Major Environmental Wins in Louisiana Have Faith Leaders to Thank
Why you can trust us
On All Saints鈥� Day, Nov. 1, religious leaders from multiple denominations gathered in a sugar cane field in St. James Parish where evidence suggests enslaved African Americans were buried. In 2018, archaeological consultants for Formosa, a company that , discovered unmarked gravesites.
Bishop Michael Duca of the Diocese of Baton Rouge said he attended the ceremony to bless the graves鈥攁s is tradition the day after All Saints鈥欌�攁nd to make residents who have protested the proposed plant feel heard. 鈥淐aring for the Earth is about caring for our brothers and sisters in Christ,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e not just building on so many acres of sugar cane. This is their home.鈥�
Duca was among the clergy invited to the ceremony by Sharon Lavigne, a St. James Parish resident who created the grassroots organization Rise St. James to stop Formosa from building near her house. Lavigne said it was important for religious leaders to see what is happening in her community. 鈥淚鈥檓 hoping that they can pray with us and help us to solve this problem,鈥� Lavigne said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what I asked them to do when we were at the gravesite. I asked them to join forces with us.鈥�
Clergy members have played strategic roles in bringing conviction and community to environmental justice causes in the 1980s, informing people about the disproportionate effects pollution has on communities of color and rural areas. This year in Louisiana, places of worship have served as physical and theoretical places for people of diverse backgrounds to meet and strategize to achieve two recent environmental victories.
On Friday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the proposed plastics plant while the Corps reevaluates certain aspects of the permit. Residents and environmentalists challenged the Clean Water Act permit on several counts, including the Corps鈥� failure to protect the burial sites. While the origins of the gravesites have not been verified, archaeologists found evidence that they may be the graves of enslaved African Americans who labored on the Buena Vista Plantation, built in the mid-1800s. Formosa has said it will work with Louisiana to .
鈥淸Formosa] is disappointed with the Corps鈥� decision to temporarily suspend the permit during its reevaluation,鈥� said Janile Parks, the company鈥檚 spokesperson. 鈥淸Formosa] expects and sincerely hopes the Corps will handle this matter in an objective, impartial, and expeditious manner so the permit analysis will be even stronger once the reevaluation of the analysis is complete.鈥�
Major construction for the plastic plant was put on hold until February 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The permit suspension means the company cannot clear, grade, or excavate near the Mississippi River levee until the Corps has made its decision to reinstate, revoke, or modify Formosa鈥檚 permit. the Corps said it is reevaluating the company鈥檚 consideration of other locations to build the plant, and previously eliminated five alternate sites in Ascension Parish based on false information.
Pastor Harry Joseph, of the Mount Triumph Baptist Church in St. James Parish, attended parish council meetings to question the permits after one of his parishioners was diagnosed with cancer. 鈥淢y people were suffering from this,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o, I needed to get more involved.鈥�
Joseph is a member of Rise St. James, a faith-based organization that advocates for racial, social, and environmental justice. He said that the Corps鈥� decision to suspend Formosa鈥檚 permit was the group鈥檚 biggest victory so far. 鈥淗opefully that will stop Formosa from wanting to build here,鈥� he said. He plans to continue to fight for the health of his community. A found that the facility would double the level of cancer-causing air pollutants in the area. 鈥淎s leaders, if we can鈥檛 walk out and get in good trouble we got the wrong calling,鈥� he said.
Churches鈥攑articularly Black churches鈥攈ave played a role in the environmental justice movement since its inception, said Robert Bullard, a Texas Southern University professor who is often called the 鈥渇ather of environmental justice.鈥�
鈥淚鈥檝e been doing this for 40-plus years and I鈥檝e seen people who are sustained by their faith,鈥� he said.
Faith leaders help make the connection for parishioners between good stewardship of the Earth and spirituality, he said. Pastors build community and create a meeting space. 鈥淭he pastor is the shepherd of the flock and that person is the watchful person who is keeping a good eye out for any dangers,鈥� Bullard said.
Environmental racism affects public health, housing, and food security, said Rev. Emily Carroll, of Shady Grove United Methodist Church in Mansfield. Working toward environmental justice, or the equitable distribution of environmental benefits and burdens, is a way to empower people, she said. Environmentalism has been a part of Carroll鈥檚 ministry since she studied in seminary.
She spoke out against an that would have amounted to a massive tax break for manufacturers, allowing companies to negotiate lower tax bills with local governments. Carroll said she was concerned it would take much-needed resources from her community. 鈥淲e should be pushing and preaching what we should do to make life better for our parishioners,鈥� she said.
