Majority Black Louisiana elementary school to shut down amid lawsuits over toxic air exposure

Associated Press/Report for America

RESERVE, La. (AP) — A southeast Louisiana school board voted to shut down a predominantly Black elementary school next to a petrochemical facility embroiled in multiple lawsuits over its high levels of toxic emissions. Denka Performance Elastomer LLC produces a synthetic rubber used for wetsuits and laptop sleeves and has exposed the surrounding community to dangerous levels of the likely carcinogen chloroprene, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. In June, the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund filed a motion in federal court demanding the St. John the Baptist Parish School Board immediately close 5th Ward Elementary School which is located within a quarter-mile of Denka’s facility.