RESERVE, La. – A southeastern Louisiana school board voted Thursday to close a predominantly black elementary school adjacent to a petrochemical facility embroiled in multiple lawsuits related to its high levels of toxic emissions.

Denka Performance Elastomer LLC produces synthetic rubber neoprene used for wetsuits, laptop sleeves, and other common products. The facility emits chloroprene, a probable carcinogen, at such high concentrations that it exposes the surrounding majority Black community to an unacceptable cancer risk, according to a 2023 federal complaint filed against Denka on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA warned that the several hundred students who attend 5th Ward Elementary School, about a quarter mile (0.40 kilometers) from the Denka facility, are among those facing an increased risk of cancer.

Air monitoring consistently shows long-term concentrations of chloroprene in the air surrounding Denka facilities at up to 15 times the levels recommended for lifetime exposure, according to the federal complaint. The EPA claims that Denka’s chloroprene emissions are the reason surrounding communities in St. John the Baptist Parish have the highest estimated cancer risks nationwide.

The Biden administration has invested billions in the EPA to address environmental justice issues and has put Denka front and center in its efforts to hold industrial polluters accountable for their impacts on minority neighborhoods. Many of these gated communities are located along a heavily industrialized 85-mile (137-kilometer) stretch of the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, officially called the Mississippi River Chemical Corridor and commonly known by environmental groups as “Cancer Alley.” ”. “

The facility’s parent company, Tokyo-based Denka, fought an April EPA order to sharply reduce its facility’s chloroprene emissions within 90 days, and received support from Louisiana’s Republican governor, Jeff Landry. The case remains stalled in federal court. A Denka spokesperson said its facilities had “significantly reduced” its chloroprene emissions and that the EPA was relying on “distorted” science. Denka’s fence air monitoring report for June shows that its chloroprene emissions remained four times higher than EPA required standards. Denka’s spokesman said the EPA is relying on “an overly conservative risk assessment.”

In June, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund filed a separate motion for the school board to close the elementary school, arguing that the board had clear evidence of the health risks Denka posed to students. The St. John the Baptist school board is one of dozens in the South that remain under desegregation orders for decades.

The Denka Performance elastomers plant sits at sunset in Reserve,...

The Denka Performance elastomers plant sits at sunset in Reserve, Louisiana, on September 23, 2022. Credit: AP/Gerald Herbert

The Legal Defense Fund contends that the school board is violating the desegregation order by disproportionately exposing black students to Denka pollution when there are alternative schools they could attend in other parts of the district and, in many cases , closer to their homes. The school board’s Director of Risk Management, Alvarez Hertzock III, said the district is taking the issues raised in the lawsuit “extremely seriously.”

At several public hearings held by the school board earlier this year to discuss the closure of 5th Ward Elementary School, some parents and teachers spoke emotionally against breaking up the school’s close-knit community.

“We want to stay together,” Rajean Butler, principal of 5th Ward Elementary School, said at a Jan. 31 meeting, adding that her own son is enrolled at the school. “Knowing they will be destroyed breaks my heart.”

“I created a space where every child is loved as if they were my own,” Butler said, with a group of community members at her side. “I speak from my heart and say please do not do this for our babies, our families. “I just can’t imagine the idea of ​​them being in a place where they aren’t loved.”

The Denka Performance elastomers plant sits at sunset in Reserve,...

The Denka Performance elastomers plant is seen at sunset in Reserve, Louisiana, on Friday, September 23, 2022. Credit: AP/Gerald Herbert

Months later, after a tense discussion, the school board voted 7-4 to close the school beginning with the 2025-2026 school year. The several hundred students currently attending 5th Ward Elementary School would be sent to two other nearby locations.

School Board President Shawn Wallace said the board made the decision to close 5th Ward Elementary School solely for financial reasons due to low enrollment districtwide.

But Nia Mitchell-Williams, another board member, said the ongoing desegregation lawsuit was “the real elephant in the room” and had pressured the board to close the school before a federal judge took action. measures.

Raydel Morris, a board member representing the 5th Ward Elementary School neighborhood, opposed closing the school because she said it would lead to another blighted building in a black community.

He also said the board’s proposed solution would fail to significantly end most students’ exposure to Denka pollution by moving many to another school, East St. John Preparatory, less than 1 mile away ( 1.61 kilometers) from the facilities.

“We took them out the front door and put them in the backyard,” Morris said.

Legal Defense Fund attorney Victor Jones said the school board had delayed too long and should remove students from 5th Ward Elementary School immediately, not next school year.

“The board has a constant and continuing obligation to operate healthy and safe facilities for children,” Jones said. “Every day that school remains open, those children remain in danger.”

Jones added that students moved to the school near Denka would still be at risk from its toxic emissions.

School district Superintendent Cleo Perry said she was not concerned about potential health consequences for students transferred to East St. John Preparatory. He said the board is now focused on the logistics of school transfers.

“When it comes to school consolidation it is very heartbreaking, it is difficult for families, students and teachers alike, so our goal now is to work with our community to make the best transition possible,” he said.