Ida’s Aftermath Raises Environmental Fears in ‘Cancer Alley’ (1)

Hurricane Ida carved a path across Louisiana that cuts through a region packed with hazardous-chemical plants, raising risks of an environmental disaster along an industrial strip infamously nicknamed “Cancer Alley.”

About two thirds of Louisiana’s industrial sites with toxic chemicals were in Ida’s path, with the storm predicted to charge through 590 sites that produce or store those hazardous materials, according to an analysis of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Toxics Release Inventory by the Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate.

“These kinds of toxic industries in the path of these storms are what we call accidents waiting to happen,” John Rumpler, ...