The Chalmette community located within
St. Bernard parish is a low-income, predominantly Caucasian area.
The community borders two main oil refineries; Exxon Mobil Chalmette Refining
L.L.C and Murphy Oil USA Inc. Similar to the members of the Diamond community,
residents in Chalmette suffer regularly from illnesses caused by the breathing
in of contaminants from the Exxon
Mobil Chalmette Refinery in the community. Explosions and chemical
accidents, which directly affect community members, are also a common
occurrence at this plant. |
The chemicals being emitted by the plants act as carcinogens,
respiratory irritants, and developmental impairment toxins (Lewis, 2004).
A recent report by St. Bernard officials and the EPA claimed that daily
exposure to chemical emissions and particulates has a strong possibility
of affecting short and long-term health. Considering that St. Bernard’s
parish has the highest reported rates of cancer in the state of Louisiana
supports and further emphasizes a link between industry and health problems
within Chalmette (Ford, 2001-2004). Out of concern for the well-being
of the community’s health, the St. Bernard’s Citizens for
Environmental Quality and a branch of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade were
established in Chalmette by Anne Rolfe in January 2000 (Rolfes,
2005). |
Community member, Ken Ford, removes a daily deposit of
Coke dust on his house from the neighboring refinery.
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The Bucket Brigade movement
began in 1995 by attorney Edward Masry in California, as a response to
industries denying claims of toxic air emissions from their plants (Rolfes,
2005). Members of the surrounding communities had no concrete evidence
of the emissions. The monitoring systems installed by regulatory agencies
were located several miles away from the plants or upstream of the stacks,
and were not detecting all of the emissions. In order to monitor the air
emissions, and in return, link them to local health problems, an environmental
engineer developed a low-cost monitoring device. The bucket is a low-cost,
simple device that draws in outside air into a Tedlar bag enclosed within
the bucket. Once the air sample is taken, the bag is sealed and sent to
a laboratory for analysis through a Gas
Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer (Rolfes, 2005). Each sample costs
$500 to analyze; however, many times the costs are funded by charity and
government grants. In 1996, the air sampling buckets were approved by
the Environmental Protection Agency. The use of the bucket brigade has
been very successful in California, Texas, Pennsylvania, and especially
in the parishes of Louisiana.
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Community member taking air samples with the bucket outside
of the Chalmette Refinery
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Using the bucket devices to sample air around the Chalmette
Refinery, residents have been able to sample the chemical releases entering
the community at random. The first sample taken in Chalmette was in 2001,
in response to the concerns of “obnoxious odors” coming from
the Chalmette Refinery (Ford, 2001). The results
from the air samples indicated that the concentration of hydrogen
sulfide, toluene, and xylene present were four times greater than
the level accepted by the EPA. |
Further samples since 2001
have detected unauthorized emissions of benzene,
carbon disulfide,
hydrogen
fluoride, toluene,
xylene,
and polycyclic
aromatic compounds emanating from Chalmette Refinery and Exxon Mobil
Refinery (Ford, 2001-2004). In one specific 18 month study, the Bucket
Brigade collected 21 air samples. The samples, which were analyzed by
the EPA, approved Performance Analytical detected high levels of benzene,
sulfur
dioxide, toluene, and xylene in every sample. A total of 107 violations
of state and federal regulations were reported during this study (Lewis,
2004). The results from these analyses were reported to the EPA, the
Refineries, and local officials; however, little attention was paid to
the community for a long time. In the meantime, residents and children
attending school next to the refineries were being exposed to high levels
of toxic chemicals.
A lawsuit was a last resort by the community after numerous attempts
to contact the refineries, the department of environmental quality, and
the local government officials. On December 4, 2003, the St. Bernard Citizens
for Environmental Quality, the Bucket Brigade, and the Tulane
Environmental Law Clinic compiled air sample results and filed a citizens-enforcement
suit against Exxon Mobil Chalmette Refining L.L.C. for violating the Clean
Air Act, Emergency
Planning and Community Right to Know Act (Cannizaro,
2004). They specified thirty four violations in which the refinery
released unauthorized emissions of SO2, NO2,
NO,
volatile organic compounds, xylene, toluene, and benzene, and failed to
file reports (RRF, 2003). The legal notice
gave the ExxonMobil facility two months to respond to the claims and/or
rectify the offenses. Exxon admitted that the toxic emissions were preventable;
however, even during the investigations the refinery continued to violate
federal and state regulations. The lawsuit was filed on December 4th,
and by December 16th the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) reported
that the refinery continued to allow preventable flaring (SBCEQ
et al., 2005). Exxon could not refute the clean air violations; however,
they disputed the lawsuit on the grounds that the refinery was not the
only source of pollution in the community (SBCEQ et al., 2005).
The courts rejected Exxon’s arguments and ruled in favor of the
St. Bernard Citizens for Environmental Quality and the Louisiana Bucket
Brigade a year later on February 9, 2005. The courts ruled that ExxonMobil
violated the Clean Air Act and is liable for the health problems caused
by the toxic emissions (SBCEQ et al., 2005). The judge claims that there
need to be consequences for ExxonMobil’s actions or else they will
continue to release toxins into the community. The fate of Exxon has not
yet been determined; however, the Chalmette residents are calling for
civil penalties as well as the installment of accurate air monitors within
the refineries. This landmark ruling by the Courts is a positive step
forward in the environmental justice movement. |