Right to access public documents

 Public participation is key to our democracy.

Residents have the human right to secure tenure, including equal access to all the information before decisions are made.

HB 438, passed in the recent State legislative session would require certain identification documents provided for electronic requests to view or copy public records. 

Gov JBE vetoed HB 438   noting the "bill purports to be a common sense policy -- to ensure that people who request public records are who they say they are.  However, in practice, it will result in something entirely different. This bill, if enacted into law, would very likely be used, at best, to delay responses to public records requests or, at worst, intimidate members of the public into withdrawing their requests. There is simply no good reason for this bill."

Given the number of public records requests which over the years have been ignored, delayed, denied, or manipulated, any effort to protect our rights is appreciated. 

 Gov JBE voted HB 438 along with 27 other bills from the State regular session 2021.

July 02, 2021

Gov. John Bel Edwards announced that he has now acted on all legislation from the 2021 Regular Session. He has signed 477 bills into law and has vetoed 28 bills. He also limited the unnecessary waste of taxpayer dollars by using his line item authority to veto certain items in the budget and capital outlay bills.

Environmental Justice Leader in St. James

Louisiana Catholic environmental justice activist wins Goldman Prize

From National Catholic Reporter: "'I had no intention of being an activist,' Sharon Lavigne, a Black Catholic from St. James Parish, Louisiana, said of her battle to keep plastics factories out of her neighborhood. But her race and her place of residence made her a fierce advocate for environmental justice. And God, she would add: 'It was him that put this fight in me.'"

Article by Claire Schaeffer-Duffy

Ozone air quality action day

Louisiana DEQ has declared An Action Day for the New Orleans Region for Wednesday, Jun 16
DEQ is forecasting an "Ozone Action Day" for Orleans, Jefferson, St. Charles, St. John, St. Tammany, St. Bernard, and Plaquemines Parishes. The weather conditions will be favorable for ground level ozone formation. Orange Level:  Unhealth for "Sensitive Groups" Sensitive Groups include: People who are active outdoors, the elderly and people with respiratory diseases, such as asthma or covid, should avoid prolonged outdoor activities and exertion, especially during the afternoon hours.
Today and Tomorrow's Forecast
Tuesday, Jun 15:	100 AQI	Moderate		Ozone
Wed, Jun 16:	101 AQI	Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups		Ozone

Tuesday through Thursday, a ridge of high pressure aloft will reduce atmospheric mixing and produce mostly sunny skies and warm temperatures throughout Louisiana, increasing the formation of ground-level ozone. In addition, light winds on Tuesday will limit dispersion, allowing pollutants to accumulate. These conditions will cause Air Quality Index (AQI) levels to be Moderate on all three days, with "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups AQI levels" expected in the Baton Rouge and New Orleans Regions on Wednesday.

DEQ is forecasting an "Ozone Action Day" for Orleans, Jefferson, St. Charles, St. John, St. Tammany, St. Bernard, and Plaquemines Parishes. The weather conditions will be favorable for ground level ozone formation.

The Air Quality Index indicates that ozone will be at the orange level, which is Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups. Increasing ozone levels may cause unhealthy air quality during afternoon hours. Active children and adults, the elderly and people with respiratory diseases, such as asthma, should avoid prolonged outdoor activities and exertion.

Area residents are encouraged to take one or more of the following voluntary actions to help reduce the formation of ozone:

• Drive less. Carpool, walk and bike, combine errands and care for your car. Be sure your gas cap is on tight.

• Refuel your vehicle, mow grass and use gas powered lawn equipment and off road vehicles after 6 p.m.

• Postpone chores that use oil based paint, varnishes and solvents that produce flame.

• If you barbecue, use an electric starter instead of starter fluid.

• Take your lunch to work or walk to lunch.

• Conserve energy in your home.

Incorporating these tips into your daily routines can make a significant difference. We all have a stake in better air quality.

SPREAD THE WORD by telling family, friends, co-workers and neighbors about OZONE ACTION DAYS.

More information about current air quality and what you can do to help prevent ozone formation is available online at the DEQ website www.deq.louisiana.gov.

suggestions

UPDATE:   Suggestions repeatedly made to Valero Energy in the past 10 years.  These comments have eluded Valero Energy when plant officials requested suggestions for community projects to contribute to.  The need for a skate board park and bicycle trail head comes to mind.

With a lack of public input mechanisms to suggest community projects, perhaps it’s worth reiterating previously requested projects:

1) The Villere Plantation's brick drainage pump ruins have been entrusted, through a conservation easement  to the St. Bernard Parish Historical Society. Unfortunately, the conservation easement is scheduled to expire when the EPA CD is completed.   This wooded area on the former Villere Plantation grounds would make a wonderful bird and wildlife sanctuary. Bald eagles are known to nest in this area. It would also be a suitable location for a Central Wetlands observation deck north of the forty arpent canal.  

