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Reel Talk: Chemical Fire at Marathon Refinery

  • 1731 Baronne Street New Orleans, LA 70113 (map)

When a leaking petrochemical tank at Marathon Petroleum’s refinery in Louisiana’s Cancer Alley caught fire on August 25, 2023, a thick plume of toxic smoke spread for days and miles over neighbouring communities. Authorities claimed that nearby residents were unaffected, but as reports of severe health impacts emerged, some of those residents asked Forensic Architecture (FA) to investigate. This film shares the findings of FA's year-long collaboration with the Guardian.

Join us this Saturday, September 28 at the Ashé Powerhouse Theater for Reel Talk: Chemical Fire at Marathon Refinery, as part of our #LosingLouisiana series.

Stay for the talk back featuring: Imani Jacqueline Brown (Forensic Architecture), May Hampton (Boundless Community Action), Joy Banner (The Descendants Project), and Oliver Laughland (The Guardian).

About:

Marathon Petroleum Corporation’s facility in Garyville, Louisiana, is one of the largest refineries in the western hemisphere. On 24 August 2023, a tank containing naphtha––a volatile hydrocarbon chemical mixture––began leaking and later ignited, resulting in the second largest chemical spill in thirty years, according to the EPA. For two days, a chemical fire at the facility waxed and waned, and a thick, black chemical plume stretched across the sky. Even as residents suffered severe health impacts, including several hospitalisations, state and corporate officials consistently claimed that there were no impacts beyond Marathon’s property line.

Suspecting a cover-up, residents asked Forensic Architecture (FA) to investigate. This film shares the findings of our year-long collaboration with the Guardian, presenting a fluid dynamics simulation of the chemical plume and unheard testimonies from residents of fenceline communities in St. John the Baptist Parish, situated with a 3D model of the site. FA will also premiere a narrative platform designed to track and compare evidence of the incident’s development, accounts from residents, and the state’s response over time.

The Marathon Garyville Refinery is located at the heart of Cancer Alley, where over two hundred of the nation’s most polluting petrochemical facilities occupy the fallow footprints of formerly slave-powered sugarcane plantations. The latest incident at the Marathon facility can be understood not as an isolated incident, but rather as an acute eruption of a chronic condition of environmental racism that has plagued the region for three hundred years.

In 2021, FA was commissioned by Rise St. James and the Descendants Project to investigate the construction of industrial facilities atop unmarked Black cemeteries throughout the River Parishes. This investigation into the 2023 Marathon fire continues FA’s commitment to supporting the multigenerational struggle of Cancer Alley’s fenceline communities.

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Building Community Power: Economic Justice

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