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(New Orleans, LA) – PLAQUEMINES
PARISH, LA - Last week, Deep South
Center for Environmental Justice, Sierra Club,
and Healthy
Gulf filed a petition for judicial review against the Louisiana
Department of Natural Resources (LDNR). This petition follows the LDNR’s
decision in a one-page letter to illegally exempt Venture Global
Plaquemines LNG, LLC from obtaining a Coastal Use Permit for further
development of a fracked gas export facility under construction in Southern
Louisiana. The LDNR’s decision provides no analysis, finding of facts, or
any showing that it considered the data and scientific reports showing the
immense damage that can result from the Venture Global Plaquemines LNG
facility.
Located
35 miles south of New Orleans in the Plaquemines Parish coastal zone, the
Venture Global LNG facility will contribute to the climate crisis and cause
irrevocable damage to surrounding communities of color. Construction of the
site will destroy nearly 400 acres of vulnerable wetlands that serve as a
storm buffer for nearby communities including New Orleans.
An affidavit by Dr.
Ivor Van Heerden concludes that the existing and proposed levees around
the LNG site are inadequate, risking surge flooding and levee failure for
major hurricanes and other severe storms. “Substantial design flaws in the
proposed storm wall and construction process pose substantial risk of a
levee failure. Failure of any levee and especially the I-wall ring dike
will result in catastrophic release of chemical contaminants towards
Barataria Bay impacting wetlands as well as the waters of the Bay. The
impact to wetland fauna and flora would be immense,” according to Dr. Van Heerden’s
affidavit.
Just
last year, Hurricane Ida, a Category 4 storm, flooded the site for over a
month. With an operational LNG facility at the location, a similar storm
would release pollution into homes, businesses, farmland, and coastal
waters. Further disruption to these coastal lands continues an unjust
pattern of people of color bearing the brunt of the climate crisis despite
contributing to it the least.
By
not requiring Venture Global to obtain a Coastal Use Permit, the LDNR has
put the priorities of a large corporation ahead of the safety of families
in Plaquemines Parish. Despite input from the scientific community and
lessons from previous natural disasters, the LDNR unlawfully ignored the
damaging effects of the facility. When presented with facts and data
necessitating Venture Global Plaquemines LNG apply for a Coastal Use
Permit, Thomas Harris, Secretary of the LDNR, said, ". . . I do
not find that conditions have changed sufficiently for me to reopen this
matter.”
"The
LDNR continues its track record of failure to execute its duty as a public
trustee under the Louisiana Constitution which harms Black and Indigenous
communities and damages our coast,” said Monique Harden, Assistant
Director of Law and Public Policy at Deep South Center for Environmental
Justice. “Venture Global is not above the law that requires companies to
minimize harm in a coastal zone."
“The
LDNR's refusal to require a Coastal Use Permit for Venture Global's
Plaquemines LNG facility puts frontline communities and precious Louisiana
coastal waters at severe risk, and we look forward to the court's review,”
said Lisa Diaz, attorney for Sierra Club.
"The
people of Louisiana have to endure enough with natural disasters
threatening our coast and way of life. We absolutely do not need the
compounded risk of environmental damage caused by facilities in the
aftermath of detrimental storms, yet we see this happen time and time
again,” said Jessi Parfait, a citizen of the United Houma Nation and
Sierra Club Beyond Dirty Fuels Campaign Representative. “In the face of
evidence, LDNR is refusing to do what is right and are instead choosing to
risk the lives and health of communities who are already vulnerable because
as a resident of coastal Louisiana, we know it isn't a matter of if we
will get another big storm but when.”
"The
LDNR's decision that a Coastal Use Permit isn't required runs contrary to
what we know about this Environmental Justice community in Plaquemines
Parish that already had a backlog of wetlands restoration needs before the
impacts of Hurricane Ida," said Scott Eustis, Community Science
Director for Healthy Gulf.
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Contact:
Ginger
LeBlanc | gingerl@dscej.org
Valerie
Keys | vkeys@skdknick.com
About the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice
Families
in the Gulf Coast deserve to live in communities that are free from deadly
air and are more resilient to climate change and extreme weather. The
Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DSCEJ) works to empower
and engage communities to put environmental justice and equity at the
center of all climate action. Led by environmental justice scholar and
advocate, author, civic leader and professor of Sociology Dr. Beverly L.
Wright, the DSCEJ uses research, education, and community and student
engagement to advocate for policy change, lead health and safety training
for environmental careers, develop social and emotional community wellness
programs, and create new and environmentally healthy opportunities for the
residents of communities disproportionately impacted by historic
environmental injustice.
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