We can ban single use plastics, especially since recycling is not available.
https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p07l0ftg/what-happened-after-this-nation-banned-plastic-
Thursday, December 19, 2019
Monday, November 18, 2019
Formosa plastics
"If [Formosa Plastics] emits all the chemicals it proposes in its permit application, it would rank in the top 1% nationwide of major plants in America in terms of the concentrations of cancer-causing chemicals in its vicinity." We need to stop the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality from approving Formosa's permit applications. We cannot allow such extreme environmental racism to happen in our state; we have to #StopFormosa and stop the genocide. Sign the petition at
Saturday, November 16, 2019
benzene standard needs to change
Louisiana’s benzene standard is more than twice as lenient as the Texas
standard, which is over 30 times looser than that of Massachusetts. (States
enforce their standards in different ways.)
Lylla Younes Oct 30 2019 Why Louisiana's Air Quality is going from bad to worse in 3 Charts
https://www.propublica.org/article/why-louisianas-air-quality-is-going-from-bad-to-worse-in-3-charts
Read the full investigation here:
https://www.propublica.org/article/welcome-to-cancer-alley-where-toxic-air-is-about-to-get-worse
This article was produced in partnership with The Times-Picayune and The Advocate, which is a member of the ProPublica Local Reporting Network
ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up for ProPublica’s Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox as soon as they are published.
Wednesday, November 6, 2019
Clean Water Act before U S Supreme Court
Washington, D.C. —
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Wednesday, Nov. 6, in County of Maui v. Hawaiʻi Wildlife Fund, a case that will decide whether the Clean Water Act regulates pollution discharges that “indirectly” enter protected waters, the outcome of which could imperil clean water across the nation. Oral arguments start at 10 AM EST.
The case concerns a Maui wastewater facility that discharges millions of gallons of treated sewage each day into the Pacific Ocean via the groundwater beneath the facility, which has devastated a formerly pristine reef. The County of Maui argues it does not need Clean Water Act permits for such an action because it is not discharging directly into waters protected by the Clean Water Act. However, the Clean Water Act does not require a “direct” injection of wastewater in waters of the U.S. Both the Hawaiʻi District Court and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the County’s argument and concluded that the County of Maui is violating the Clean Water Act.
Earthjustice represents four Maui groups — Hawaiʻi Wildlife Fund, Sierra Club-Maui Group, Surfrider Foundation, and West Maui Preservation Association.
Tuesday, September 10, 2019
Peter Arkle illustrations
Pacific Gas & Electric starts shutting off power to thousands of California customers as an ongoing fire safety precaution.
A heat wave bakes India. Temperatures in Rajasthan reach 123 degrees F, and the four reservoirs that supply Chennal (population 9.1 million) go dry.
Republican lawmakers in 18 states want to criminalize protests against fossil fuel infrastructure like pipelines.
illustrations by Peter Arkle, Sierra Magazine September/October 2019
A heat wave bakes India. Temperatures in Rajasthan reach 123 degrees F, and the four reservoirs that supply Chennal (population 9.1 million) go dry.
Republican lawmakers in 18 states want to criminalize protests against fossil fuel infrastructure like pipelines.
illustrations by Peter Arkle, Sierra Magazine September/October 2019
Saturday, September 7, 2019
Wanhua Drops Application for Land Use in St James
Wanhua drops application for land use in St James but is still looking for a U S based location, possibly still in St James Parish because they appreciate the relationship with the St James Parish leadership (William Day of Wanhua Chemical U S Operations)
Wanhua looking at alternative site
David beat Goliath. A victory for health and the environment. Louisiana Bucket Brigade . .
Sunday, September 1, 2019
Methane is Money
Unfortunately, the total cost of our nation's dependence on fossil fuels and the public health costs, quality of life affects are still not fully accounted for.
