Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
the policy regimes that have been built upon them.
It is crucial in this context to be open about the
inevitable human bias that surrounds scientific
research, but not to equate these biases with bad
science and the dishonest practices of special
interest sciences.
Diamond is not a place where most people
would choose to live . . . the four streets
of this subdivision are hard up against
fencelines of a Shell Chemical plant and the
huge Shell/Motiva oil refinery. Residents
have long breathed the fumes from these two
plants, suffered illnesses they attribute to
toxic exposures, and mourned neighbours
and friends killed by explosions at these
facilities.
3.4 CORRIDORS OF
UNCERTAINTY: 'FUGITIVE
EMISSIONS' AND THE
CASE OF LOUISIANA'S
CANCER ALLEY
This section considers the complex connections
that exist between science and atmospheric
pollution by reflecting on recent events in a
particular place. The place in question is the
community of Diamond in Louisiana's so-called
chemical corridor. As we will see, this geographical
community has, in many ways, been at the fore-
front of evolving relationships between science and
atmospheric pollution in the Anthropocene.
In many ways, Diamond reflects a significant
point of convergence for the varied forces that
have contributed to the transformation of the
atmosphere in the Anthropocene. At the one level,
in the production of various chemicals that are
derived from oil, Diamond experiences the local
release of a heady mix of air pollutants (including
VOCs and chemical smogs), which have become
synonymous with modern air pollution. At
another level, the refined oil, produced in and
around Diamond, supplies the cars and power
plants that emit troubling quantities of carbon
dioxide into the global atmosphere.
Shell's presence in the area of Diamond can
be traced back to 1916 when the New Orleans
Refining Company (where Norco gets its abbre-
viated name from) purchased 366 acres of cane
field in the area and established a petroleum
supply terminal there. The New Orleans Refining
Company was a subsidiary of the Shell Corpora-
tion, and it commenced the refining of oil on this
newly purchased site in 1920. In the 1950s Shell
purchased more land in this area so that it could
begin the construction of a new chemical plant.
The land that Shell purchased was, at the time,
occupied by the descendants of freed slaves, whose
families had lived in the area since the end of
American civil war (Lerner, 2005: 12). These
families rebuilt their homes on the site of what
would become the modern-day community of
Diamond. While these displaced communities
moved to the fence lines of Shell's petrochemical
plants in the hope of gaining employment, over
time they became the frontline recipients of a
3.4.1 Diamond: an anatomy of a
polluted place
Diamond is a small community, comprising of
only four streets, which is located in the small
town of Norco. Norco is on the northern banks
of the Mississippi River between New Orleans
(to the east) and Baton Rouge (to the northwest)
(se e Figure 3.3) . The region between New Orleans
and Baton Rouge is often referred to as a 'chemical
corridor' due to the high number of oil refineries
and chemical plants that are located around the
Mississippi River (and which are supplied by the
crude oil that arrives by tankers from the Gulf
of Mexico). Even in a region that is renowned
for environmental pollution, the community of
Diamond is located in an unfortunate place.
The small community of Diamond sits in close
proximity to a chemical plant and an oil refinery.
In his fascinating study of Diamond, Steve Lerner
(2005: 9) describes the situation in the following
terms:
 
 
 
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