Former coal plant near Pittsburgh is poisoning groundwater: Report
Groundwater near the site contains arsenic levels 372 times higher than safety threshold. Coal ash sites across the U.S. are seeing similar contamination.
PITTSBURGH—The site of a former coal-fired power plant northwest of Pittsburgh is leaking coal ash and poisoning surrounding groundwater, according to a new report.
Coal ash, the material left behind after coal is burned, contains harmful substances like arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, lithium, mercury and uranium, among others. Exposure is linked to health effects like cancer, damage to the thyroid, liver and kidneys, and neurodevelopmental problems in children.
Although coal consumption has declined across the U.S., the power industry continues to generate about 70 million tons of coal ash annually, and after 100 years of burning coal, U.S. power plants have generated about five billion tons of coal ash.
The new
report, published by the environmental law advocacy groups Environmental Integrity Project and EarthJustice, found that 91% of U.S. coal-fired plants have ash landfills or waste ponds that are leaking toxic chemicals and heavy metals into surrounding groundwater at levels that threaten streams, rivers and drinking water aquifers. It also found that many coal plant owners manipulate data or incorrectly claim exemptions to regulations to avoid having to clean up contamination.
“Coal plants are polluting the nation’s water illegally and getting away with it,” Lisa Evans, a senior attorney at Earthjustice and coauthor of the report, said during a news briefing. “At least 91% of them are poisoning our water with hazardous toxics and doing little or nothing to address it. This is illegal.”
The report ranks the top 10 worst contaminated coal ash sites in the country. GenOn’s
New Castle Generating Plant, about 46 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, ranks sixth on the list. Groundwater near the site contains arsenic levels 372 times higher than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s, or EPA’s, safety threshold, and lithium levels 54 times higher.
Arsenic exposure is linked to multiple forms of cancer, neurological impairments in children and skin conditions. Lithium exposure is linked to kidney and neurological damage, decreased thyroid function and birth defects. The GenOn plant sits along the Beaver River, which feeds into the Ohio River, which, in turn, provides drinking water to more than five million people.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service taking core samples after North Carolina's Dan River coal ash spill in 2014.
“In addition to the Ohio River being an important source of drinking water to many Americans, people in the region also love to fish, swim and boat out in these waters,” Zach Barber, a community organizer with environmental advocacy group PennEnvironment, who was not involved with the report, told EHN. “This pollution poses real risks that are not being taken seriously by these companies or our regulators.”
The GenOn site, which has approximately 50 acres of coal ash landfill containing about three million tons of ash, is the only location in Pennsylvania to make the report’s top 10 list. It follows coal ash dumps in Texas, Nevada, North Carolina and Wyoming (two sites), and ranks worse than sites in Maryland, Mississippi, Utah and Tennessee. The most polluted site in the nation is the San Miguel Electric Plant south of San Antonio, Texas. The report, an update to a 2019 report on coal ash sites, also details groundwater contamination at 292 additional coal plants in 43 states.
“Coal ash waste is causing widespread water contamination that threatens drinking water supplies and the environment,” Lisa Evans, senior attorney at Earthjustice, said in a statement. “In every state where coal is burned, power companies are violating federal health protections.”
Manipulating data to hide poisonous pollution
In 2015, in response to nearly 160 cases of water contamination and several catastrophic coal ash spills, the EPA established the first-ever regulations governing coal ash disposal collectively referred to as the Coal Ash Rule.
The rule required sites disposing of coal ash to post groundwater monitoring reports on their websites. There’s no federal database of these notices, so the authors of the report collected and analyzed the data to create their own. They concluded that many power companies are illegally manipulating data and monitoring to avoid cleanup requirements.
Companies are supposed to collect samples from clean background wells that aren’t near coal ash disposal sites to compare against wells on site. But they found that companies often chose previously contaminated sites to use as background wells, making it harder to find evidence of coal ash pollution. Many plants also leave large parts of a disposal area unmonitored, use inappropriate statistical methods to hide patterns of contamination, and falsely attribute the contamination to another source, according to the report.
“Coal plant owners are deliberately employing tricks to hide coal ash pollution,” Evans said. “People live next to these ponds. People drink the groundwater. Families use the lakes and streams next to these ponds. Leaving ash will make people sick and harm the water they depend on…but pennies over people has always been the norm where coal ash is concerned.”
