St. John Parish Group Files Human Rights Appeal Over Denka Air Pollution [1]
"After years of urging state and federal authorities to reduce harmful chemical emissions from the Denka Performance Elastomer manufacturing plant in Reserve [La.], a St. John the Baptist Parish group is seeking help from an international human rights commission.
In a request filed on Wednesday, the Concerned Citizens of St. John urged the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to investigate cancer risks, recommend air pollution limits and join the group’s calls for the plant to be shut down.
“We’ve gone from agency to agency and to all the politicians to get help,” said Robert Taylor, the Concerned Citizens’ executive director. “Everywhere the doors are slammed in our faces.”
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2015 released an analysis saying the five census tracts near the plant had the nation’s highest airborne cancer risk."