A damning new Human Rights Watch report documents the devastating human toll of fossil fuel projects in Louisiana’s Cancer Alley, an 85-mile corridor stretching from Baton Rouge to New Orleans that is filled with fossil fuel and petrochemical plants. Human Rights Watch found newborns living in Cancer Alley experience low birth weights at more than three times the national average. Residents of the predominantly Black communities in the area report a range of other health problems, as well, including respiratory illness, cognitive issues and cancer. “Louisiana citizens are exposed to the worst toxic pollution of any people across the United States,” says the report’s author, journalist Antonia Juhasz, who outlines recommendations for better regulation and enforcement to reduce the harms while pushing for a phase-out of the industry in the long term.
