The story of how a mixed-income minority community in Louisiana's
Chemical Corridor fought Shell Oil and won. For years, the
residents of Diamond, Louisiana, lived with an inescapable acrid,
metallic smell-the "toxic bouquet" of pollution-and a mysterious
chemical fog that seeped into their houses. They looked out on the
massive Norco Industrial Complex: a maze of pipelines, stacks
topped by flares burning off excess gas, and huge oil tankers
moving up the Mississippi. They experienced headaches, stinging
eyes, allergies, asthma, and other respiratory problems, skin
disorders, and cancers that they were convinced were caused by
their proximity to heavy industry. Periodic industrial explosions
damaged their houses and killed some of their neighbors. Their
small, African-American, mixed-income neighborhood was sandwiched
between two giant Shell Oil plants in Louisiana's notorious
Chemical Corridor. When the residents of Diamond demanded that
Shell relocate them, their chances of success seemed slim: a
community with little political clout was taking on the
second-largest oil company in the world. And yet, after effective
grassroots organizing, unremitting fenceline protests, seemingly
endless negotiations with Shell officials, and intense media
coverage, the people of Diamond finally got what they wanted: money
from Shell to help them relocate out of harm's way. In this book,
Steve Lerner tells their story. Around the United States, struggles
for environmental justice such as the one in Diamond are the new
front lines of both the civil rights and the environmental
movements, and Diamond is in many ways a classic
environmental-justice story: a minority neighborhood, faced with a
polluting industry in its midst, fights back. But Diamond is also
the history of a black community that goes back to the days of
slavery. In 1811, Diamond (then the Trepagnier Plantation) was the
center of the largest slave rebellion in United States history.
Descendants of these slaves were among the participants in the
modern-day Diamond relocation campaign. Steve Lerner talks to the
people of Diamond, and lets them tell their story in their own
words. He talks also to the residents of a nearby white
neighborhood-many of whom work for Shell and have fewer complaints
about the plants-and to environmental activists and Shell
officials. His account of Diamond's 30-year ordeal puts a human
face on the struggle for environmental justice in the United
States.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!