cancer alley

The trees are dying, the grasses are dying. The birds we have are all crows – no hummingbirds left, no songbirds, a lifelong resident of Freetown, Louisiana, said as Hurricane Nate approached and plans continued to build a controversial oil pipeline that will end nearby.
Opponents of the pipeline, now that it has received the go-ahead from the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, are urging the state to require the company building it to conduct an environmental impact statement for the land it traverses.

White smoke hovers over a DuPont chemical plant in Belle, W.Va. DuPont – a chemical company with a long history of endangering public health – is being sued by 13 people in Louisiana over emissions from one of its plants. (AP/Jeff Gentner)