Former Shell Oil President John Hofmeister interview on N P R All Things Considered about environmental regulation roll backs https://www.npr.org/2019/08/29/755555482/former-shell-oil-president-john-hofmeister-weighs-in-on-rollback-of-emissions-ru
""in the future, the ability to operate in the fossil fuel industry is going to demand an environmental performance where the public believes that you are protecting the land, the water and the air. So regulations that protect the water, the land and the air, which enable the industry to continue to do what it does, are essential for the industry to be successful down the road. That's changed in the last 20 years. And so it's necessary for the industry to recognize that this is the way it's going to be, and it is the way it should be."
"there are thousands of independent operators who produce oil and gas in the U.S., and they operate with much lower volumes of oil and gas. They might have one or two drilling rigs. They might have a half-a-dozen employees. So these are folks that watch where every nickel and dime is spent, and for them and their operating model, it becomes more expensive than they would like to pay for to have these regulations because they would rather just emit a certain amount of fugitive methane, give it up in the marketplace, but not have to pay the costs of engineering and putting in place a completely closed production system which captures the methane."
"It's not good for the public and the environment, and it's not good for the industry because it is really going on the cheap, and there is enough money in the industry to not have to go on the cheap. Consumers pay a good, healthy cost for the oil and gas that they consume, and that money has to pay for all the bills of the producing companies. And like any other industry, if people can't afford to be in the industry, they need to go do something else."
Former Shell Oil President John Hofmeister interview on N P R All Things Considered about environmental regulation roll backs https://www.npr.org/2019/08/29/755555482/former-shell-oil-president-john-hofmeister-weighs-in-on-rollback-of-emissions-ru
""in the future, the ability to operate in the fossil fuel industry is going to demand an environmental performance where the public believes that you are protecting the land, the water and the air. So regulations that protect the water, the land and the air, which enable the industry to continue to do what it does, are essential for the industry to be successful down the road. That's changed in the last 20 years. And so it's necessary for the industry to recognize that this is the way it's going to be, and it is the way it should be."
"there are thousands of independent operators who produce oil and gas in the U.S., and they operate with much lower volumes of oil and gas. They might have one or two drilling rigs. They might have a half-a-dozen employees. So these are folks that watch where every nickel and dime is spent, and for them and their operating model, it becomes more expensive than they would like to pay for to have these regulations because they would rather just emit a certain amount of fugitive methane, give it up in the marketplace, but not have to pay the costs of engineering and putting in place a completely closed production system which captures the methane."
"It's not good for the public and the environment, and it's not good for the industry because it is really going on the cheap, and there is enough money in the industry to not have to go on the cheap. Consumers pay a good, healthy cost for the oil and gas that they consume, and that money has to pay for all the bills of the producing companies. And like any other industry, if people can't afford to be in the industry, they need to go do something else."
Friday, July 26, 2019
Clean Air Act workshop
Save the date!
Learn how to protect your community!
July 31st Baton Rouge and August 1st Vacherie, LA.
Learn how to protect your community!
July 31st Baton Rouge and August 1st Vacherie, LA.
Saturday, July 20, 2019
Chinese Wanhua scamming Louisiana
How Louisiana is being scammed by the Chinese government.
According to a Town Hall meeting in St James Parish today
Chinese government controlled chemical plant company, Wanhua, is requesting exemption
from new U.S. tariffs on both the equipment to be manufactured to construct its proposed plant in St James Parish Louisiana and the imported chemical feed
stock to operate the plant.
Wanhua submitted 55 tariff exclusion requests for the $300,000,000 modular equipment they want to import from China, instead of manufacturing the equipment in the united States. The equipment tariff exclusion request has an estimated value of $60,000,000, and is still pending.
Wanhua also submitted a tariff exclusion request for the chemical feed stock to be imported from China; the U.S. Trade Representative rejected that request in May 2019.
Wanhua has also requested support from St. James Parish local officials on its application to make its St
James plant a foreign trade zone. A foreign trade zone designation would further exempt other assets from business inventory taxes.
Through an American consulting group, Louisiana's U S Senator Bill Cassidy has received a letter requesting his assistance on Wanhua's tariff exclusion requests. How will Bill respond?
