The A2 Times

For A2 environmental groups, Biden’s LNG decision cause for celebration — and caution

by Dorothy Terry

Travis Dardar (center front), founder of Fishermen Interested in Saving Our Heritage and Allyssa Portaro, founder and executive director of Habitat Recovery Project at a fishers’ protest in New Orleans in January. (Photo: Traverse Productions/Diego Henriquez)

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For fighters on the frontlines of the battle for environmental justice, the wins can seem few and far between.

But environmentalists had reason to celebrate recently when the Biden administration announced a pause on new permits to export liquified natural gas (LNG), pending updates by the Department of Energy (DOE) to its authorization process.

“I was really surprised. We were working on this for a while, and it seemed like we were getting no place.“

The White House states that DOE’s current authorization criteria are five years old and don’t account for considerations like potential energy cost increases and the impact of LNG production on greenhouse gas emissions.

For environmental organizations along Louisiana’s southwestern coast — an area burdened with LNG facilities and the health and environmental issues that accompany them — this win was met with a mix of emotions, ranging from jubilation and surprise to caution.

“I was really surprised,” said Cynthia Robertson, founder of Micah 6:8 Mission, a community group in Sulphur, La. “We were working on this for a while, and it seemed like we were getting no place.“

“It’s a good first step. There are over a dozen refineries already permitted that could still quadruple exports.”

Alyssa Portaro, founder and executive director of the Habitat Recovery Project in Vinton, La., was also surprised. Her group partners with Fishermen Interested in Saving Our Heritage (FISH) in Cameron, Louisiana, and other groups to fight the LNG industry. “We’re up against a Goliath,” said Portaro. “Gas and oil are a trillion-dollar industry.”

James Hiatt, executive director of A Better Bayou, speaks at a rally in New Orleans in January. (Photo: Traverse Productions/Diego Henriquez)

James Hiatt, executive director of For a Better Bayou in Lake Charles, Louisiana, said, “It’s a good first step.” Hiatt notes that while communities are celebrating and refineries are bemoaning the ruling, the decision doesn’t affect the permits already licensed. “There are over a dozen refineries already permitted that could still quadruple exports,” he said.

LNG landscape on the Gulf Coast

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the United States is the world’s largest producer of natural gas. Natural gas supplies about one third of the nation’s primary energy consumption and is mostly used for heating and generating electricity. While most natural gas is delivered in its gaseous form via pipeline in the U.S., the growing international market has increased demand for liquefied natural gas, or LNG, which has been cooled to a liquid state for shipping and storage. LNG has about 600 times less volume than its gaseous counterpart, enabling transport to places pipelines do not reach.

In 2023, the United States was the largest supplier of LNG to Europe according to CEDIGAZ, accounting for nearly half of total LNG imports. Various estimates put the economic benefits of the U.S. LNG industry in the trillions of dollars. But this productivity and profitability comes at a cost.

Profit over people

LNG facilities in southwestern Louisiana operate along the Calcasieu River in Calcasieu Parish, which has as high a cancer rate as Cancer Alley, so named for the unusually high incidence of cancer among residents living along an 85-mile industrial stretch of the Mississippi River that is clotted with polluting petrochemical plants that process fossil fuels into chemicals.

"It's the people in charge who know the harm and have the responsibility to make the decisions to make things safer.”

These industries are located mostly in low-income communities of color – so-called “sacrifice zones” – where the operation of and output from these facilities, including their accompanying toxic emissions, seem to take precedence over the health and well-being of residents.

“Many of the people who work at these facilities have shorter lifespans and get sick, but they feel they need to do it to get a good paycheck because there’s not much else offered here,” Portaro said. “We have nothing against the people who work there. They're trying to feed their families. It's the people in charge who know the harm and have the responsibility to make the decisions to make things safer.”

Robertson says her organization’s activism is not a fight against the LNG industry. “It's a fight for our health and the health of our environment.”

Since the LNG permitting pause, Micah 6:8 Mission, Robertson’s group, has hosted a community meeting to explain what the pause means and plan next steps. “We have to keep up our pressure on denying folks LNG permits,” she said, “and we also need to start making comments and making sure that those who are in power know that we're paying attention.”

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