Message From the Editor

Hurricane Ida’s destruction continues to be revealed. From pulverized homes and flooded cemeteries to oil slicks and toppled boats, the damage from this Category 4 storm is widespread in Louisiana, as photos by Julie Dermansky document. Amongst the rubble, a Cancer Alley pastor finds hope in the hurricane’s aftermath. But at the same time, coastal tribes face devastating circumstances and little government assistance more than a week after the Category 4 hurricane hit.

And a new report out this week finds that Indigenous resistance against the fossil fuel industry has helped to keep enormous volumes of carbon pollution out of the atmosphere. From drilling in the Arctic and the Keystone XL pipeline to the Jordan Cove liquefied natural gas project in Oregon, these delayed and canceled projects would have been responsible for nearly 800 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent, or about 12 percent of the total emissions of the U.S. and Canada in 2019. Nick Cunningham reports.        

Finally, across the pond, our UK team has revealed that in the past two years, British policymakers met with fossil fuel and biomass producers nine times as often as with their renewable energy counterparts raising fresh concerns over the depth of the government’s commitments to reaching net zero emissions by 2050. Phoebe Cooke has the story.

Have a story tip or feedback? Get in touch: [email protected]. 

Thanks,
Brendan DeMelle
Executive Director

P.S. Readers like you make it possible for DeSmog to hold accountable powerful people in industry and government. Even a $10 or $20 donation helps support DeSmog’s investigative journalism.

Aerial Photos Of Hurricane Ida’s Aftermath Show What ‘Code Red’ for the Planet Looks Like in South Louisiana

— By Julie Dermansky (4 min. read) —

Photos I shot on a flight on September 4, 2021 illustrate what United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres meant last month when he described the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report as a “code red” for human-driven global heating.

On a flight provided by Southwings, a non-profit that connects volunteer pilots with media, educational institutions, and conservation groups, I flew over many of the hardest hit areas in southern Louisiana, including Lafitte, Grand Isle, and Terrebonne Parish, where Isle de Jean Charles is located. 

Cancer Alley Pastor Finds Hope Amidst the Rubble When Facing Ida’s Aftermath

— By Julie Dermansky (7 min. read) —

When Pastor Lionel Murphy Jr. returned to his church in Reserve, Louisiana, on September 2 after evacuating before Hurricane Ida struck, he was devastated to find the building all but destroyed by the storm’s relentless winds and rain.

His church, the Tchoupitoulas Chapel, sits a couple miles north of the DuPont-Denka chemical plant, which makes neoprene (the synthetic rubber used in wet suits, for example) and is notorious for its toxic emissions. The building has served not only as a church but also as a meeting place for community and environmental activists fighting for clean air.

Coastal Tribes in Louisiana Are in Desperate Need After Ida Wallops Their Communities

— By Julie Dermansky (8 min. read) —

“I am in desperate need of a camper trailer,” Traditional Chief Shirell Parfait-Dardar of the Grand Caillou/Dulac Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Tribe, told me outside of her totaled home in Chauvin, Louisiana, about 70 miles southwest of New Orleans. Hurricane Ida, which made landfall in Louisiana with 150 mile per hour wind on August 31, took the roof off of her home and smashed to bits her sewing workshop, located next door. 

Parfait-Dardar and her family embody the word “resilience.” When I visited the family on September 7, her husband was working to create a shelter for the family amid the Category 4 storm’s destruction. 

Indigenous Resistance Instrumental in Stopping High-Profile Fossil Fuel Projects, Says Report

— By Nick Cunningham (7 min. read) —

The efforts of Indigenous peoples in North America have helped block or delay a long list of major fossil fuel projects over the past decade, successfully leading to the avoidance of a massive amount of greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new report.

“The numbers don’t lie. Indigenous peoples have long led the fight to protect Mother Earth and the only way forward is to center Indigenous knowledge and keep fossil fuels in the ground,” Dallas Goldtooth, a Keep It In The Ground organizer for Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), said in a statement. The report was coauthored by IEN and Oil Change International, a research and advocacy organization focused on transitioning away from fossil fuels.

UK Ministers Met 1-on-1 with Fossil Fuel and Biomass Producers Nine Times as Often as Renewables Since Kwasi Kwarteng Took Energy Portfolio

— ByPhoebe Cooke and Michela Pittalis (5 min. read) —

I am a surgical technologist (the “pass the scalpel guy” in the operating room) at one of the country’s most prestigious hospitals: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

In September 2019, I organized a fossil fuel pension plan divestment campaign at the hospital. More than 20 doctors, nurses, and other staff signed on to demand our pensions be divested from fossil fuels.  

The ‘Big Lie’ of Blue Hydrogen Starts With Ignoring Basic Economics

— By Justin Mikulka (7 min. read) —

As the oil and gas industry achieves success in pushing the world towards widespread adoption of methane-based blue hydrogen, some unexpected voices are calling out the industry on its deception of selling blue hydrogen as an affordable and clean source of energy. 

In August, Chris Jackson resigned as head of the UK Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association, calling blue hydrogen an “expensive distraction.” 

‘Twisting Words’: UK Oil Industry and Business Department Using Climate Change Committee to Justify New Drilling

— By Adam Barnett (5 min. read) —

The UK’s Business Department and the country’s leading oil and gas industry body have both been accused of citing the Climate Change Committee “out of context” in a bid to justify new developments in the North Sea.

Campaigners say the industry is “twisting the words” of the government’s independent climate advisers in a “shameless” attempt to promote its growth plans. 

From the Climate Disinformation Database: Alex Epstein

Alex Epstein is the director of the Center for Industrial Progress (CIP), a for-profit think tank he founded in 2011. Its mission is to “inspire Americans to embrace industrial progress as a cultural ideal.” Epstein is also a blogger at Master Resource, a “Free Market Energy Blog,” and a past fellow of the Ayn Rand Institute, an organization that has received funding from the Koch Foundations amounting to $100,000 between 2005 and 2011.

Read the full profile and browse other individuals and organizations in our Climate Disinformation Database and Koch Network Database.