We Can't Wait

Rise St. James is a faith-based grassroots organization that is fighting for environmental justice as it works to defeat the proliferation of petrochemical industries in St James Parish, Louisiana. risestjames.org

Early this month, a Louisiana judge canceled Formosa Plastics' air permit in part because of the health risks related to its emissions of ethylene oxide, benzene and other carcinogens. “Stopping Formosa Plastics has been a fight for our lives, and today David has toppled Goliath,” said Sharon Lavigne, founder and president of RISE St. James. “The judge’s decision sends a message to polluters like Formosa that communities of color have a right to clean air, and we must not be sacrifice zones.”

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We Can't Wait

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxHDHQSJehY

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NEPA reform harmful to communities

 How in the world would you go home and explain it? 

"Even if your project doesn’t meet environmental reviews, even if it’s not fiscally responsible, even if it’s not going to meet any standard of economic development, you still might get it through" IF you can convince Congress to fast track permitting.

Congress seeks to attach reforms to NEPA in its annual budget vote this month.

The proposed NEPA reforms do not protect the environment, do not protect the affected communities, and do not increase domestic supply. The majority of the energy sector projects expecting full congressional favor from the proposed bill are for exports. 

This so called Energy Independence and Security Act makes oil and gas and other energy companies independent of existing regulations that currently require comprehensive environmental review. This handshake deal for pet projects in certain States would allow a fast tracking permit process for a West Virginia pipeline for EXPORTS. As utilities move beyond coal to natural gas, the Republicans in Congress were successful in lifting the ban on oil and gas exports. And as Rick Perry described in 2015, the way to teach Russia a lesson is to flood the European market with LNG. The growing profits in the international market spurred the rush for Mountain Valley to secure a permit for the West Virginia section of its pipeline. Without the permit, MV is not able to finalize contracts with international shippers (based on reporting by Bloomberg Law). More recently, Putin's War in Ukraine and Russian sanctions have caused global spikes in prices for natural gas. As the US exports more, prices rise State-side.

"The 91-page bill would set a two-year target for National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, reviews for major energy and natural resource projects that require a full environmental impact statement and reviews from more than one federal agency. The target would drop to one year for projects that require a less thorough environmental assessment, with the issuance of all other permits due within 180 days of finishing the NEPA process."  -- Molly Christian, Zack Hale, Maya Weber  S&P Global Manchin Releases Long Awaited Bill

This is not good for any of us to allow Congress to decide which projects can avoid full NEPA reviews, and which jurisdiction would hear motions to oppose and or appeals for a specific project. 

TARA HOUSKA: "It, to me, says you’ve got a project that has not passed environmental review. It’s a project that funders and investors are very concerned about. It’s a project that’s bad all the way around and just cannot get momentum and get it going. And here you see Congress just deciding, “Oh, you know what? We’re going to give it a pass,” and specifically this project, so, setting this precedent of, well, even if your project doesn’t meet environmental reviews, even if it’s not fiscally responsible, even if it’s not going to meet any standard of economic development, you still might get it through. That’s what this precedent is saying."  -- -From a recent interview with Democracy Now   .

Save Lake Maurepas

 

Concerns linger in the air as company moves forward to store CO2 under Lake Maurepas

By Katie Easte WBRZ - TV Baton Rouge

https://www.wbrz.com/news/concerns-linger-in-the-air-as-company-moves-forward-to-store-co2-under-lake-maurepas/

Air Products, an industrial gas supplier, seeks to conduct seismic surveys of Lake Maurepas in Livingston Parish before dredging and tearing up the lake's bottom in preparation for CO2 storage. Air Products intends to meet clean air act requirements for the criteria pollutant, CO2, by storing the gas in injection wells under Lake Maurepas, rather than releasing the Greenhouse Gas into the atmosphere. GHGs are compound gases that trap heat or longwave radiation in the atmosphere. Sunlight or shortwave radiation easily passes through these types of gases and the atmosphere, making the Earth's surface warmer. Earth is an amazing planet and will cool itself with more frequent and more intense weather events, such as heavy rains and typhoons and hurricanes. The planet will survive; it remains to be seen how various species of life on Earth will be able to adapt to the changing climate patterns from warming temperatures, including the human species. 

The Livingston Parish Council recently passed a moratorium banning injection wells from being installed under the lake. It remains unclear how this new technology for CO2 will affect the lake's ecosystem and the quality of life for residents.   

