Environmental activists are fighting against the expansion of the fossil fuel industry in Louisiana’s Cancer Alley, an eighty-five-mile stretch of the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge lined with more than 100 fossil fuel industry sites. Sharon Lavigne, a sixty-eight-year-old retired teacher, started the community group RISE St. James, based in the fifth district of St. James Parish, a region with some of the country’s highest cancer risks from air pollution.
I have been documenting the work of RISE St. James since its founding in 2018. This selection of photos—taken over the past two years—shows that, despite the pandemic, members of RISE St. James and other environmental groups in Louisiana continue to fight for clean air. These activists are in areas that were heavily impacted by Hurricane Ida.
Members of the Coalition Against Death Alley in front of Senator Bill Cassidy’s office, Metairie, Louisiana, on February 12, 2021.
The Zion Travelers Cemetery in Reserve, Louisiana, in the heart of Cancer Alley. Next to the cemetery is the Marathon Refinery.
Michael Ifeoma Esealuka stands at the site of a former burial ground for enslaved African Americans where Formosa Plastics Corporation plans to build a petrochemical complex.
An activist in front of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers office in New Orleans, protesting against Formosa Plastics.
Sharon Lavigne, founder of RISE St. James, attends a protest in front of a Chase bank in New Orleans, August 2021. Activists called on customers to close their Chase accounts due to the bank’s investments in fossil fuel projects including its backing of Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline expansion project in Minnesota.
Jane Patton, director of No Waste Louisiana, at RISE St. James’s annual Juneteenth celebration, 2021.
Anne Rolfes, founder of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, protesting against Formosa Plastics in front of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers office in New Orleans.
Oil storage tanks in St. James across from the St. James Catholic Church.
Members of RISE St. James protesting by the site where Formosa Plastics plans to build a petrochemical complex.
CF Industries in St. James Parish at the foot of the Sunshine Bridge.