After the largest environmental catastrophe since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, a New Orleans environmental organization has stepped up to prepare workers for the hazards of oil spill clean-up.

The organization, the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, is a community partnership with Dillard University that aims to train workers for what it calls the “Mississippi River Chemical Corridor,” the 85 mile-stretch of the river between New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

“We are fighting for our culture,” said Mary Williams, program manager of community outreach. “We’re fighting for our seafood industry.”

The center runs a training program devoted to oil spill clean-up along the coastlines in Alabama, Mississippi, Florida and Louisiana, according to assistant director Myra Lewis. Seventy-five students have graduated from the program, which includes hazmat training, a 40-hour certification program for hazardous waste workers.

The training can help focus young people on something important and inspiring, said Tracy Johnson, supervisor of hazmat, asbestos and mold remediation.

Johnson said he arrived at the center during a time of tragedy. His mother planned to attend the school herself, and wanted him to attend the program, as well. She died three months before the start of the program.

“I actually quit a job to come to the school,” he said. “I wanted my mom’s last wishes. That’s all.”

The program is housed at 3334 Annette St., Gentilly, a few blocks from Dillard, in a brown-brick cottage with only three rooms. There is a striped couch in the living room, sparse furnishings in the others, and glass doors that lead to the deck and backyard. The intimate setting fosters community among the small staff of eight.

The center focuses research, public attention and remediation work on environmental issues that disproportionately affect minority and poor communities.

Since 1987, locals have referred to a two-block stretch that originates from Jacobs Drive, as “cancer alley,” said Williams. That year there were 22 cancer victims living in the area, where industrial accidents and releases of chemicals were common occurrences.

A study by the Center for Health, Environment and Justice has documented the release of polyvinyl chloride from manufacturing sites since the 1970’s. “Environmental Justice and the PVC Chemical Industry,” a *factsheet released in 2009, states the plants release cancer-causing dioxins, and are disproportionately located in low-income and minority communities.

Williams said the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice is currently fighting what they call “risky technology,” the building of a trash incinerator in a majority African-American neighborhood. The recycling incinerator would create natural gases, to be used for power, but the burning of waste would release harmful toxins.

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