"African-American residents of Mossville, a community just west of Lake Charles, have won a hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on charges that the U.S. government has violated their rights to privacy and racial equality in not forcing local chemical plants to stop polluting.

It's the first time the international organization has agreed to hear complaints of environmental racism against the United States by its on citizens, said a spokeswoman for the law firm that filed the complaint.

Mossville is adjacent to 14 chemical plants and refineries that release millions of pounds of toxic chemicals into the air, land and water each year, according to federal and state records. "

Mark Schleifstein reports for the New Orleans Times-Picayune March 30, 2010. [2]