"Erasing Mossville: How Pollution Killed a Louisiana Town"

A little Louisiana town named Mossville, founded in the 1790s, was one of the first communities of free African-Americans in the South. Today it is surrounded by petrochemical plants. Its residents are often sick -- many say it is because of toxic emissions from the plants. They have gotten little or no help from the government. Now the company that owns the nearby plant wants to buy up all of the houses, which would consign Mossville to oblivion.

"Allen LeBlanc Led a Vigorous Life as a young man growing up in Mossville, Louisiana. He had a sheet-rocking business, drove trucks, and worked at the Conoco oil refinery. He helped his mother and stepfather run their nightclub, where Tina Turner and James Brown used to play. He also helped out at home with his five children, and he would paint, fix broken windows, and mow lawns for neighbors who couldn’t afford to maintain their houses. Now, at 71, LeBlanc is on disability, and for most of the last decade he has refused to leave his house. Seizures, liver problems, a stroke, tremors, insomnia, fatigue, and depression plague him. He can no longer drive, and he can’t walk from his front door to the sidewalk without collapsing.

LeBlanc attributes his debilitation not to heredity or unhealthy habits but to the toxic emissions from industrial plants that have proliferated in the neighboring town of Westlake. Just beyond the curtain of pines and cypress trees surrounding Mossville sits an oil refinery, several petrochemical plants, and one of the country’s largest concentrations of manufacturers of vinyl chloride, a main ingredient in polyvinyl chloride, the plastic known as PVC. As a matter of course — and most often within permitted levels — these facilities emit millions of pounds of toxins into the air, water, and soil each year. 'Living here has messed me up,' LeBlanc said. Although his appearance was disheveled, he spoke clearly and coherently, upright in his chair. 'If I could have another life, I’d take it. This one ain’t worth 10 cents to me,' he said in his thick Louisiana drawl. 'I’d like to do things for myself again — I’d give everything I’ve got for that.'  "

Heather Rogers reports for The Intercept November 4, 2015.