Saturday, July 13, 2019
Flood "Authority" maintained canals
In yesterday's press conference, the Flood Authority East reported they were prepared for Tropical Storm Barry and had checked ALL the canals and took out debris. Below are photos of the 20 arpent rain drainage canal, which does not look storm ready.
National News is its own disaster
Lamar White, Jr
Bayou Brief
https://www.bayoubrief.com/2019/07/12/national-news-coverage-of-tropical-storm-barry-is-its-own-disaster/?Bayou Brief
""New Orleans, of course, did not flood in 2005 because it was hit by a hurricane. It flooded because the federal government’s levee protection system failed. The catastrophic flooding began after Katrina left.
Both CBS and CNN have emphasized the possibility of {Tropical Storm / Cat 1 Hurricane} Barry being a bigger rain event than Katrina. But rain didn’t cause the city to flood; levee failures did.
The reason the city received such a deluge {Wednesday prior to Barry} is a different story, but, apparently, it’s not polite to talk about climate science in a state dominated by Big Oil and the petrochemical industry. So, the official version remains what it always has been: This 301-year-old city was built in the wrong place. Pay no attention to the fact that this flooding occurred in parts of the city above sea-level.""
Lamar White, Jr
Bayou Brief
Bayou Brief
Friday, July 12, 2019
a convenient recalculation
Local news reports the National Guard and several 18 wheelers of sandbags are used to address a low spot in the river levee behind the PBF Energy refinery dba Chalmette refining.
https://www.nola.com/multimedia/photos/collection_e08ef030-a3f9-11e9-af2d-bf5dd2500186.html#2
Local newspaper's report exposes discrepancies in how the Army Corps of Engineers measures the height of levees compared to river levels, and highlight the Lower 9th Ward Industrial Canal levee as vulnerable.
https://www.nola.com/news/hurricane/article_f31f5436-a347-11e9-beaa-67f2b43123a7.html
Lydia Nicols of Bayou Brief provides a refreshing honest perspective of lessons learned from the river.
Lydia Nicols
Bayou Brief
https://www.bayoubrief.com/2019/07/11/listen-to-the-river-a-change-is-gonna-come/
""But one of the under-appreciated uniquenesses of New Orleans is that the city’s people are among those most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and the crude oil, natural gas, and petrochemical industries on which the city’s people depend by design are most culpable for climate change. And that’s before we even scratch the surface of the environmental injustices that have relegated Black and indigenous peoples, immigrants, and the working-poor to the most vulnerable areas of the most vulnerable region – on the lowest land, adjacent to poisonous plants, in neighborhoods with the least infrastructural support.""
https://www.nola.com/multimedia/photos/collection_e08ef030-a3f9-11e9-af2d-bf5dd2500186.html#2
Local newspaper's report exposes discrepancies in how the Army Corps of Engineers measures the height of levees compared to river levels, and highlight the Lower 9th Ward Industrial Canal levee as vulnerable.
https://www.nola.com/news/hurricane/article_f31f5436-a347-11e9-beaa-67f2b43123a7.html
Lydia Nicols of Bayou Brief provides a refreshing honest perspective of lessons learned from the river.
Lydia Nicols
Bayou Brief
https://www.bayoubrief.com/2019/07/11/listen-to-the-river-a-change-is-gonna-come/
""But one of the under-appreciated uniquenesses of New Orleans is that the city’s people are among those most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and the crude oil, natural gas, and petrochemical industries on which the city’s people depend by design are most culpable for climate change. And that’s before we even scratch the surface of the environmental injustices that have relegated Black and indigenous peoples, immigrants, and the working-poor to the most vulnerable areas of the most vulnerable region – on the lowest land, adjacent to poisonous plants, in neighborhoods with the least infrastructural support.""
Lydia Nicols
Bayou Brief
Tuesday, July 9, 2019
Polluting Louisiana to make disposable plastics
"Polluting Louisiana's air to make disposable plastics we don’t need is a terrible idea.”