Some plant owners, including the owners of GenOn’s former New Castle Plant, say the sites were already contaminated before they arrived, so they shouldn’t be responsible for cleanup, according to the report. GenOn’s New Castle Plant landfill was built on top of an 80-year-old, 120-acre ash pond, and the company is only claiming responsibility for a small part of the landfill, according to the document.
“GenOn must apply the Rule to the landfill as a whole,” the report concludes. “This approach is not only legally required, but also common sense – there is no way to restore groundwater at the site without addressing all of the coal ash known to be buried there.”
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) spokesperson Jamar Thrasher told EHN the agency supports the EPA's enforcement of the Coal Ash Rule by checking compliance with reporting requirements and deadlines for closure or upgrades. In 2020, the DEP issued a Notice of Violation for groundwater contamination and asked GenOn to address it. The company agreed, and remediation is underway, according to Thrasher, who said the cleanup plan recommends two more years of groundwater monitoring to determine whether the cleanup measures taken so far have been effective.
GenOn did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It isn’t the only company avoiding responsibility: The report found that at nearly half of the plants causing contamination, owners are not planning any cleanup, and most have denied responsibility. Of the plants that have agreed cleanup is necessary, only a handful have cleanup plans in place, and most lack clear timelines and fall short of federal standards.
The report also notes that most coal plants are located in or near environmental justice communities (communities that are primarily made up of low-income residents and/or people of color), and that 70% of coal ash ponds that are dangerously close to groundwater are located in communities that are primarily Black or brown.
How can we fix this?
Both state agencies and the EPA have authority to enforce the Coal Ash Rule. In a few states, state regulatory agencies are actively working to enforce the rule, according to Evans, while other states rely on the EPA.
The report recommends a number of solutions, including increased federal oversight to stop coal companies from manipulating data and improperly claiming exemptions, implementing enforceable cleanup schedules, closing loopholes for sites that are no longer operational, requiring testing of drinking water near coal ash dumps and banning dangerous re-use of coal ash (such as using it as a soil substitute).
“The first place to start is enforcing the rules we already have on the books,” Barber said. “But the only way to completely protect people from the health harms of coal is to leave it in the ground and switch to cleaner, renewable sources of energy.”
Biodegradable food packaging is a step in the right direction, experts say, but when composted carries risks of microplastic and chemical contamination.
GROTON, Mass. — Steam billows inside Black Earth Compost’s processing facility as Syed Dong, regional operations manager, opens the building’s delivery door and lets in the chilly March air.
Inside, billions of bacteria are breaking down a big pile of food scraps, yard waste and compostable bioplastic packaging into water, carbon dioxide and compost, a nutrient-rich soil amendment.
“This is where we ignite the composting process,” Dong told Environmental Health News over the roar of machinery blowing air through the pile. Soon, his team will move the heap outdoors for further processing in windrows, long organic waste piles covered with leaves. After three months, the compost will be sold or distributed to farmers, landscapers, garden centers and residential customers.
Black Earth Compost is one of a growing number of industrial composters accepting compostable bioplastic packaging along with yard and food waste. Compostable packaging is derived from both plants, such as corn, sugarcane or bamboo, and petroleum products, and is designed to decompose under controlled conditions at a composting facility. It is a type of biodegradable bioplastic that’s a popular substitute for single-use plastics in the food industry, from cups, bowls and cutlery to wrappers, bottles, bags and take-out boxes. In theory, compostable food packaging helps cut plastics pollution and methane gas emissions from landfills by diverting food scraps to a composter and breaking down into a product that nourishes soil. Consumers are more likely to compost food waste if it’s tangled up with biodegradable plastic packaging or restaurant serviceware, experts say.
Black Earth Compost facility in Groton Massachusetts.
Credit: Syed Dong
“If packaging touches food, it really should be compostable if you can't have it [be] reusable,” Frank Franciosi, executive director of U.S. Compost Council, told EHN, citing plastic’s abysmal 5 to 6% recycling rate and the oft-quoted figure that if global food waste were a country, it would produce one-third of greenhouse gas emissions.
