EU: US campaigners from 'Cancer Alley' call on MEPs to push back on any revived proposal to weaken CSDDD's scope, climate protections & access to justice
"Message to MEPs from US 'Cancer Alley' - don't give in on CSDDD", 30 October 2025
My home state of Louisiana, known to most Europeans for its Mardi Gras carnival, blues, and beignets, is also a global epicentre for the fossil fuel and petrochemical industry.
Pollution from the industry explains the deadly nickname, 'Cancer Alley', an 85-mile stretch along the Mississippi river between New Orleans and Baton Rouge where communities live side by side with some 200 oil refineries and petrochemical operations.
Living in Cancer Alley means that I have a message for the European Parliament as it continues to debate the EU’s flagship corporate accountability law: do not give in to the fossil fuel industry...
As part of the EU-US trade deal, the EU also agreed to procure US fossil fuel and nuclear energy products worth $750bn [€645bn] through 2028 and to “work to provide additional flexibilities” in implementation of the EU’s carbon border tax. US officials and firms are now pushing the EU to roll back regulations that would require firms importing natural gas to the EU to limit methane emissions, a greenhouse gas and harmful pollutant.
Our experience in Cancer Alley shows why it is so important for the EU to preserve laws that require companies to tackle their pollution and climate impacts... The harms of pollution are disproportionately borne by Cancer Alley’s Black residents, many of whom are descendants of the enslaved people that worked on the plantations that preceded the fossil fuel industry...
EU parliamentarians are now trying to negotiate a compromise that would satisfy the call to simplify EU regulation while preserving key elements of the law. As these negotiations move forward, EU parliamentarians should push back against any revived proposal to reduce the scope of the EU’s corporate accountability law, weaken its climate protections, or limit access to justice for victims of corporate abuses. EU institutions should also preserve other key elements of European climate policy, including limits on methane emissions...