Message From the Editor

This week, Sara Sneath brought us two powerful stories about Black communities in the Gulf Coast that are pushing back against polluting industries.

First, she reported on a lawsuit filed Tuesday in the Eastern District of Louisiana that alleges that the St. James Parish Council steered polluting facilities into Black neighborhoods along the Mississippi River. 

“We’re being ignored and we have to do whatever we have to do to stop it,” said Myrtle Felton, a lifelong resident of St. James Parish and co-founder of Inclusive Louisiana, a community group focused on environmental injustices.

Then on Friday we published her investigation into how fossil fuel companies have used permitting loopholes to fast-track LNG export projects near Black communities in Louisiana and Florida, despite local residents’ calls for greater scrutiny.

Others are calling for that too. Ivor van Heerden, the hurricane expert who warned that New Orleans’ levees could break years before Hurricane Katrina hit, is concerned about the disastrous and potentially lethal consequences of a hurricane hitting a liquified natural gas (LNG) export terminal.

“Once again we’ve got politicians and state agencies ignoring the facts, just like they did with Hurricane Katrina,” van Heerden said. “We’re going to have another catastrophe.”

Activists are suing state and federal agencies over the permit exemptions, and sending the message that “communities of color don’t want to be guinea pigs,” as Roishetta Ozane, the founder of The Vessel Project of Louisiana, told Sara.

Dive into both of these powerful stories with photos from Julie Dermansky. If they inform you or move you, please share them widely.

Have a story tip or feedback? Get in touch: [email protected]. Want to know what our UK team is up to? Sign up for our UK newsletter.

Thanks,
Brendan DeMelle
Executive Director

P.S. Powerful public-interest journalism like this is made possible by readers like you. Can you donate $10 or $20 right now to support more of this essential work?

Image credit: Julie Dermansky

Fossil Fuel Firms Use Permitting Loopholes to Fast-Track LNG Export Projects Near Black Communities

— By Sara Sneath (7 min. read) —

Years before Hurricane Katrina levee failures flooded New Orleans, a Louisiana hurricane expert warned federal officials of the potential for the levees to break. Now, Ivor van Heerden, the former deputy director of Louisiana State University’s Hurricane Center, is concerned about the disastrous and potentially lethal consequences of a hurricane hitting a liquified natural gas (LNG) export terminal under construction south of New Orleans.

“Once again we’ve got politicians and state agencies ignoring the facts, just like they did with Hurricane Katrina,” van Heerden said. “We’re going to have another catastrophe.”

Black Residents of Cancer Alley Sue Local Government for Discrimination in Siting Chemical Facilities

— By Sara Sneath (3 min. read) —

A discrimination lawsuit filed Tuesday in the Eastern District of Louisiana alleges that the St. James Parish Council steered polluting facilities into Black neighborhoods along the Mississippi River. As a result, Black residents there are forced to breathe in more pollution and face a higher risk of related health problems, according to the suit filed by Inclusive Louisiana, Mount Triumph Baptist Church, and RISE St. James.

“We’re being ignored and we have to do whatever we have to do to stop it,” said Myrtle Felton, a lifelong resident of St. James Parish and co-founder of Inclusive Louisiana, a community group focused on environmental injustices.

Pesticide Giant Criticised for ‘Greenwashing’ Partnership with French Influencer

— By Clare Carlile (5 min. read) —

Bayer, the world’s second largest crop chemicals company, sponsored a French influencer to create and share pro-pesticides content with over 300,000 followers on her Instagram account, an investigation has revealed.

Jenny Letellier – one of France’s biggest YouTubers with nearly 4 million subscribers – has come under fire for the sponsored content, which was broadcasted via a series of videos from France’s leading agriculture fair last month. This content was produced in conjunction with Morgan Niquet, a YouTuber with 1.3 million subscribers.

Corporate Greed Is a Root Cause of Rail Disasters Around the World

— By Justin Mikulka (3 min. read) —

On February 25, Greece experienced its deadliest rail disaster ever when a freight train ran headlong into a passenger train coming towards it on the same track, killing 57 people. This tragic accident, near the city of Larissa, occurred just weeks after the East Palestine, Ohio rail disaster, and while the outcomes are different, the root cause is the same: corporate greed and deregulation. 

While two trains colliding on the same tracks might seem unfathomable to Americans, it shouldn’t be. A similar accident occurred in Texas in 2016, a year after the U.S. rail industry refused to meet a Congressionally mandated deadline for installing a safety system called positive train control, which would have prevented the accident.

Big Oil Firms Touted Algae as Climate Solution. Now All Have Pulled Funding

— By Amy Westervelt, The Guardian (5 min. read) —

One by one, big oil firms have touted their investments in algae biofuels as the future of low-carbon transportation – and one by one, they have all dropped out. Now in the wake of the last remaining algae proponent, ExxonMobil, announcing its withdrawal, insiders say they are disappointed but not surprised.

Algae research was central to Exxon’s green marketing campaigns for years, and frequently criticized as greenwashing rather than a genuine research effort.

From the Climate Disinformation Database: Peer Ederer

Peer Ederer is a financial economist, business professor, and consultant to the agribusiness industry. Ederer’s consulting work focuses particularly on the meat and dairy sectors. Ederer is the founder of the Global Food and Agribusiness Network (GFAN), a “science-based service providing seminars and research to the global food system stakeholder community,” as well as the Global Observatory on Accurate Livestock Sciences (GOAL Sciences), an “initiative created and promoted” by GFAN. GOAL Sciences is described along similar lines as GFAN as a “science-based service to the global livestock stakeholder community.” Ederer is the creator of a video titled “Cows, Milk and Climate,” which supports the argument that cattle produced for the beef and dairy industry “cannot be made responsible for human-made climate change.”

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