But our composting infrastructure isn’t ready to handle bioplastic packaging. We do not have guardrails for ensuring that materials are truly compostable and safe for recycling back into soils. Consequently, traditional plastics often contaminate compost while truly compostable materials often rot in a landfill. Additionally, the potential for compostable packaging to leave behind microplastics and chemical additives that could harm soil ecosystems, or be taken up by crops, isn’t well researched.
Contamination from traditional plastics or materials misleadingly labeled as biodegradable, makes it tougher to evaluate the safety and efficacy of composting bioplastic packaging. It also makes it economically more difficult for industrial composters to thrive.
“These early generation [bioplastic] alternatives are very imperfect, but from our perspective, redesigning packaging is the right direction. I just don't think we're there yet in terms of really having cracked that nut,” Eric Roy, an assistant professor of environmental sciences at the University of Vermont, told EHN.
Composting packaging materials
Composting is nature’s process for recycling organic matter into fertilizer. Industrial composters use temperature, moisture and aeration and hone their feedstock mix to enhance the process. Operators range from small community composters that process waste in windrows to large facilities equipped with forced air and biofilters to capture smelly emissions.
Over the last decade, food waste collection has become more common and so has the collection of compostable packaging. More sophisticated operations are more likely to take compostable bioplastics, as evidence suggests they can decompose packaging better, Linda Norris-Waldt, deputy director of the U.S. Compost Council, told EHN.
“If packaging touches food, it really should be compostable if you can't have it [be] reusable.” - Frank Franciosi, executive director of U.S. Compost Council
Black Earth Compost operates three small facilities and began accepting food packaging when it realized compostable bags were vital for food scrap collection, Andrew Brousseau, compost operations manager at Black Earth Compost, told EHN. “Early on, we felt [compostable packaging] was a great solution to single use plastic,” he said. “Our stance is that reusable should be used where possible and where that's not possible… it should be compostable.”
Food scraps bring additional nutrients to compost, which benefit the soil, while the compostable packaging helps with collection of the scraps, is a carbon source for the compost and creates structure and air spaces in the pile, Brousseau said.
Black Earth Compost takes only packaging that is certified compostable by the Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI), OK Compost, or the Compost Manufacturing Alliance. These voluntary certifications require manufacturers to meet criteria for breaking down within 12 weeks at an industrial compost facility, as well as be PFAS-free and pass a soil ecotoxicity test. Even so, vestiges of plastic contamination poke out from the windrows at Black Earth Compost—a clear Dunkin Donuts cup, bright blue flowerpots and numerous pale green garbage bags.
Syed Dong demonstrates what a certified compostable garbage bag looks like after roughly one month of decomposing
Credit: Meg Wilcox
Plastic contamination at Black Earth Compost facility.
Credit: Meg Wilcox
Lifting a garbage bag shredded and riddled with holes, Dong said, “This one’s compostable.” But the Dunkin Donut’s cup and flowerpots? Not so much. More troubling are look-alike green garbage bags that are fully intact. These look-alike products are designed to mimic their compostable counterparts and it’s impossible for Black Earth Compost’s drivers to tell the difference, said Dong.
Fraudulent marketing of these materials as “biodegradable” or “plant-based” is rampant and confusing, Brousseau said.
“Our stance is that reusable should be used where possible and where that's not possible… it should be compostable.” - Andrew Brousseau, compost operations manager at Black Earth Compost
Removing plastic items from compost production is a never-ending job at Black Earth Compost. It starts with educating customers and pick-up drivers and ends with the use of specialized fans for sucking out remaining plastic contamination, with a lot of labor-intensive hand sorting in between.
A recent study by the Composting Consortium found that 21% of composters’ operating costs are spent on removing contaminants, the majority of which are traditional plastics. But they also found that plastics contamination was a problem regardless of whether a facility accepted compostable packaging.
“It’s the intrinsic nature of what we're doing as recyclers,” Brousseau said.
Do compostable bioplastics really break down?
Examples of some of the certified compostable materials that Black Earth Compost accepts from its customer, Cabot Theater in Beverly, Massachusetts. The theater composts all popcorn bags, cups, straws and napkins and recycles. All drinks are served in compostable cups.
Credit: Lisa Champigny
While some report that compostable items like cutlery don’t break down well, the Composting Consortium’s field study found that, for the most part, compostable packaging does fully decompose at industrial facilities. Eight of nine composters studied that accepted compostable packaging had no detectable amounts of the materials in their finished compost.
