The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against the Louisiana-based chemical maker, Denka Performance Elastomer LLC. The lawsuit accuses the company of posing an unacceptable cancer risk to the surrounding community which is mainly composed of Black residents. The DOJ’s legal action allegations are brought forward under section 303 of the Clean Air Act which enables the government to seek “injunctive relief to abate imminent and substantial endangerment to public health, welfare, or the environment caused by emissions of air pollutants.”

DuPont Specialty Products USA LLC, the owner of the land on which the Denka facility sits, is also named in the lawsuit. Federal officials accused DuPont of being a necessary party in order to make sure that the concerns brought up in the lawsuit are remedied accordingly.

Denka, a Japanese company, opened operations and the Louisiana plant in 2015 after it bought the previous company. Denka’s facility produces synthetic rubber and in the process emits the carcinogen chloroprene along with other chemicals that pose an increased cancer risk when released in high concentrations. This synthetic rubber — neoprene — is used in wetsuits, orthopedic braces, automotive belts, and other common household and industrial products.

According to federal officials, Denka’s emissions have led to unsafe concentrations of carcinogenic chloroprene near the homes and schools in St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana. In its press release, the DOJ shares that its “environmental justice efforts require ensuring that every community, no matter its demographics, can breathe clean air and drink clean water.” The DOJ explains that its legal action is committed to stopping the company’s “dangerous pollution.”

The lawsuit highlights that because of the elevated chemical emissions and the nearby elementary school that's roughly half a mile away from the plant, children are especially vulnerable to the increased cancer risk. In a 2010 EPA peer-reviewed study of chloroprene, researchers concluded that the chemical poses a heightened risk to children. The EPA acknowledges that children are subjected to a lifetime cancer risk from breathing in the chemical at a much faster rate than adults. Officials shared that roughly 20% of the population living within a two-and-a-half-mile radius of the plant were children, with an estimated 800 to 1,000 children being under the age of five.

EPA Administrator Michael Regan accuses the company of not moving far enough away from the surrounding community and violating federal regulations in the process. According to the lawsuit, air monitoring of the area showed consistent findings of long-term chloroprene concentrations in and around the chemical plant. The recorded levels were 15 times the recommended level for a 70-year exposure.

In 2021 Regan visited the community during a five-day trip that highlighted how minority communities have disproportionately been impacted by industrial air pollution. A Toxics Release Inventory prepared by the EPA showed that over 56% of community members living near industrial plants were subjected to air pollution.

Mary Hampton, president of Concerned Citizens of St. John the Baptist Parish, supports the lawsuit, calling it a move in the right direction and one that's been “a long time coming.”

Robert Taylor, founder of the group, shared that the lawsuit would have “a tremendous impact on our struggle here.” He added, “Over the six years we have been fighting this fight we haven’t had anything as great as this to happen in terms of getting concrete action on emissions.”

While Denka has not issued a response to the lawsuit, a spokesman for the company has shared that advocates for the health of the community are describing a crisis that “simply does not exist.”

The lawsuit is the latest attempt to curb air pollution throughout Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley.” A similar lawsuit was filed against the Pontchartrain Works facility in Reserve, Louisiana, accusing the company of violating the Clean Air Act as well.