A federal appeals court has cleared the way for a significant environmental racism lawsuit against St. James Parish, Louisiana, allowing residents in the state’s infamous “Cancer Alley” to continue their fight against decades of industrial pollution. 

The Associated Press reported that on Thursday (April 10), the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a trio of faith-based community groups could move forward with their civil rights lawsuit accusing parish officials of racially discriminatory land-use policies that concentrated petrochemical plants in Black communities. 

Initially filed in March 2023, the lawsuit demands a moratorium on new or expanding petrochemical facilities in St. James Parish—where 20 of the area’s 24 industrial plants are located in two majority-Black districts. 

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The parish sits in the heart of Louisiana’s Chemical Corridor — an 85-mile stretch between Baton Rouge and New Orleans that environmental advocates often call “Cancer Alley” due to its high pollution levels and disproportionate cancer rates.

Last year, a lower court dismissed the lawsuit, saying the community groups waited too long to sue because many claims referenced a 2014 parish land-use plan. However, the appeals court reversed that decision after finding that the lawsuit was timely and “replete with allegations of discriminatory land use decisions,” with the 2014 plan being just one example.

The ruling also recognized the right of residents to sue over the parish’s industrial buildout encroaching on the cemeteries of their enslaved ancestors—a rare acknowledgment in environmental justice cases. 

The outlet noted that many petrochemical facilities in Louisiana sit on former plantation land, where Black burial sites have often been neglected or destroyed.