“When [compost] piles have optimum conditions with the best management practices, bioplastics by and large break down very well,” Rhodes Yepsen, an executive director at BPI and a member of the Composting Consortium, told EHN.
That’s Black Earth Compost’s experience. “After three months, there's no more compostable plastic,” Dong said. “Any plastic that you see past that point within the life of a pile, that's conventional plastic.”
However, in compost samples University of Vermont researchers studied, they found fragments of poly-lactic acid, or PLA, which is commonly used to make compostable packaging, and what appeared to be compostable bags but could have been look-alikes. Though they weren’t the majority of plastics found, they were “wellrepresented,” Kate Porterfield, a doctoral student at the University of Vermont, told EHN.
More troubling, the University of Vermont’s research found widespread microplastic contamination in compost materials, though that research didn’t distinguish whether the microplastics came from compostable or traditional plastic materials.
Roy said, “it's a tricky question” what happens to microplastics created by compostable materials.
“Theoretically, they will persist in the environment for a shorter amount of time than traditional plastics will,” and that’s a “good thing.” But there’s “some evidence that these materials are not necessarily entirely benign in the soil environment.”
Degradation of microplastics “all depends on what the polymer is, how it's put together and the environmental circumstances,” Richard Thompson, professor of marine biology and director of Plymouth University’s Marine Institute, told EHN.
Meanwhile, studies show that chemical additives or chemicals transported by microplastics, may be more concerning than the plastic polymers themselves, which complicates our understanding of risk. “All the combinations of polymer, additive, shape and size…each might have different effects in the soil environment,” Roy said.
That is perhaps why Franciosi said that, after PFAS, “microplastics are the next fire” for the compost industry.
PFAS and other chemicals
Food and yard waste delivery inside Black Earth Compost facility.
Credit: Syed Dong
PFAS used in coatings on food packaging have long been a concern for composters, but state actions to ban the chemical from food contact materials along with the Food and Drug Administration’s recent announcement that manufacturers will no longer use it on fiber-based food packaging may alleviate some concerns.
“I think [the FDA’s announcement] would have an enormous impact on really eliminating that source of PFAS into the compost,” David Andrews, senior scientist at the nonprofit Environmental Working Group, told EHN.
BPI’s certification test for PFAS adds another layer of protection for composters accepting only certified materials, although non-certified materials will continue to slip by.
“When [compost] piles have optimum conditions with the best management practices, bioplastics by and large break down very well.” - Rhodes Yepsen, an executive director at BPI
Little is known about the chemicals that are used in compostable bioplastics; however, one study found that many bioplastic materials were as toxic as their conventional counterparts. Certifying entities like BPI require compostable packaging to pass a soil ecotoxicity test that evaluates plant germination and biomass rates over several weeks. But that test may not be sufficient to evaluate the potential for harm, Roy said.
“It's a good test to include, but it's not necessarily the way to comprehensively screen a material for every potential effect on the soil,” he said. It doesn’t capture everything that might be happening within the soil environment, such as effects on microbial communities or effects that take longer to manifest.
In response, Yepsen said, “BPI is open to evaluating how studies might better capture factors like microbial communities and long-term effects.”
But the larger concern is that many manufacturers do not certify their compostable packaging materials and there are no laws requiring them to do so.
Future of bioplastics and compost
Research is needed to understand how quickly microplastics from compostable packaging may linger in soils, and whether they may release chemical additives that could harm soil life.
While Roy said it will be difficult to eliminate microplastics, they can be reduced by reducing unnecessary packaging, setting policies that test for and limit plastic contamination in compost, educating the public and innovating in packaging materials that are free of harmful chemical additives, degrade quickly and have proven not to pose a risk to soil organisms or plants.
Additionally, the U.S. composting infrastructure needs significant investment. Nearly three-quarters of Americans don’t have access to composting services and much of compostable food packaging ends up in peoples’ homes and ultimately in a landfill or incinerator. The proposed federal Compost Act would provide funds for composting infrastructure, Franciosi said. Extended producer responsibility laws that require packaging manufacturers to invest in recovery systems could also help fund these facilities.
