HJBR Jan/Feb 2020

AIR POLLUTION 36 JAN / FEB 2020 I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE   Now, here’s what the area’s cumulative air toxicity level looks like if we consider all of Entergy’s proposed pollutants together, plus all the pollutants that already exist because of other plants in the area. “All these cumulative risk things … I mean that’s more theory than reality,” said John- ston, when asked why the DEQ does not model toxic emissions information in the aggregate. He pointed to state data tracking incidence of cancer by census tract. “The rates of cancer [in the industrial corridor] are simply not statistically significantly higher.” No scientific studies have proved a link between toxic air pollution and cancer. But the state data doesn’t rule out such an asso- ciation either. n Illustration 14 “All these cumulative risk things … I mean that’s more theory than reality. The rates of cancer [in the industrial corridor] are simply not statistically significantly higher.” —Bryan Johnston Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality