Louisiana Grandmother in ‘Cancer Alley’ Wins Green Nobel Prize

摘要

At the St. James Parish council meetings, Sharon Lavigne is a familiar face. She’s become a fixture since 2018, fighting multi-billion dollar petrochemical plants that threaten to move intoher hometown, located along Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley.”That infamous nickname is for the 85-mile corridor along the Mississippi River that’s been home to some 150 petrochemical plants and oil refineries since the 1980s. Its existence has beendecried as an egregious case of environmental racism, and even dubbed a human rights violation by the United Nations, as emissions from the plants affect the majority-Blackcommunities nearby. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, people here have a higher cancer risk than 95% of Americans, and 90% of Louisiana residents.