Fence Line Monitoring

 UPDATE:   April 25th committee meeting presentation of SB 35 begins around the 48 minute mark with powerful testimony around the 1:11:01 minute mark of video https://senate.la.gov/s_video/VideoArchivePlayer?v=senate/2023/04/042523ENVQ

Enhanced fence line monitoring and thermal imaging

 

It is important for everyone's health and safety that industrial facilities monitor the chemicals at the fence line. Below links are some examples of what is ordinarily provided in other states. There is no reason this type of protection could not be required in Louisiana. State Senator Cleo Fields has again introduced legislation for just that: SB35 SB 35 is scheduled for a hearing this morning in the Louisiana State Senate Committee on Environmental Quality

All industry in St Bernard -- and throughout Louisiana -- should step-up and provide fence line monitoring with public access to the real-time data and notifications of pollution spikes. It would assist LDEQ to finally get our air quality into attainment for sulfur dioxide, and assist LDEQ to avoid a nonattainment designation for particulate matter. It would also help reduce the number of adverse health affects and obnoxious odor "complaints", because the monitors set a lower, more protective level at the fence line to trigger corrective action before the offensive chemicals -- like Hydrogen Sulfur -- enter the neighborhoods. Industry would be alerted and could change operations to avoid jeopardizing ambient air quality.

Real-time fence line monitoring benefits everyone: it's a money-saving device for plant managers to control leaks/loss of product, it assists plant operators to avoid larger incidents, it protects workers and nearby school children, and it can help our first responders protect themselves and the community. Real-time fence line monitoring generally includes easy public access to real time data and notifications of spikes in pollution levels.

Infrared or thermal imaging would help facilities operate more efficiently, and truck and rail transports could use advanced imaging to protect the community from leaks. Thermal imaging devices for rail transports could help avoid derailments caused from overheating. .

PBF Energy Martinez https://www.fenceline.org/martinez/index.php

PBF Energy Torrance https://torc.data.spectrumenvsoln.com/data

Valero Energy Wilmington https://wilmingtonrefinerymonitoring.org/

We deserve the same degree of protection from environmental harm and health hazards as provided in other States. Instead of access to real time benzene data, we have months-long delayed access to bi-weekly or annual averages of “net” benzene levels IF “reportable” to EPA, and years-long delay into identifying suspected sources and implementing protective solutions. Instead of fence line monitoring with lower trigger levels for hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide, we have odor abatement programs dependent on residents telephoning the refinery and “complaining”, and plant managers dispatching employees to drive around and sniff the area. That is just backwards.

No Free Passes for Polluters

 Our communities cannot continue to wait for clean air

Comment Deadline April 25

Fed. Reg. online comment portal

https://www.regulations.gov/commenton/EPA-HQ-OAR-2022-0814-0001

Send Comments on EPA's proposed rule to close pollution loopholes

or Comment via Sierra Club online petition for Louisiana SIP loopholes :   https://act.sierraclub.org/actions/National?actionId=AR0383870&id=7013q000002OAwUAAW

Tell the EPA: Close loopholes that enable polluters in Louisiana!

Many fossil fuel power plants and petrochemical facilities release huge amounts of pollutants when starting up, shutting down, or during malfunctions (SSM). Right now, many of these massive pollution events go unchecked due to loopholes in the state and federal Clean Air Act regulations. 

Unfortunately, power plants and petrochemical facilities in Louisiana have exploited these loopholes, leading to significant increases in toxic pollution that impacts our health, environment, and climate.

SSM pollution events are a serious environmental justice issue for Louisianans. These dangerous pollution spikes are especially pronounced along the Gulf Coast because of the high concentration of polluters along corridors like Cancer Alley -- where many communities face air pollution and health risks the EPA recognizes as unacceptable.

These events occur throughout the year, but are common during disasters, like hurricanes in the Gulf, and could get even worse as climate-fueled storms become more intense and occur with greater frequency.

Send a message to the EPA urging them to close all SSM loopholes in order to protect communities in Louisiana!

