BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — A neighborhood in a Louisiana region called ‘cancer alley’, is fighting for safer air for its children while the U.S. Justice Department pushes for Denka Performance Elastomer LLC to reduce dangerous emissions.

NBC investigated why children are still being sent to a school in Cancer Alley that has toxic levels of a carcinogen in the air.

In a segment that aired this week, Cynthia McFadden, spoke with a child who attends Fifth Ward Elementary in Reserve, Louisiana, along with community activists Mary Hampton and Robert Taylor about their attempts to get the kids moved to another campus, away from the plant.

Environmental scientist Wilma Subra told McFadden that she regularly records unsafe levels of chloroprene near the school

In February, the U.S. sued Denka, noting that chloroprene often exceeds dangerous levels and poses an increased risk of cancer to communities near the plant. According to an Associated Press story, children are more likely to be affected than adults.

The neighborhoods near many plants in the South Louisiana chemical processing corridor are commonly called Cancer Alley. The EPA has noted several places in the region where cancer rates and risks are high above average.