Meanwhile, back at Black Earth Compost, Brousseau envisions scaling up to a decentralized network of small compost facilities, each serving ten Massachusetts communities, and a future where food packaging is largely compostable. “Imagine the peanut butter jar, bag of oysters, cheese block wrapping … you don’t have to clean it and maybe have it recycled. You can toss it in the bin, get it recycled locally and support your regional food system.”
CAMERON PARISH, La. — Late into the night, John Allaire watches the facility next to his home shoot 300-foot flares from stacks.
He lives within eyesight of southwest Louisiana’s salty shores, where, for decades, he’s witnessed nearly 200 feet of land between it and his property line disappear into the sea. Two-thirds of the land was rebuilt to aid the oil and gas industry’s LNG expansion. LNG — shorthand for liquified natural gas – is natural gas that's cooled to liquid form for easier storage or transport; it equates to 1/600th the volume of natural gas in a gaseous state. It’s used to generate electricity, or fuel stove tops and home heaters, and in industrial processes like manufacturing fertilizer.
In the U.S., at least 30 new LNG terminal facilities have been constructed or proposed since 2016, according to the
Oil and Gas Watch project. Louisiana and Texas’ Gulf Coast, where five facilities are already operating, will host roughly two-thirds of the new LNG terminals – meaning at least 22 Gulf Coast LNG facilities are currently under construction, were recently approved to break ground or are under further regulatory review.
Although the U.S. didn’t ship LNG until 2016, when a freight tanker left, a few miles from where Cameron Parish’s LNG plants are today, last year the country became the global leader in LNG production and export volume, leapfrogging exporters like Qatar and Australia. The
EIA’s most recent annual outlook estimated that between the current year and 2050, U.S. LNG exports will increase by 152%.
Allaire, 68, watches how saltwater collects where rainwater once fed the area’s diminishing coastal wetlands. “We still come down here with the kids and set out the fishing rods. It's not as nice as it used to be,” he told
Environmental Health News (EHN).
That intimacy with nature drew Allaire to the area when he purchased 311 acres in 1998. An environmental engineer and 30-year oil and gas industry veteran, he helped lead environmental assessments and manage clean-ups, and although retired, he still works part-time as an environmental consultant with major petroleum companies. With a lifetime of oil and gas industry expertise, he’s watched the industry's footprint spread across Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico’s fragile shores and beyond. Now that the footprints are at the edge of his backyard, Allaire is among a cohort of organizers, residents and fisher-folk in the region mobilizing to stop LNG facility construction. For him, the industry’s expansion usurps the right-or-wrong ethics he carried across his consulting career. For anglers, oil and gas infrastructure has destroyed fishing grounds and prevented smaller vessels from accessing the seafood-rich waters of the Calcasieu River.
From the view of Allaire’s white pickup truck as he drives across his property to the ocean’s shore, he points to where a new LNG facility will replace marshlands. Commonwealth LNG intends to clear the land of trees and then backfill the remaining low-lying field.
“You see what’s happening with the environment,” Allaire said. “When the facts change, I got to change my mind about what we’re doing.”
Community bands together
John Allaire, left, purchased 311 acres in Cameron Parish in 1998, and has watched the oil and gas industry's footprint spread to his property.
Credit: John Allaire
During an Earth Day rally in April, community members gathered in the urban center of Lake Charles to demand local oil and gas industries help deliver a safer, healthier future for all. In between live acts by artists performing south Louisiana’s quintessential zydeco musical style, speakers like James Hiatt, a Calcasieu Parish native with ties to Cameron Parish and a Healthy Gulf organizer, and RISE St. James organizer Sharon Lavigne, who’s fighting against LNG development in rural Plaquemines Parish near the city of New Orleans, asked the nearly 100 in attendance to imagine a day in which the skyline isn’t dotted by oil and gas infrastructure.
Not long ago, it was hard to imagine an Earth Day rally in southwest Louisiana at all. For decades, the area has been decorated with fossil fuel infrastructure. Sunsets on some days are highlighted by the chemicals in the air; at night, thousands of facilities’ lights dot the dark sky.
“It takes a lot of balls for people to start speaking up,” Shreyas Vasudevan, a campaign researcher with the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, told EHN in the days after the rally. In a region with its history and economy intertwined with oil and gas production, “you can get a lot of social criticism – or ostracization, as well – even threats to your life.”
Many are involved in local, regional and national advocacy groups, including the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, Healthy Gulf, the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Turtle Island Restoration Network, the Center for Biological Diversity and the National Audubon Society.
