{"id":3109,"date":"2026-02-16T08:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T08:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/?p=3109"},"modified":"2026-04-09T07:54:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T07:54:26","slug":"residents-along-louisianas-cancer-alley-have-a-new","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/?p=3109","title":{"rendered":"Residents along Louisiana\u2019s Cancer Alley have a new\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Ascension Parish, where three of the proposed blue ammonia plants would be built, hosts more than two dozen industrial facilities and already has the second highest amount of air emissions in the country, according to EPA<\/span>\u00a0data.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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So the prospect of new ammonia plants in Ascension Parish worries Twila Collins.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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She has lived her entire 55<\/span>-year life in Modeste, a\u00a0historic, predominantly Black community along the Mississippi River. If CF<\/span> Industries gets its way, a\u00a0massive ammonia plant would rise roughly a\u00a0mile from her\u00a0home.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Twila Collins poses for a photo inside her home in Modeste, a small Louisiana community next to the Mississippi River. She\u2019s concerned about the potential health and safety dangers of a proposed CF Industries blue ammonia plant. (Sean Gardner for Floodlight)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n
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Her message for the company is blunt: \u200b\u201c<\/span>Leave us alone and find somewhere else to go where there\u2019s nobody living, so you won\u2019t disrupt a\u00a0community.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Industrial pollution already drifts into her neighborhood, bringing smells \u200b\u201c<\/span>like a\u00a0landfill,\u201d she said, and a\u00a0new ammonia plant would add another layer of pollution \u2014 and another set of health risks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In a\u00a02024<\/span> report, CF<\/span> Industries said its employees \u200b\u201c<\/span>regularly maintain, replace, and update equipment\u201d to reduce emissions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But under its draft permit for the Blue Point plant, the company would be allowed to release more than 1<\/span>,100<\/span> tons of air pollutants each year \u2014 equivalent to the weight of more than 27<\/span> fully loaded tractor trailers. That includes more than 140<\/span> tons of ammonia and more than 580<\/span> tons of carbon monoxide.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Collins said she can name more than 30<\/span> people in Modeste who suffer from cancer or respiratory problems. The issue is deeply personal. She herself has struggled with cancer. And in 2002<\/span>, her 9<\/span>-year-old son died of an asthma attack. He had struggled with asthma all his life, but Collins still wonders whether the industrial pollution surrounding Modeste helped trigger the attack that killed him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Modeste, Louisiana, sits in a heavily industrialized region, and Twila Collins suspects pollution from those factories is making many residents sick. (Sean Gardner for Floodlight)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n
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She also worries about what could go wrong if something fails \u2014 an accident, a\u00a0leak, or worse \u2014 because ammonia production and carbon dioxide transport involve well-documented industrial risks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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CF<\/span> Industries\u2019 Donaldsonville plant has a\u00a0history of deadly accidents: A\u00a02000<\/span> explosion and fire killed three workers and injured at least eight others, and a\u00a02013<\/span> blast killed one worker and injured eight\u00a0more.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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This past November, an explosion at another CF<\/span> Industries plant in Yazoo City, Mississippi, led to an ammonia leak and prompted the evacuation of nearby residents.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Residents push\u00a0back<\/strong><\/h2>\n