The Villere Plantation was the site of the British Invasion during the war of 1812. The Villere Plantation was listed as a War of 1812 Preservation Priority in the 2007 American Battlefield Protection Program Report to Congress. "The priorities indicate which sites, in the opinion of the National Park Service, merit immediate preservation action, which need ongoing preservation action, which require additional study, and which are best suited for commemoration rather than preservation."   http://www.nps.gov/hps/abpp/Rev1812_Final_Report.pdf   http://concernedcitizensaroundmurphy.blogspot.com/2011/04/villere-plantation-ruins.html

2)  Buy Back Program; allow homeowners  to increase lot sizes and give residents the opportunity of re-establishing our neighborhood feel.  Place conservation easement on the remaining land titles to provide commitment to a truly protective green zone buffer.

3)  Protect our children and pedestrians and resume the sidewalk replacement program to bring vacant lots to ADA compliance. Include the sidewalks from Ohio Street to Jacob Drive so residents can safely continue to ride bikes or walk along Jacob Drive.   http://concernedcitizensaroundmurphy.blogspot.com/2014/08/sidewalks-and-school-children.html

http://concernedcitizensaroundmurphy.blogspot.com/2011/07/sidewalk-update.html

http://concernedcitizensaroundmurphy.blogspot.com/2011/05/pedestrian-friendly.html

4) Respect our families and our privacy and stop neighborhood surveillance tactics and invasive security cameras. Keep transient workers from trespassing, and provide workers with an evacuation route which does not include our neighborhoods.

5)  Improvements to increase the plant’s storm water capacity and to change the plan for waste water malfunctions, so that use of neighborhood canals for emergency discharges or overflows is prohibited.  Additionally prohibit use of the plant’s western rain water ditch for waste water malfunctions. This “west ditch” connects to the municipal storm water system which discharges into the nearby central wetlands.

6)  Appropriately fill the vacant lots to avoid mosquito infestation and virus transmission.

7) Provide public access to real time fence line monitor data, especially for benzene (not two week averages with data available months later). Continue the ambient air monitor station and real time access to its data beyond the EPA CD conclusion. Provide public access to the rain fall totals measured at the station.

8) Provide real time information during plant emergencies and other incidents.

9) Investments to upgrade the Meraux plant to BACT pollution controls.

10) Investment in operational adjustments for noise muffling and installation of noise abatement technology.

11) Comply with our local code and performance standards for nuisance, vibrations, noise, dust, night work, truck traffic, screening fences, dumpsters and parking lot litter.

12) A good neighbor demonstrates respect on a daily basis for the people who live on the other side of the fence line.  Merge the CAP and the emissions data meeting to allow the general public to attend its CAP meetings and allow information from CAP meetings to be made available to the public.

River Diversions and Destruction Give Us the Truth Give Us the Facts

Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser joins opposition to LA CPRA two billion dollar diversion. 

The Advocate article by Mark Schleifstein at link

https://www.nola.com/news/politics/article_fda47b86-a2d5-11eb-9d97-cfaf61e2cbc6.html

At a recent St Bernard Parish Parish Council Meeting, Louisiana's Lt Governor cited the absurdity of Congress to change the marine mammal act in 2018;  instead of studying the effects of the diversions, congress passed a waiver; they will not conduct a study and instead will monitor the disastrous effects for five years, will provide funding " for dolphins and fixing the turtles and put refridgeration on shrimp boats and raise the road in Plaquemines if they flood... no! Give us the truth. Give us the facts," Nungesser said [1] Nungesser also points out the wasted funds by LA CPRA in a propaganda campaign to convince people the river diversions are good for the coast. 

As Councilmember Kerri Callias notes, this would be at the expense of our livelihoods and way of life.  around the 20:25 minute mark in video   https://sbpg.viebit.com/player.php?hash=noCIGOZo3Muu

[1] FROM WGNO TV Chris Welty
Nungesser ultimately agrees there is a need to restore the coast, but says the diversion project is not the way to do it.
“We gotta start being open and honest or we’re never going to do the right thing, we’re never going to get the right thing done for our coast or for Louisiana,” Nungesser said.
CPRA is collecting public input on the project until May 4th.

Link to submit comments: 
https://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/Missions/Regulatory/Permits/Mid-Barataria-Sediment-Diversion-EIS/ 

From The Save Louisiana Coalition

The public needs to understand that there is no more debate over the destruction Louisiana's proposed MS River Diversions will cause - the Draft Environmental Impact Statement has been released...