“You see what’s happening with the environment,” Allaire said. “When the facts change, I got to change my mind about what we’re doing.” - John Allaire, environmental engineer and 30-year oil and gas industry veteran
But environmental organizers are fighting a multi-billion-dollar industry with federal and state winds at its back. And LNG’s federal support is coupled with existing state initiatives.
Under outgoing Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards — a term-limited Democrat — the state pledged a goal of reaching net-zero greenhouse emissions by 2050. Natural gas, which the LNG industry markets as a cleaner-burning alternative, is cited as one of the state’s solutions. Louisiana is the only state that produces a majority of its carbon emissions through fossil fuels refining industries, like LNG, rather than energy production or transportation. Governor Edwards’ office did not return EHN’s request for comment.
This accommodating attitude towards oil and gas industries has resulted in a workforce that’s trained to work in LNG refining facilities across much of the rural Gulf region, said Steven Miles, a lawyer at Baker Botts LLP and a fellow at the Baker Institute’s Center on Energy Studies. Simultaneously, anti-industrialization pushback is lacking. It’s good news for industries like LNG.
“The bad news,” Miles added. “[LNG facilities] are all being jammed in the same areas.”
One rallying cry for opponents is local health. The Environmental Integrity Project found that LNG export terminals emit chemicals like carbon monoxide –potentially deadly– and sulfur dioxide, of which the American Lung Association says long-term exposure can lead to heart disease, cancer, and damage to internal or female reproductive organs.
An analysis of emissions monitoring reports by the advocacy group the Louisiana Bucket Brigade found that Venture Global’s existing Calcasieu Pass facility had more than 2,000 permit violations.That includes exceeding the permit’s authorized air emissions limit to release nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, particulate matter and volatile organic compounds 286 out of its first 343 days of operation.
The Marvel Crane, the first liquid natural gas carrier to transport natural gas from the Southwest Louisiana LNG facility, transits a channel in Hackberry, Louisiana, May 28, 2019.
“This is just one facility,” at a time when three more facilities have been proposed in the region and state, Vasudevan said. Venture Global’s operational LNG facility — also known as Calcasieu Pass — “is much smaller than the other facility they’ve proposed.”
In an area that experienced 18 feet of storm surge during Hurricane Laura in 2020 — and just weeks later, struck by Hurricane Delta — Venture Global is planning to build a second export terminal Known as “CP2,” it’s the largest of the roughly two dozen proposed Gulf LNG export terminals, and a key focal point for the region’s local organizing effort.
Residents “don’t really want LNG as much as they want Cameron [Parish] from 1990 back,” Hiatt told EHN of locals’ nostalgia for a community before storms like Rita in 2005 brought up to 15 feet of storm surge, only for Laura to repeat the damage in 2020. Throughout that time, the parish’s population dipped from roughly 10,000 to 5,000. “But the wolf knocking at the door is LNG. Folks in Cameron think that's going to bring back community, bring back the schools, bring back this time before we had all these storms — when Cameron was pretty prosperous.”
“Clearly,” for the oil and gas industry, “the idea is to transform what was once the center of commercial fishing in Louisiana to gas exports,” Cindy Robertson, an environmental activist in southwest Louisiana, told EHN.
Helping fishers’ impacted by LNG is about “actual survival of this unique culture,” Cooke said.
In a measure of organizers’ success, she pointed to a recent permit hearing for Venture Global’s CP2 proposal. Regionally, it’s the only project that’s received an environmental permit, but not its export permit, which remains under federal review. At the meeting, some spoke on the company’s behalf. As an organizer, it was a moment of clarity, Cooke explained. Venture Global officials “had obviously done a lot of coaching and organizing and getting people together in Cameron to speak out on their behalf,” Cooke said. “So, in a way, that was bad. But in another way, it shows that we really had an impact.”
“It also shows that we have a lot to do,” Cooke added.
Environmental organizers like Alyssa Portaro describe a sense of fortitude among activists — she and her husband to the region’s nearby town of Vinton near the Texas-Louisiana border. Since the families’ relocation to their farm, Portaro has worked with Cameron Parish fisher-folk.
