An environmental justice organization in Wallace, Louisiana, says it won't back down in a fight for the health of its historic community.

The Descendants Project, which focuses on the cultural and historic preservation of enslaved Africans, has been successful in one lawsuit against St. John the Baptist Parish but is heading back to court. The dispute is over zoning ordinances that allow industrial giants to set up shop on the borders of residential areas.

Jo Banner, co-founder and co-director of The Descendants Project, said the battle is far from over.

"The land was reverted back to residential, but unfortunately, our parish administration and Parish Council went right back and switched, zoned the land back to heavy industry," Banner explained.

The land at the center of the conflict is known as the "Greenfield Property," where the company Greenfield Louisiana wants to build a large grain elevator and export terminal. Banner contends the area between New Orleans and Baton Rouge already has an overload of grain and petrochemical industries, and has been nicknamed "Cancer Alley."

Banner noted her organization has now filed another lawsuit against the parish to have the land zoning revert once again to residential. She stressed the tug-of-war shouldn't be happening.

"What's really sad is that residents like ourselves have to go through these measures in order to have safe zoning. If we did not have the support of our legal firms and our advocacy firms, we would not be able to continue the fight," she emphasized.

Banner pointed out residents of St. John the Baptist Parish have some of the highest cancer risk in the country; seven to eight times more than the average American.

"We have men who are getting breast cancer and having to get double mastectomies, children getting cancer at a young age, older people getting cancer when they should be past that point of getting cancer, and also rare forms of cancers," Banner added.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently recognized the community of Wallace as a National Register Historic District as part of the African American experience in Louisiana.

A judge will decide if the parish will be allowed to eliminate the 2,000-foot distance requirement from residential neighborhoods to allow the grain elevator and export terminal to be built.


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Atlantic menhaden weigh less than a pound and measure little more than a foot long but the small fish has big consequences for the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem.

A bill introduced in the Virginia General Assembly is looking to study the Atlantic menhaden population in the Chesapeake. There is little data on Atlantic menhaden populations in the Bay and fishing and conservation groups say that's the problem.

Jaclyn Higgins, forage fish program manager for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, said menhaden populations are not well-researched in the Bay, despite studies on the species along the entire Atlantic coast.

"There were a couple studies kind of done throughout the last 20 years but nothing super comprehensive and nothing that would allow us to say this is the amount of menhaden that we would consider healthy for the Chesapeake Bay," Higgins explained. "Really, we don't know anything about Chesapeake Bay menhaden."

The bill would provide $3 million for the study of menhaden populations in the Chesapeake. The research would look at if reduction fishing, which pulls millions of pounds of menhaden out of the Bay each year, is leading to local depletion.

But why is such a small fish so important to the Chesapeake Bay environment? Higgins pointed out Atlantic menhaden are a keystone species for the rest of the Chesapeake food chain.

"They make up the base of the marine food chain along the Atlantic, but in particular, in the Chesapeake Bay," Higgins emphasized. "They are a primary food source for striped bass. Striped bass are really reliant on menhaden as a food source in those juvenile and adult stages while they're in the bay."

A new report showed a growing problem of harmful pesticides in Connecticut waterways.

The University of Connecticut study analyzed 20 years of data, finding neonicotinoids are increasingly prevalent in the state's waterways. Levels of the pesticides in rivers are higher than Environmental Protection Agency standards.

Louise Washer, organizer for the environmental advocacy coalition Connecticut Pesticide Reform, said the pesticides harm river-dwelling mayflies.

"We see a quarter of the mayflies in the Norwalk River, for example, than were observed in 1989," Washer reported. "We see a third of the richness of mayfly species than were observed in 1989."

While many factors affect mayflies' population numbers, their sensitivity to neonics is a major factor in population decline. As comprehensive as the report is, Washer argued more testing is needed in certain places. Previous reports showed the chemicals have vast human health effects.

Connecticut lawmakers introduced bills banning neonicotinoids in previous legislative sessions. Despite widespread support, they never made it out of committee.

Neonicotinoids have been banned or heavily restricted in numerous areas for the harmful effects they have on wildlife. The pesticides are commonly used, which is one of the biggest hurdles to banning them. Connecticut golf courses are the heaviest users of neonicotinoids for grub control and farmers use seeds coated with them for pest control.

Washer pointed out there are some better ways to use pesticides.

"Integrated pest management is a term that means treating pests that are actually present and using the least toxic pesticide available to do that," Washer explained. "The problem with some of these prophylactic uses is that integrated pest management kind of gets thrown out the window because you're using the stuff whether there's a problem or not."

Products like Grub Gone are less toxic than neonics for lawn care. As for treated seeds, Washer pointed to another pesticide called diamides. Though it's less toxic to bees, it poses higher risks to butterflies and moths. The hope is more sustainable practices protect birds, pollinators and human health.


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Days before the end of his term, President Joe Biden announced sweeping protections for the nation's coastlines.

President Donald Trump has vowed to retract them.

Biden used the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to withdraw large portions of the areas from being leased for future oil and gas drilling. The protected areas include Maryland, as part of the entire Atlantic coast, plus the U.S. Pacific coast, eastern Gulf of Mexico and parts of the Northern Bering Sea near Alaska.

Robert Percival, director of the environmental law program at the University of Maryland, said Trump tried to repeal coastline protections in his first term and got some pushback.

"It would be difficult," Percival explained. "When Trump tried to roll back, during his first term, some areas that had been protected by previous presidents, a judge said that the Act did not clearly give the president the authority to roll them back. So, it's kind of an open legal question."

This week, on his first day in office, Trump announced he has rescinded Biden's protections for the Outer Continental Shelf. Percival predicted there will likely be legal challenges.

Percival added every president, including Trump, has used the law to protect some parts of the Outer Continental Shelf, noting it is difficult to bounce between protecting land and rescinding protections.

"Once you develop it, then it's not going to be pristine," Percival stressed. "That's one of the reasons why it's important to have durable environmental protections, so that you aren't constantly changing the character of the lands and creating new risk."

Oil production across the country is at a record high, and the Outer Continental Shelf currently accounts for nearly 15% of U.S. oil production. Energy companies have yet to start production on more than 80% of the 12 million acres already under lease, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior.


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