"Remember the mantra "Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle"? There's a reason recycling is third in that list—reducing and reusing are far more important. You don't have to recycle the plastic bag you don't use." Paul Rauber https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/2019-4-july-august/editor/youre-recycling-wrong
Louisiana to Hold Hearing on Massive Formosa Plastics Toxic Chemical Complex
ST. JAMES PARISH, La.— Louisiana [Department of Environmental Quality] will hold a public hearing on issuing 15 air permits for Taiwanese company Formosa Plastics. The massive proposed complex would be one of the largest and most toxic plastic production facilities in the world.
On Tuesday, July 9, at 6 p.m., the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality will hear public comments on the Formosa chemical complex, a proposed project that would create 14 new chemical plants in a largely African-American community. The hearing will be held at the Westbank Reception Area, 2455 Highway 18, Vacherie, Louisiana. A short press conference will be held at 5:30 p.m., prior to the hearing
On Tuesday, July 9, at 6 p.m., the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality will hear public comments on the Formosa chemical complex, a proposed project that would create 14 new chemical plants in a largely African-American community. The hearing will be held at the Westbank Reception Area, 2455 Highway 18, Vacherie, Louisiana. A short press conference will be held at 5:30 p.m., prior to the hearing
Formosa will be gifted $12 million in a cash grant from the state of Louisiana and another $1.5 billion in tax breaks for its new plastics complex through the controversial Industrial Tax Exemption Permit. But with plastic products being banned in Europe and municipalities across the U.S., the demand for Formosa’s output is likely to decline over time. Additionally, the value of neighboring homes that residents have invested in for generations will be wiped out, never to be recovered.
“Formosa’s project would emit 13 million tons of greenhouse gases per year, the same as three coal-fired power plants."
The Formosa complex would emit the second-highest amount of ethylene oxide and the second-highest amount of benzene of any plant in a state already full of large-scale industrial development. Both ethylene oxide and benzene are known human carcinogens and cause numerous other chronic health problems.
Public Hearing Tuesday July 9 2019
Comment Deadline 4:30pm Monday August 12 2019
All correspondence should specify AI Number 198351; Permit
Numbers: 3141-V0, 3142-V0, 3143-V0, 3144-V0, 3145-V0, 3146-V0, 3147-V0,
3148-V0, 3149-V0, 3150-V0, 3151-V0, 3152-V0, 3153-V0, 3154-V0, and PSD-LA-812;
and Activity Numbers PER20150001 through PER20150015
Comments and request for a public hearing or notification nof
the final decision can be submitted via personal delivery, U.S. mail, email, or
fax. Comments and requests for public hearing must be received by 4:30pm CST, Monday,
August 12, 2019
Delivery may be made to the drop-box at 602 N. 5th
St., Baton Rouge, LA 70802, U.S. Mail may be sent to LDEQ, Public Participation
Group, P. O. Box 4313, Baton Rouge, LA 70821-4314. Emails may be submitted to DEQ.PUBLICNOTICES@LA.GOV and faxes
sent to (225)219-3309. Persons wishing to receive notice of the final permit
action must include a complete mailing address when submitting comments.
Inquiries or request for additional information regarding this permit action
should be directed to Anthony Randall, LDEQ, Air Permits Division, P.O. Box
4313, Baton Rouge, LA 70821-4313, phone (225)219-3494
Sunday, July 7, 2019
Libraries and Civic Trust
Our Civic Trust
PBS The Open Mind July 2019
Interview with John S. Bracken, Director Digital Public
Library of America
How Libraries and Librarians are pivotal to trust and lack of
trust in our democracy
The voices and experiences of librarians build trust as the
library differentiates between fact and fiction; particularly important in the
current disruption of online information and the overload of this digital era.
Libraries and Librarians create “a safe place, welcoming to
anyone”; a public space for information and conversation, building literacy and
providing access to digital technology.
Support your local free standing library.
