ROSELAND, La. — First came the oily sludge that spotted homes, waterways, and gardens. Then the stomach aches, headaches, nosebleeds, brain fog, and dead chickens and fish that pastor Marvin Vernon began tallying in his notebook. Vernon joined other residents this past Saturday morning to protest what they describe as official neglect and a “cover […]
Roseland
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Land Pollution, Politics & Policy
Louisiana Town Fights for Relief After a Billion-Dollar Oil Disaster
Four months have passed since a Louisiana oil facility burst apart, spewing a dense black sludge that drifted across homes, farms, and waterways as far as 50 miles away. Since then, the U.S. Department of Justice and Louisiana environmental regulators have filed a sweeping lawsuit against Smitty’s Supply, the company that ran the facility storing […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice
An Explosion Left a Black Town Contaminated. Politics Are Stunting the Cleanup.
On the banks of the Tangipahoa River in South Louisiana, thick oil slicks and chemical odors ripple across the water. Five weeks after an oil and lubricant facility exploded, sending oily soot as far as 40 miles away, Black residents still complain that the chemical smell is so strong that it wakes them up in […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice
In This Black Louisiana Town, Forests are Browning and Animals are Dying
The forests that once sheltered the small town of Roseland are turning brown. A month after a sprawling oil and lubricant facility exploded and rained down slick black droplets all over this predominantly Black town in rural Louisiana, the trees are sick. Federal officials said there’s no threat to human health; however, independent tests recently […]