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Since 2023, the Claiborne Avenue Alliance Design Studio in New Orleans has monitored air around the community gathering space under the I-10 expressway that rises above North Claiborne Avenue. As an EPA grantee, the Studio also agreed to publish that data and share it with community members. Because of a new Louisiana law, that sharing has stopped. (Photo of Antoinette “Nettie” Rickmon McCloud’s funeral procession in March 2025, taken by Katy Reckdahl / The Lens)

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Last year, Louisiana legislators passed a “million-dollar muzzle,” which barred the use of community-gathered air-quality data to advocate for pollution control and enforcement, with fines as high as $1 million per violation.

The post Louisiana’s ban on community air monitoring is an attack on science and free speech appeared first on The Lens.