Interview
Sharon Lavigne: ‘Environmental justice is racial justice. Cancer Alley is proof.’
We spoke with th eLouisiana activist in Rome. ‘So many women have gotten sick and are getting sick with breast cancer – it happened to my own sister – and there are numerous cases of miscarriages and premature births.’
It takes a special kind of courage to stand up to a global plastics giant and stop a $9.4 billion project. No one before her had succeeded in Cancer Alley, that 130 km stretch along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Louisiana, where around 200 of the most toxic factories are clustered, from refineries to plants producing plastics, fertilizers, and chemical compounds.
Her name is Sharon Lavigne, 74, African American, a former teacher, a grandmother of 12, and one of the most respected environmental activists for having challenged the plans of the Formosa Plastic Group with her organization, Rise St. James. Formosa wants to build yet another enormous PVC plant less than six kilometers from her home. In 2021, she was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize, and in 2024, Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the U.S.
The goal of her fight is to halt the expansion of America’s largest petrochemical complex, where the rate of cancer is 50 times higher than the U.S. average. The UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment has listed Cancer Alley among the “sacrifice zones,” where pollution levels are extremely high and human rights violations are a daily occurrence, especially against members of the Black community.
We interviewed her at the il manifesto newsroom in Rome, where Lavigne is meeting with networks of activists, politicians, and institutions. Starting on Thursday, she is taking part in the three-day Inseparable Relationships Festival of Integral Ecology, in Trevignano Romano. On Monday, September 8 (6:30 p.m., Casa della Solidarietà, Via degli Equi 15, Rome), she will be present at the assembly of movements for environmental and social justice ahead of the COP30 in Belem.
When did you decide to take up your fight against the oil and plastic giants?
My efforts began in October 2018, when I learned about the Formosa Plastic project. I was at school, teaching. My daughter called to tell me that the governor of Louisiana had announced a $9.4 billion investment for a new mega-plant in St. James Parish, three kilometers from where I live. I immediately thought about organizing a meeting at my house to talk it over with some members of our community. That’s when it became clear to all of us that the time had come to do something, to fight back. So we founded the organization Rise St. James. At that moment, we didn’t know what we were up against. Six years have passed since then, and we are still fighting.
What forms of mobilization have you used?
We started meeting and researching the various environmental emergencies in our area, educating ourselves first so we could then inform other members of the community, including through public meetings. Many of us were completely unaware of how serious the situation was, of what kind of monstrosity was going to be built so close to our homes. Many didn’t even know how polluted our area already was or how many other new petrochemical expansion projects, like South Louisiana Methanol, were imminent. We organized protest marches that many other people attended, some coming all the way from New Orleans, and organizations offered to help us. We contacted law firms specializing in environmental law and decided to file a lawsuit against Formosa, challenging their violation of the Clean Air Act. And in 2022, we won the first round.
How did the Formosa Group react?
It filed an appeal, along with the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality – the state environmental agency that’s supposed to be on our side, that’s supposed to protect people, but is instead siding with industry. At that point, it even became a problem for us to find a law firm to help. If we had the money, we’d hire one from outside Louisiana, because in our state they’re all on the side of industry, even as people are getting cancer and dying like flies. In the end, Formosa won the appeal. And so it got the permit to build, except for one part on a wetland where they still don’t have the go-ahead. But we are continuing our battle.
Why are air quality standards so permissive in a state like Louisiana? The limits for benzene are 20 times higher than those allowed in Massachusetts. Do you believe this is a form of environmental racism?
Environmental justice is tightly linked to racial justice. And Cancer Alley is the proof. We know very well the consequences of this legislation that doesn’t protect us. A storage tank containing benzene exploded three miles from my house, there was a huge fire, but they acted like nothing had happened. Both the local council and the parish president said there was no danger. This is what it means to live in a sacrifice zone. I call it genocide. When I used that term, I was told not to say that, but I know very well that what is happening here is genocide.
During the Biden administration, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a rule that placed strict limits on toxic emissions from petrochemical plants. Could this improve your situation?
Yes, but the timeline for the rule to take effect, which the EPA set at 90 days, became two years in Louisiana. And now Trump wants to block the whole thing.
You pointed out that environmental and racial justice are interconnected. What do you think of Trump’s attacks on cultural institutions and the education system for their “insistence” on the U.S.’s history of slavery?
He doesn’t care about us; he doesn’t care about our lives. He cares about industry, which makes him money. But our governor doesn’t care either. He’s a big friend of Trump.
Last week, your attorney general went to the Supreme Court to ask, in essence, that in redrawing electoral districts, Louisiana should be allowed to ignore the requirements of the Voting Rights Act on the need to provide fair representation for the Black vote.
I believe that everything this administration is doing and undoing will be restored and set right. I believe we are going through a cycle that will end. When Biden was in the White House, the EPA administrator was Michael Regan, and he tried to help us. But this government has undone everything he did. These laws will not last, because people will understand what is happening and they will rebel.
Do you remember when the first oil plants were built? What did your community think?
People were happy; they thought there would be job opportunities. They called it economic development.
Do the residents of St. James work at the petrochemical plants?
They did at first, but not anymore. And those who did work there were told not to say anything about what was happening inside the plants.
Do people with cancer talk about the illness, or is it considered a stigma?
People have only recently started talking about it because, thanks to our struggle, we broke a taboo and exposed how serious the situation is. So many women have gotten sick and are getting sick with breast cancer – it happened to my own sister – and there are numerous cases of miscarriages and premature births.
Have you ever thought about leaving Cancer Alley?
Even if I had the money to leave, I would never leave my family and friends here to die.
Negotiations for the Global Plastics Treaty have failed. What are your thoughts on that?
I think it would be good to have that treaty. What is certain is that if we stopped buying plastic, they wouldn’t build more plants to produce it. You have to get to the root of the problem, which is changing the system of consumption and production.
*with the collaboration of Giovanna Branca
Sharon Lavigne was invited to Italy by the Gea School to participate as an international speaker in the Inseparable Relationships Festival of Integral Ecology, which will be held from September 5 through September 7 in Trevignano Romano. The event is a three-day, free advanced training dedicated to the new generation of activists in Italy who are committed to building new social and local alternatives for change and to the practices and language connected to integral ecology. The school is organized by Gea in collaboration with Rise St. James, Emmaus Italia, and Rete dei Numeri Pari to promote and spread the vision, culture, language, proposals and practices related to ecological, environmental and social justice.
Originally published at https://ilmanifesto.it/sharon-lavigne-giustizia-ambientale-e-razziale-per-cancer-alley on 2025-09-04