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sulfur dioxide exceedance

 Chalmette Vista St Bernard Parish this morning

Air quality fails to meet the EPA one hour health standard for sulfur dioxide (SO2)

The EPA National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for sulfur dioxide one-hour average is 75 parts per billion (PPB) or below. The measurement at the LDEQ Ch_Vista monitor this morning was 168.1 PPB. The hydrogen sulfide level was 19 PPB

https://airquality.deq.louisiana.gov/Data/Site/CHALMETTEVISTA/Date/2023-04-05

close pollution loopholes

 

Protect Fenceline Communities by Ending FREE PASSES TO POLLUTE:
Close All Startup, Shutdown, and Malfunction (SSM) Loopholes

Sign the petition  here to urge EPA to take swift and clear action to eliminate all startup, shutdown, and malfunction (SSM) loopholes to deliver cleaner air and safer neighborhoods for overburdened communities across the country. 

Sierra Club and partners are working to defend EPA's SSM rule prohibiting loopholes in State implementation plans and pushing EPA to take decisive action to remove all SSM loopholes from all Clean Air Act rules. The EPA and States must require industry to make the needed investments to prevent malfunctions, prepare for extreme weather, and be able to comply with pollutions limits on a daily basis.

Sign the petition to end free passes to pollute

https://addup.sierraclub.org/campaigns/close-all-startup-shutdown-and-malfunction-ssm-loopholes-to-protect-fenceline-communities

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgEVxn9yCYM&t=343s

proliferation of LNG on Louisiana coast

 LNG facilities and LNG export terminals rapidly developing along Louisiana's fragile coast.

TAKE ACTION SUBMIT COMMENTS BY MARCH 15th

Say NO to the Commonwealth Liquified Natural Gas export terminal proposed for the western side of Calcasieu Pass. This project would destroy and impact the most important known site in Louisiana for Eastern Black Rail (which is a marsh bird), which was added to the Endangered Species List in 2020. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) held a hearing earlier this week in Cameron, Louisiana.

The Louisiana Department of Natural Resources will accept written comments submitted through the portal linked here. The deadline to submit is March 15th!!! Need help developing comments? Check out this one pager by Sierra Club and Healthy Gulf.

You Can't Remediate Dead Fish

 “You can’t remediate dead fish,” said an elected official from one of the parishes that shares the lakefront. “There is no amount of money that would make us understand this and accept it. We are fine the way we are.”

SAVE LAKE MAUREPAS   SAVE OUR MANCHAC 

https://www.facebook.com/smanchac/ 

Two recent articles in DeSmog note growing concerns for Lake Maurepas' fragile ecosystem and the failed or underperformed carbon capture technologies, which have been described as inefficient, underperforming, and enormously expensive.

ByJulie Dermansky
The Battle to Stop Air Products’ Carbon Capture Project at Lake Maurepas Grows
Pro-industry NIMBYs leading the fight question the company’s claims of being “clean.”

Hydrogen, which can be made from natural gas, is only “blue” if carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) is used to offset some of the carbon emitted from the manufacturing. Air Products, the Fortune 500 company behind this proposed project, is planning to store the carbon it captures in injection wells under Lake Maurepas, a prized ecosystem that offers plentiful seafood and vital storm surge protection for nearby residents.

ByDana Drugmand Big Oil’s Been Secretly Validating Critics’ Concerns about Carbon Capture  A DeSmog analysis of subpoenaed internal oil industry communications shows CCS as the strategic linchpin for more oil and gas development.

There is mounting evidence, however, that CCS is ineffective. Numerous projects have failed or underperformed. Some studies indicate the technology does little to reduce emissions, and may even increase carbon and other air pollution. Climate and environmental justice organizations, some climate and energy experts, and some lawmakers, are speaking out against the false promise of CCS. And in the wake of the IRA’s passage, the business partners who started the first private CCS company in the United States wrote an op-ed in The New York Times condemning the technology and the billions of federal dollars propping it up. They argue that CCS is inefficient, underperforming, and enormously expensive, while facilitating further fossil fuel development — especially when the captured carbon is used to extract more oil and gas.  

Save Lake Maurepas

 

We ask you to sign this petition by the Lake Maurepas Preservation Society to protect the lake from industrial intrusion by carbon capture! The petition asks Governor Jon Bel Edwards and the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources to halt the current activity in Lake Maurepas and surrounding wetlands, place permanent moratorium on new CO2 wells and CO2 pipelines, and require an  Environmental Impact Study (EIS) for any industrial activity in Lake Maurepas and the surrounding wetlands. We believe that Lake Maurepas deserves the same protections as Lake Pontchartrain to which it is directly connected.