A federal judge in Lake Charles has blocked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from using a key civil rights rule to protect minority communities from pollution and other environmental harms.
On Thursday (Aug. 22) evening, U.S. District Judge James D. Cain Jr. permanently halted the EPA and the Justice Department from enforcing disparate impact regulations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act in Louisiana, a move that environmental groups say will curb the federal government’s ability to protect the mostly Black communities in the industrial corridor between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, an area commonly called “Cancer Alley.”
“Louisiana has given industrial polluters open license to poison Black and brown communities for generations, only to now have one court give it a permanent free pass to abandon its responsibilities,” said Patrice Simms with Earthjustice, an environmental group that has used Title VI to argue for better protections in St. John the Baptist Parish, in a statement.
Cain, in the Western District of Louisiana, had issued a preliminary injunction on the matter in January. Thursday’s ruling makes the injunction permanent.
“The Justice Department and EPA remain committed to enforcing civil rights law, consistent with the court’s order,” an EPA spokesperson said following the judgment.
In January, Cain wrote that government agencies shouldn’t consider race when enforcing environmental rules or permitting chemical plants and refineries.
“The public interest here is that governmental agencies abide by its laws, and treat all of its citizens equally, without considering race,” wrote Cain, who was appointed by President Donald Trump in 2019. “To be sure, if a decision maker has to consider race, to decide, it has indeed participated in racism. Pollution does not discriminate.”
Robert Taylor, executive director of the Concerned Citizens of St. John the Baptist Parish, called Cain’s remarks “ludicrous.”
“We’re not accusing pollution of discrimination,” he said. “We’re accusing the polluters of discrimination. And it’s obvious. They’re mostly dumping pollution in communities with Black people.”
Several studies and reports have underscored the disproportionate burden of pollution faced by minority communities. One of the more recent reports, produced by National Minority Quality Forum and CEO Roundtable on Cancer, found that racial and ethnic minorities make up 56% of the people living within two miles of a carcinogenic waste-producing site. Released in January, the report also notes that Cancer Alley hosts nearly 150 oil refineries and chemical plants, accounting for about a quarter of all petrochemical production in the U.S.
Thursday’s ruling comes shortly after the EPA unveiled new Title VI guidance on how state governments and other recipients of EPA grants should prevent discrimination in their programs and activities. Title VI prohibits grant recipients from discriminating based on race, color, or national origin. The ruling means the new guidance will not apply to disparate, or unintended, impacts on minority groups, according to Earthjustice.
In early 2022, Earthjustice filed a complaint on behalf of St. John residents urging the EPA to investigate whether Louisiana agencies had violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by failing to protect Black communities from disproportionate environmental harm. A year later, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, now the state’s governor, sued the EPA to stop the complaint. Weeks later, the EPA dropped its investigation.
A spokesperson for Landry did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
While Cain’s ruling applies only to Louisiana, Simms worries that it may embolden other states to take similar action and create “a chilling effect” on civil rights enforcement.
For Taylor, the ruling comes as a significant blow just as progress seemed near.
“As close as we get to redress for some of our problems, this kind of thing always seems to pop up,” he said. “This ruling shows the fight and the real struggle we’re up against with the government and the petrochemical industry.”
This story has been updated to include a statement from the EPA.