Future Site of St Bernard Parish Public Library, Meraux, Louisiana
Sunday, June 23, 2019
Free Standing Library
Future Site St Bernard Parish Free Standing Library
If you ever want to end democracy and destroy America, you begin by denying citizens the chance at accessing information and opportunities for education. A people who cannot learn will always be oppressed -- just look at everywhere from Soviet Russia to North Korea.
--NOLA_Fredo comments on Library
We've come along way thanks to our librarians, library board of control, and people who just love libraries.
https://concernedcitizensaroundmurphy.blogspot.com/2008/08/help-plan-library.html
https://concernedcitizensaroundmurphy.blogspot.com/2005/09/building-mitigation-meeting-on-library.html
Thursday, June 13, 2019
a community under seige
In St Bernard Parish, neighborhoods are adversely affected by "flawed, secretive" changes to the "master" land use plan; It seems at least two recent changes were agreed upon before public notice, at least one was announced by the administration before public notice. And the public notice is so tiny and vague its difficult if not impossible for residents to participate in the public process BEFORE decisions are made.
On a much larger, egregious scale, St James Parish also implemented "flawed, secretive land use plans" which did not include people. Literally. "A Plan Without People" " A Plan Without People"
http://labucketbrigade.org/sites/default/files/A%20Plan%20Without%20People%206.2019.pdf
Louisiana Bucket Brigade
https://twitter.com/labucketbrigade/status/1139230933985452039?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
On a much larger, egregious scale, St James Parish also implemented "flawed, secretive land use plans" which did not include people. Literally. "A Plan Without People" " A Plan Without People"
http://labucketbrigade.org/sites/default/files/A%20Plan%20Without%20People%206.2019.pdf
https://twitter.com/labucketbrigade/status/1139230933985452039?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
Radium - 226
New Orleans Gert Town neighborhood residents sue City of New Orleans over Radium - 226 in neighborhood. In 2013, the City of New Orleans was made aware of the radioactive material still lingering after removal and remediation project two decades ago.
"Most of the information the neighborhood has been provided has come from a flyer [recently] posted on doors in the area notifying them of the [removal] work and a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sheet of “frequently asked questions” about Radium-226, which the suit alleges is what contaminated the site."
"[C]ity crews and contractors in hazmat suits completed remediation work last week..] Residents were not relocated nor provided with the same protections.
Jeff Adelson
The Advocate Newspaper
https://www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/news/article_72d32c46-8d6a-11e9-b884-4f877f98ddbd.html
"They’re digging up something now, we don’t know what it is that’s going on," Lassair said. “All they did was put a letter on the door letting us know when they were going to come to do the work, instead of letting it be our choice whether we wanted to be in the environment while they was cleaning up.”
Tidwell said the origin of the radiation producing material is unknown. But, he said it has been properly contained since being identified and is being removed out of an abundance of caution.
Kimberly Curth
Fox 8 News
Tuesday, May 7, 2019
lying or lying by ommission
"What is the cost of lies?It's not that we'll mistake them for the truth. The real danger is that if we hear enough lies, then we no longer recognize the truth at all." --- scientist @ Chernobly
Lying by omission, also known as a continuing misrepresentation or quote mining, occurs when an important fact is left out in order to foster a misconception. Lying by omission includes the failure to correct pre-existing misconceptions. -- Wikipedia
Lying by omission, also known as a continuing misrepresentation or quote mining, occurs when an important fact is left out in order to foster a misconception. Lying by omission includes the failure to correct pre-existing misconceptions. -- Wikipedia
Monday, April 22, 2019
Clean Soil Act Needed
“Soil remains the only part of Earth where high levels of
municipal and industrial pollutants can be released on a global scale and goes
unmonitored.”
“Congress needs to pass a Clean Soil Act, and make polluters
responsible for destroying toxic organic chemicals and recovering metals and re
radioactive elements at the source.”