While supporters emphasize the economic boost and high-paying jobs the projects could bring, many local residents have turned out at public hearings to oppose them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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So many people packed a\u00a0hearing room on the St. Charles project in 2024<\/span> that it had to be canceled<\/a> and rescheduled in a\u00a0larger venue.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Some of the public fears have centered on the carbon dioxide pipelines that would be needed to make the projects work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Air Products, for instance, has proposed piping millions of tons of carbon dioxide 38<\/span>\u00a0miles to be stored a\u00a0mile underneath Lake Maurepas. The project would be \u200b\u201c<\/span>the world\u2019s largest permanent carbon dioxide sequestration endeavor to date,\u201d according to the Louisiana Department of Economic Development.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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At a November 2025 public hearing, many Louisiana residents raised health and safety concerns about Air Products\u2019 plan to build a large blue ammonia plant in Ascension Parish. The project would pipe carbon dioxide and store it beneath Lake Maurepas. (US Army Corps of Engineers via Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n
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At a\u00a0November public hearing on the project, Air Products vice president Andrew Connolly said the company has an \u200b\u201c<\/span>unsurpassed safety record.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>All pipelines will be monitored 24<\/span>–7<\/span>, and we will meet or exceed all pipeline regulations,\u201d he\u00a0said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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More than 300<\/span> people turned out for that public hearing, according to Dustin Renaud, a\u00a0spokesperson for the environmental law group Earthjustice. Among the more than 50<\/span> people who spoke, all but three opposed the project.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Opponents have warned of what could happen if a\u00a0carbon dioxide pipeline ruptures, as happened in 2020<\/span>\u00a0in Satartia, Mississippi. That disaster sent 45<\/span> people to the hospital and left some residents unconscious in their homes and cars. Starved of oxygen, cars stalled or couldn\u2019t start, making evacuation difficult.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A carbon dioxide pipeline ruptured on Feb. 22, 2020, in Satartia, Mississippi, leaving this crater and prompting an evacuation. (Mississippi Emergency Management Agency)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n
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The Air Products pipeline would run within half a\u00a0mile of Sorrento Primary School, an elementary school in Ascension Parish with more than 600<\/span> students. An expert hired by Earthjustice concluded that a\u00a0pipeline rupture<\/a> could endanger the schoolchildren, along with residents of a\u00a0nearby subdivision.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Stephens, the Air Products spokesperson, said the company will run the pipeline deeper than is required by code in the school\u2019s vicinity. The pipeline will also have more shutoff valves than required, she\u00a0said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201c<\/span>We have a\u00a0long safe history of operating the largest hydrogen pipeline network in the world right here in Louisiana,\u201d she\u00a0wrote.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Stacie, the St. Charles Clean Fuels representative, said the company will incorporate \u200b\u201c<\/span>detection systems, automated shutdowns, mechanical integrity programs, and emergency response planning\u201d \u2014 consistent with federal rules and \u200b\u201c<\/span>lessons learned from prior incidents.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Still, some residents worry.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201c<\/span>We don\u2019t have a\u00a0good evacuation route,\u201d said St. James Parish resident Gail LeBoeuf, who co-founded the environmental justice group Inclusive Louisiana. \u200b\u201c<\/span>If something would happen, we would just be stuck like\u00a0Chuck.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Promises of jobs, safety, and economic growth<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The companies behind the blue ammonia projects have said they will bring jobs<\/a> and millions of dollars into the state economy \u2014 a\u00a0message that has found a\u00a0receptive audience in the state capital and some city\u00a0halls.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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CF<\/span> Industries did not respond to Floodlight\u2019s questions about its proposed plant, while Clean Hydrogen Works declined to answer questions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Amid public opposition, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry in October announced a\u00a0moratorium on new carbon capture projects. The order halted the state\u2019s review of new permits for projects that would inject carbon dioxide underground, while allowing existing applications to continue \u2014 including the blue ammonia projects already underway.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In touting the CF<\/span> Industries proposal last April, Landry noted that the company has been operating in the state for more than 50<\/span>\u00a0years. \u200b\u201c<\/span>We don\u2019t get to grow food in this country without the hard work of CF<\/span> Industries and its employees,\u201d he\u00a0said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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President Donald Trump and Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, shown on Trump\u2019s right, speak at the White House in March 2025, alongside Hyundai\u2019s executive chair Euisun Chung. Landry and Louisiana\u2019s economic development department have supported controversial blue ammonia plants proposed for the state. (Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n
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The oil and gas industry \u2014 which has strong ties to the ammonia and fertilizer industries \u2014 has for years been Landry\u2019s largest industrial sector donor. It has contributed more than $1<\/span>.1<\/span> million to his campaigns, according to data from FollowTheMoney.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Donaldsonville Mayor Leroy Sullivan has also spoken out in favor of the proposals by CF<\/span> Industries and Clean Hydrogen Works.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>The benefits outweigh the things they\u2019re saying,\u201d he told WBRZ<\/span> last\u00a0year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>These plants are safer. They\u2019re better for the economy than some of the other industries that may be in the\u00a0area.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Sullivan previously worked at CF<\/span> Industries for 26<\/span>\u00a0years. In 2000<\/span>, he was badly injured in an explosion at the Donaldsonville plant and spent more than a\u00a0month recovering in a\u00a0burn unit.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201c<\/span>It almost killed me,\u201d he said at a\u00a0public hearing last year on the Ascension Clean Energy proposal.<\/p>\n

Neither Sullivan nor Landry responded to Floodlight\u2019s requests for interviews.<\/p>\n

For her part, Gaignard feels let\u00a0down.<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>What hurts the most is we\u2019re watching the leaders that we elected \u2026 support these companies instead of supporting the community,\u201d she\u00a0said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A lower-carbon alternative\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

There are cleaner ways to make ammonia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Instead of extracting hydrogen from natural gas and then trying to capture the CO<\/span>2<\/span><\/sub>, producers can use renewable electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. That \u200b\u201c<\/span>green hydrogen\u201d can then be combined with nitrogen to make what\u2019s known as \u200b\u201c<\/span>green ammonia.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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At least one large-scale green ammonia plant is already operating. In Chifeng, China, a\u00a0facility powered by wind turbines and solar panels began industrial-scale production in 2025<\/span>. By 2028<\/span>, the plant is expected to produce 1<\/span>.5<\/span> million tons of green ammonia annually.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In the U.S., developers have proposed green ammonia plants in Texas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Washington.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201c<\/span>Instead of making this big labyrinth of pipes and equipment and sending CO<\/span>2<\/span><\/sub> everywhere and using more energy, you can simply produce that hydrogen with electricity from solar and wind,\u201d said Jacobson, the Stanford professor.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In the debate over blue ammonia, the stakes are\u00a0high.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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For ammonia producers, the projects promise billions in federal tax credits and a\u00a0foothold in emerging energy markets. They also offer oil and gas companies a\u00a0way to delay the phaseout of fossil fuels, critics say.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201c<\/span>It\u2019s a\u00a0great way to lock in oil and gas infrastructure \u2026 Something that we should be getting away from, as opposed to locking in for years and years to come,\u201d said Alexandra Shaykevich, a\u00a0research manager at the Environmental Integrity Project who tracks oil and gas projects.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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For residents along Louisiana\u2019s Cancer Alley, the stakes are more immediate. They\u2019re being asked to live with new plants, new pipelines, and new risks in places that have already absorbed decades of pollution.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But Gaignard plans to keep fighting for her community.<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>I don\u2019t look at this as red and blue and the left and the right,\u201d she said. \u200b\u201c<\/span>We need to start looking at humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ascension Parish, where three of the proposed blue ammonia plants would be built, hosts more than two dozen industrial facilities and already has the second highest amount of air emissions in the country, according to EPA\u00a0data. So the prospect of new ammonia plants in Ascension Parish worries Twila Collins. She has lived her entire 55-year […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3110,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-green-tech"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3109"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3111,"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3109\/revisions\/3111"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}