“I’ve not witnessed ‘community’ anywhere like there is in Louisiana,” Portaro told EHN. But a New Jersey native, she understands the toll environmental pollution has on low-income communities. “This environment, it’s so at risk — and it’s currently getting sacrificed to big industries.”
“People don’t know what we’d do without oil and gas. It comes at a big price,” she added.
Southwest Louisiana’s Cameron Parish is one of the state’s most rural localities. Marine economies were the area’s economic drivers until natural disasters and LNG facilities began pushing locals out, commercial fishers claim.
Credit: Xander Peters for Environmental Health News
Residents “don’t really want LNG as much as they want Cameron [Parish] from 1990 back,” James Hiatt , a Healthy Gulf organizer, told EHN. "But the wolf knocking at the door is LNG."
Credit: Xander Peters for Environmental Health News
For the most part, Cameron Parish’s life and economy has historically taken place at sea. As new LNG facilities are operational or in planning locally, locals claim the community they once knew is nearly unrecognizable.
Credit: Xander Peters for Environmental Health News
A disappearing parish
The stakes are seemingly higher for a region like southwest Louisiana, which is the epicenter of climate change impacts.
In nearly a century, the state has lost roughly 2,000 square miles of land to coastal erosion. In part driving the state’s erosion crisis is the compounding impacts of Mississippi River infrastructure and oil and gas industry activity, such as dredging canals for shipping purposes, according to a March study published in the journal Nature Sustainability. Louisiana’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority said Cameron Parish could lose more land than other coastal parishes over the next 50 years. A recent Climate Central report says the parish will be underwater within that time frame.
On top of erosion and sea level rise impacts, in August, 2023, marshland across southwest Louisiana’s Cameron Parish burned. The fires were among at least 600 across the Bayou State this year. Statewide, roughly 60,000 acres burned — a more than six-fold increase of the state’s average acres burned per year in the past decade alone.
But while the blaze avoided coastal Louisiana communities like Cameron Parish, the fires represented a warning coming from a growing chorus of locals across the region — one that’s echoes by the local commercial fishing population, who claimed to have experienced unusually low yields during the same time, according to a statement from a local environmental group. At the site of the Cameron Parish fires are locations for two proposed LNG expansion projects.
"The idea is to transform what was once the center of commercial fishing in Louisiana to gas exports.” - Cindy Robertson, an environmental activist in southwest Louisiana
It was an unusual occurrence for an area that’s more often itself underwater this time of year due to a storm surge from powerful storms. For LNG expansion’s local opposition, it was a red flag.
As the Louisiana Bucket Brigade has noted prior, the confluence of climate change’s raising of sea levels and the construction of LNG export terminals — some are proposed at the size of nearly 700 football fields — are wiping away the marshland folks like Allaire watched wither. Among their fears is that the future facilities won’t be able to withstand the power of another storm like Laura and its storm surge, which wiped away entire communities in 2020.
Amidst these regional climate impacts, LNG infrastructure has shown potential to exacerbate the accumulation of greenhouse gasses that cause global warming. For the most part, LNG is made up of methane — a greenhouse gas that’s more than 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Among the 22 current LNG facility proposals, the advocacy group Sierra Club described a combined climate pollution output that would roughly equal to that of about 440 coal plants.
The climate impacts prompt some of the LNG industry’s uncertainty going forward. It isn’t clear if Asian countries, key importers of U.S. LNG, will “embrace these energy transition issues,” said David Dismuke, an energy consultant and the former executive director of Louisiana State University’s Center for Energy Studies. Likewise, European nations remain skeptical of embracing LNG as a future staple fuel source.
“They really don't want to have to pull the trigger,” Dismukes added, referring to Europe’s hesitation to commit more resources to exporting LNG from the American market. “They don't want to go down that road.”
While there will be a tapering down of natural gas supply, Miles explained, “we’re going to need natural gas for a long time,” as larger battery storage for renewables is still unavailable.
“I'm not one of these futurists that can tell you where we're going to be, but I just don't see everything being extreme,” Dismukes said. “I don't see what we've already built getting stranded and going away, either.”
For now, LNG seems here to stay. From 2012 to 2022,U.S. natural gas demand — the sum of both domestic consumption and gross exports — rose by a whopping 43%, reported the U.S. Energy Information Administration, or EIA. Meanwhile, in oil and gas hotbeds like Louisiana and Texas, natural gas demand grew by 116%.