David Lewis, author of Science for Sale
Opinion in The Oconee Enterprise October 1, 2015
https://www.focusforhealth.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/2015_10_6-Clean-Soil-Act-by-David-Lewis.jpg
Saturday, April 20, 2019
look the gift horse in the eye and ask questions
Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary. ---- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Sunday, February 3, 2019
Industrial Tax Exemptions
UPDATE: The Council
meeting was well attended by members of the local fire department which still
struggles with its budget and at times has closed fire stations, sometimes on a
rotating basis. The local fire department seeks to receive a portion of the
Hotel Motel tax, and the council passed a resolution to begin legislation to put
that issue to a vote of the people. It would be interesting to learn if the St
Bernard Parish Fire Department supports granting or denying Industrial Tax
Exemptions (ITEPs), or if the Lake Borgne Basin Levee District might deny their portion of the exemption and finally maintain the rain drainage canals consistently and responsibly. The Port of St Bernard also has a property milleage which it can grant or deny an exemption for this industry. .
Original post:
Tuesday February 5 2019 St Bernard Parish Council public meeting on two Industrial Tax Exemption applications (ITEPs).
There is no available information at this time on the Council's agenda except the application number. There is no indication which industry is the applicant, what is the scope of the project, the amount of the tax exemption, the cost - benefit analysis; nothing. It will be interesting to learn how a local council can make such a decision without information; unless it is available to the council and not the general public, even upon request. Just another example of the lack of transparency, lack of equal access to all the information before the decisions are made. But its not surprising.
Notice of Public Meeting
Agenda Item 20
Agenda Item 21
Council Agenda
Last month, the local Baton Rouge, La school board voted against granting ExxonMobil two property tax breaks,"one for work at its Baton Rouge refinery and another at its polyolefins plant." "The company was seeking exemptions from school property taxes worth about $2.9 million over 10 years. The work in question was completed in 2017, and ExxonMobil had a difficult time explaining while it still need a tax break for them."
https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/education/article_09cb2d54-1a68-11e9-a672-7f6ee09f1f74.html
Also not surprisingly, Louisiana legislators seek to pass legislation which will take away the local decision making , even though these tax exemptions come out of the local budgets.
https://www.1012industryreport.com/politics/baton-rouge-area-legislators-drafting-bill-to-return-itep-to-state-control/
The Council’s two motions to deny the ITEPs applications on
the agenda were both passed.
The Council approved an “abuse addiction treatment facility”
in a school zone, in the heart of a neighborhood friendly business corridor. The school zone is for the community’s only
high school and students who live in this neighborhood walk to high school because
of the close proximity. It is unclear whether this treatment facility will
address the growing number of drug overdose deaths in our community or if it
will be a pill factory which increases the drug trafficking in a school zone.
There were other ordinances passed, most without discussion
or comment, and the agenda contains so little information it is impossible to
know what decisions were made.
Original post:
Tuesday February 5 2019 St Bernard Parish Council public meeting on two Industrial Tax Exemption applications (ITEPs).
There is no available information at this time on the Council's agenda except the application number. There is no indication which industry is the applicant, what is the scope of the project, the amount of the tax exemption, the cost - benefit analysis; nothing. It will be interesting to learn how a local council can make such a decision without information; unless it is available to the council and not the general public, even upon request. Just another example of the lack of transparency, lack of equal access to all the information before the decisions are made. But its not surprising.
Notice of Public Meeting
Agenda Item 20
Agenda Item 21
Council Agenda
Last month, the local Baton Rouge, La school board voted against granting ExxonMobil two property tax breaks,"one for work at its Baton Rouge refinery and another at its polyolefins plant." "The company was seeking exemptions from school property taxes worth about $2.9 million over 10 years. The work in question was completed in 2017, and ExxonMobil had a difficult time explaining while it still need a tax break for them."
https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/education/article_09cb2d54-1a68-11e9-a672-7f6ee09f1f74.html
Also not surprisingly, Louisiana legislators seek to pass legislation which will take away the local decision making , even though these tax exemptions come out of the local budgets.
https://www.1012industryreport.com/politics/baton-rouge-area-legislators-drafting-bill-to-return-itep-to-state-control/
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