, an interfaith network of more than 250 religious and community groups, was instrumental in defeating Amendment 5. Over the past four years, the group has emerged as a vocal critic of Louisiana鈥檚 Industrial Tax Exemption Program鈥攁 state program that offers tax breaks and exemptions for manufacturing facilities鈥攄eeming it 鈥渃orporate welfare.鈥�
The coalition鈥檚 strategy hinged upon robust public education campaigns. Shawn Anglim, pastor of First Grace United Methodist Church in New Orleans and longtime member of Together Louisiana, said the group informed local municipalities and residents about the massive tax breaks for industry at the expense of communities. According to a , many coastal, industry-heavy parishes lost millions of dollars in tax revenue because of the exemption; for instance, Cameron Parish lost $618 million that year.
鈥淲e educated, basically, going from city councils, to sheriffs, to school boards to teachers unions, helping them understand that their money has been given away for decades,鈥� Anglim said.
When state legislators approved Amendment 5 in June, Together Louisiana organizers saw yet another chapter in a long story of industry lobbyists and sympathetic lawmakers trying to cheat communities out of local tax dollars. 鈥淚t enables the people who are doing the polluting to get a tax break,鈥� said , once the commander of Joint Task Force Katrina and now an environmental advocate involved with Together Louisiana. The group worried the amendment would cut funding for public schools and shift the tax burden onto residents.
They mobilized quickly. Together Louisiana already had a system in place to boost voter turnout this election cycle: A statewide network of block captains periodically checked in with neighbors to make sure all had a voting plan. Block captains began informing voters about what the confusing language of Amendment 5 actually meant鈥攁nd what the stakes were for their communities.
Carroll, who served as a block captain, said the language was purposefully confusing. 鈥淭hat amendment was like three lines with no commas, semicolons. It was a huge, long sentence,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 feel like it was convoluted intentionally.鈥�
Together Louisiana hosted Zoom meetings every Thursday in October to convey the costs and consequences of the amendment, which hundreds of people attended. Other groups took up the mantle, too: encouraged Louisiana voters to vote no, as did , which held a march last month.
Rev. Jay Angerer of All Saints鈥� Episcopal Church in River Ridge was looking for ways to fight for environmental justice and first plugged into the Amendment 5 campaign through a virtual meeting. 鈥淚 probably wouldn鈥檛 have been involved in Together Louisiana if it hadn鈥檛 been for the pandemic and Zoom,鈥� he said. Stunned at the prospect that companies could negotiate their taxes, he attended meetings and helped people practice their elevator pitches about the amendment, challenging them to speak to five, 15, or 50 people about it.
Angerer took his pitch to his congregation. Whenever they had a Bible study or adult education class, he spent a minute or two telling church members about the amendment. 鈥淭he Bible speaks frequently about issues of justice, in the Old Testament and the New Testament,鈥� Angerer said. 鈥淧eople who are in power, and the church, are tasked with the responsibility of making sure that the orphans, the widows, and the strangers of society, the outcasts, [and] the marginalized are protected.鈥�
These efforts paid off. By an overwhelming margin, every parish in the state鈥攅ven those that are typically GOP strongholds鈥攙oted it down. There was a between how legislators and their constituents voted: 114 state lawmakers voted in favor of putting the amendment on the ballot, with only 20 voting against (10 were absent for the initial vote). But all 144 districts rejected it in November.
Anglim, from First Grace, was buoyed by the success. 鈥淭his was overcome by a bunch of church people!鈥� he said. 鈥淭he number one comment from those precinct captains was 鈥榳hat鈥檚 next?鈥� These people had a very powerful experience. They helped people vote, they helped inform people, and they had a strategy for using their power for the common good. That worked.鈥�
Anglim and Honor茅 both said they expect state legislators to try to pass legislation similar to Amendment 5 in the coming year, and they will rally against it. Angerer, from All Saints鈥� Episcopal Church, is also inspired to keep up the work.
鈥淢y church is 11 feet from the Mississippi River,鈥� he said. North of River Ridge, Black and Brown communities live closest to petrochemical facilities on what was once plantation land. 鈥淲e are a couple miles south of Cancer Alley, and the water flows towards us. I鈥檇 have my head in the sand if I didn鈥檛 think that eventually our part of the river is going to also become part of Cancer Alley.鈥�
Borrowing from the book of Joshua, Angerer said, 鈥淪omeone needs to blow the horn, you know?鈥�
This story was supported by the Turner Center at Martin Methodist College.
This story originally appeared in and is republished here with permission.
|
Sara Sneath
is an environmental reporter based in New Orleans.
|
|
|
Carly Berlin
is Southerly鈥檚 Gulf Coast Correspondent.
|
Inspiration in Your Inbox
Sign up to receive email updates from 猫咪社区!