Air Products https://www.airproducts.com/campaigns/la-blue-hydrogen-project 

Air Products' Blue Energy LLC (Air Products) is proposed for construction and operation in Darrow, Louisiana. Its initial Title V Part 70 air operating permit application indicates the complex includes production facilities, pipelines, and "pore space for the permanent sequestration of carbon dioxide." Air Products lists on page 9 and recaps on page 20 of the application the proposed pollutants to be emitted, noting "the proposed Darrow Blue Energy facility emissions include no criteria pollutants greater than the Title V Part 70" thresholds that would classify the project as a Major Source. Therefore, under the Clean Air Act 40 CFR Part 70 Operating Permit Program, "the facility is classified as a minor source."

LDEQ does not typically public notice nor conduct public hearings to receive public comments for a minor source. Although public comments can always be sent to the state agency at

 DEQ.PUBLICNOTICES@la.gov 

REFERENCE AI 233211 PER20220001

The permit application is available in LDEQ's EDMS document 13210585 dated 3/21/2022

https://edms.deq.louisiana.gov/app/doc/view?doc=13210585

Based on reporting by Katie Easte at WBRZ - TV, the seismic survey's permits may be through the LDNR.

We need EPA to step in to clear the air

Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality has failed to meet EPA deadlines for State Implementation Plans (SIPs) to improve air quality, including the State's Regional Haze plan and the State's plan for sulfur dioxide. St Bernard Parish is designated nonattainment sulfur dioxide air quality and several residential areas of the community are in the very high percentiles for NATA Diesel particulate matter (PM2.5), according to EPA's EJScreen Tools. Residents are concerned about public health, lack of action by EPA, and the growing number of proposed economic development projects that will result in further air quality degradation. 

The Louisiana SIP for Regional Haze plan should address and restrict emissions of nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide, including emissions from "electric power plants, refineries, and chemical plants" to improve visibility in national parks and wilderness areas. Louisiana SIP for Regional Haze has been delayed since 2018 and the State missed a July 2021 deadline for an EPA approved SIP. According to environmental journalist Mark Schleifstein, pollution from Louisiana plants adversely affect air quality at two federal areas: The Breton National Wildlife Refuge [BNWR], including the Breton Sound and Chandeleur islands of St Bernard & Plaquemines Parishes, Louisiana, and the Caney Creek and Upper Buffalo wilderness areas in Arkansas. In August 2022 "Kemp's ridley sea turtle hatchlings were found on Chandeleur islands for first time in at least 75 years," and the closure of the MR-GO has contributed to improved conditions for the BNWR. 

Louisiana DEQ and EPA need to step up and do their part to be part of the solution.

The State SIP for sulfur dioxide in St Bernard Parish should address and restrict all sources of sulfur dioxide emissions to lower ambient air levels below the one-hour health limit of 75 parts per billion SO2. Louisiana & EPA have delayed a St Bernard Parish SIP for sulfur dioxide. Regulators continue to address an air operating permit at Rain CII Carbon Chalmette calcining. Efforts continue to focus on the challenges at Rain CII in meeting the public health standard. The challenges seem to vary as much as the plant's various operating scenarios and as noted in 2018 public comments: "On April 20 2018 the EPA published in the Federal Register [...] a notice to approve the February 2 2018 Rain AOC as a source specific SIP revision to make it permanent and federally enforceable. Rain considers this proposed rule to be extremely problematic since it simply cannot operate its facility subject to the AOC limits."  

Meanwhile, lung health is at risk. A recent study by the University of Massachusetts Political Economy Research ranks neighboring Chalmette Elementary School as low as the Third National Percentile for air quality, and nearby Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr Pre-4 - 12th Grade Charter School for Science and Technology in Orleans Parish Lower 9th Ward in the 10th National Percentile for air quality. 

Our children deserve better. Improvements to both State SIPs would greatly improve air quality, public health outcomes, and quality of life, especially for residents who reside on the other side of the fence from the polluting plants.

According to research reporting at ProPublica, Chalmette Louisiana residents in the neighborhoods near the PBF Energy Chalmette refinery and the Rain Carbon CII Chalmette calciner have "an estimated excess lifetime cancer risk from industrial sources of about 1 in 17,000."  "Over the five years ProPublica analyzed, the excess risk here has ranged from as low as 1 in 28,000 to as high as 1 in 12,000. In 2018, the risk was 1 in 12,000."

The Most Detailed Map of Cancer Causing Industrial Air Pollution in the U.S.  by Al Shaw and Lylla Younes, additional reporting by Ava Kofman  November 2 2021 Updated March 15 2022

https://projects.propublica.org/toxmap/