Throughout 25 years, Allaire has witnessed southwest Louisiana’s land slowly fade, in part driven by the same industrial spread regionally. Near where the front door of his travel trailer sits underneath the aluminum awning, he points to a chenier ridge located near the end of the property. It’s disappearing, he said.
“See the sand washing over, in here?” Allaire says, as he points towards the stretches of his property. “This pond used to go down for a half mile. This is all that's left of it on this side.”
A long-awaited Interior Department policy will raise financial assurance and royalty rates, aiming to ensure cleaner operations and better returns for the public.
In a recent legal development, the Justice Department has sided with a Wisconsin tribe's claim against a Canadian energy company over land rights, sparking controversy.
The DOJ supported the Bad River Band's claim that Enbridge has trespassed on tribal land by operating the Line 5 pipeline, suggesting a higher compensation than the court-ordered $5.15 million.
Despite DOJ's support, the request for immediate cessation of the pipeline's operation was not granted, raising concerns among tribal leaders.
The broader implications involve international treaties and ongoing diplomatic tensions between the U.S. and Canada over pipeline operations.
Key quote:
“We are grateful the U.S. urged the court not to let Enbridge profit from its unlawful trespass.”
— Robert Blanchard, chairman of the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa Indians
Why this matters:
Enbridge maintains that its projects are crucial for economic development and energy security, emphasizing its commitment to safety and environmental stewardship. The company also points to regulatory approvals and its efforts to consult with tribal communities as evidence of its attempt to balance these interests.
As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency nears finalization of its emissions standards for power plants, potential modifications aim to tighten controls on gas-fired facilities.
The EPA is considering extending compliance deadlines for power plants needing carbon capture technology.
Discussions suggest modifications that would broaden the scope of strict emissions standards to include more gas-fired power plants.
Stakeholders including environmentalists and industry groups have influenced the ongoing revisions, seeking feasible implementation timelines.
Key quote:
"We were obviously concerned that by removing existing gas from this rule that it opens up the opportunity to rely more on existing gas, and the emissions from gas plants could increase."
— Ann Weeks, senior counsel and legal director at the Clean Air Task Force
Why this matters:
Natural gas plants, while cleaner than coal-fired plants, still emit significant amounts of carbon dioxide, a leading greenhouse gas contributing to climate change. In addition, these plants can release pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide, which can cause respiratory problems and other health issues.
Tightening emissions regulations aligns with broader efforts to reduce the United States' carbon footprint and transition towards more sustainable energy sources.
Brazil's beef industry faces a potential 25% reduction in production by 2050 if it fails to adapt to stringent climate policies and forest conservation efforts.
Brazil's beef production might decrease by a quarter by 2050 due to enhanced climate and forest conservation measures.
The cattle industry faces significant financial risks unless it adopts new technologies and sustainable practices.
Deforestation linked to cattle ranching exacerbates climate change, negatively affecting cattle health and soil productivity.
Key quote:
"The future of the Brazilian cattle sector is set to look very different to how it appears and operates today."
— Niamh McCarthy, director of Orbitas
Why this matters:
Rising temperatures, altered rainfall patterns, and increased frequency of extreme weather events such as droughts and floods are expected to impact pasture quality and water availability, crucial for cattle grazing. These environmental changes can lead to reduced feed quality and availability, stressing cattle and potentially decreasing meat and milk production.
Technological solutions like decarbonization might not address the deeper social and political issues affecting environmental sustainability.
Emphasis on reducing carbon emissions often overshadows other environmental concerns such as biodiversity loss and pollution.
The current strategy of reducing emissions through technological means may neglect the underlying economic and political factors contributing to environmental degradation.
Key quote:
"Technology can, at best, kick conflicts down the road. Peace cannot be engineered."
— Peter Sutoris, environmental anthropologist
Why this matters:
Relying solely on decarbonization to achieve sustainability overlooks several critical aspects of environmental and societal health. Decarbonization primarily focuses on reducing carbon emissions, particularly from energy production and industrial processes, which is undoubtedly essential. However, sustainability is a broader concept that includes economic, social, and environmental balance.
Oregon’s Regenyx plant announced its closing in late February, with those involved calling it a success, despite never reaching planned capacity and millions of dollars lost.