As The Save Louisiana Coalition, the Gulf Coast Resource Coalition, and our partners have stated all along:

--Minimal land gain close to the diversion, while causing land loss to accelerate in other areas;
--Shrimp, oysters and dolphins gone...along with tourism/hospitality, restaurant and other industries dependent on and fueled by our seafood-based culture.

This experimental waste by the LA CPRA of billions of dollars in precious, limited coastal restoration money must stop!

https://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/Missions/Regulatory/Permits/Mid-Barataria-Sediment-Diversion-EIS/

https://parkplanning.nps.gov/projectHome.cfm?projectId=100083

From Marine Mammal Commission

Effects of Low Salinity Exposure on Bottlenose Dolphins Webinar

When St Bernard gets serious about recycling

St Bernard has no real drive to recycle plastics, cardboard, newspapers, or glass. Residents and parish officials seem more content, almost proud, to provide curbside junk disposal then reducing waste. We can't afford to keep all our fire stations open, yet we pay dumpster tipping fees for almost anything.

Let's get serious and begin by manufacturing less plastic (i.e.,  #stopformosa ) using less plastic, and demanding actual recycling for what plastic we might purchase. Demand different packaging.

According to Laura Sullivan's 2020 article, we can no longer ship used plastic for overseas recycling.

Then why is Louisiana gifting more industrial tax exemptions to a proposed massive plastics plant in St James and the sponsoring a State Port in St Bernard for plastics pellets containers [1]? Does that mean St Bernard's proposed State Port container shipyard will also become the plastics storing hub?

When St Bernard gets serious about recycling, our decisions will be to reduce use, reduce waste.

According to Laura Sullivan's 2020 article, we can no longer ship used plastic for overseas recycling.

Here's the basic problem: All used plastic can be turned into new things, but picking it up, sorting it out and melting it down is expensive. Plastic also degrades each time it is reused, meaning it can't be reused more than once or twice.

On the other hand, new plastic is cheap. It's made from oil and gas, and it's almost always less expensive and of better quality to just start fresh.

All of these problems have existed for decades, no matter what new recycling technology or expensive machinery has been developed. In all that time, less than 10 percent of plastic has ever been recycled. But the public has known little about these difficulties.

NPR How Big Oil Misled The Public into Believing Plastic Would be Recycled

Laura Sullivan

Formosa Louisiana Wrong Products Wrong Time Wrong Place Wrong Finances

IEEFA  March 2021

Tom Sanzillo, Director of Financial Analysis 

Suzanne Mattei, Energy Policy Analyst

[1] State Port townhall meeting in St Bernard, the proposed State Port container shipyard will be used for exporting plastic pellets to produce retail containers for products like shampoo and laundry detergent.

STOP Corporate Welfare

" While the pandemic downturn hit the oil industry hard, Valero Energy has taken advantage of many of the bailout programs in the CARES Act. Through the Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facility, the Federal Reserve has purchased $6 million in Valero bonds and another $11 million via its purchases of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). Valero also reported a tax benefit of $117 million for the first half of 2020 thanks to a CARES Act provision that allows them to apply any net operating losses to previous years’ tax burdens."  [1]

Think they can afford to invest in technology to further reduce emissions, mitigate noise, and pay the local portion of property tax, regardless of any previous State Industrial Ad Valorem Tax Exemption Program (ITEP). Together with other industries, if the ITEP local taxes were paid, we wouldn't have continued referendums for more and more property taxes; we might even be able to keep all the fire stations open, rather than rotate closures at times. 

"Due to an Executive Order signed by Gov. John Bel Edwards in June 2016, local school districts, sheriff departments, parishes and cities, for the first time in 80 years, will have the authority to determine for themselves whether to approve industrial tax exemptions and on what terms. " [2] 

The EO only applies to new applications or when existing ITEPs renew, and is expected to be reversed through legislation or by the next State Governor. 

"Louisiana Economic Development (LED), the state agency which administers ITEP and which local entities are looking to for information, has declined even to give an assessment of how much the exemptions are costing those entities at the local level." Parish-wide, lifting all ITEPs, not just one facility, was reported to return an estimated $42 MILLION and lower the average homeowner's tax bill by over $500, and  lower the average business' tax bill by over $1,100 [2]

As neighbors in St Bernard Parish, we care for each other, we make groceries and send food when neighbors are sick, we share ice and drinking water and supplies after hurricanes, we offer an extension cord to the power generator or provide shelter from the heat or cold. We lift each other up and give each other hope.

These industrial neighbors need to get with the program, demonstrate respect for the human beings on the other side of the fence, and stop dragging our quality of life down. 

[1] Tim Donaghy, Senior Research Specialist @Greenpeace USA

[2] Together Louisiana