![]() ![]() The agency’s denial spurred the group’s lawsuit, calling for a judge at the Baton Rouge court to review the state’s decision. WWNO + Southwings An aerial view of Calcasieu Pass LNG, another Venture Global LNG gas export plant, which is under construction in Cameron Parish where the Calcasieu Shipping Channel meets the Gulf of Mexico. “This is essentially an out of time appeal of OCM’s (the Office of Coastal Management’s) determination, and I do not find that conditions have changed sufficiently for me to reopen this matter,” he said in an Oct. In late October, the Department of Natural Resources Secretary Thomas Harris rejected the groups’ petition, stating it came too late. “There would, therefore, be a high probability of runoff of landfill (during construction) and chemicals (during operation) being carried off the site and into homes, businesses, farmland, and fragile coastal wetlands,” he wrote in an expert opinion requested by the Sierra Club. Ivor van Heerdan, the former deputy director of LSU’s Hurricane Center, echoed those concerns, stating the site would likely be flooded “in the not-too-distant future” by storm surge from a major hurricane. If flooded, the groups argued that the waters could carry toxic chemicals used by the heavy industry off site into neighboring waters and communities. In 2022, construction of Plaquemines LNG began within the same stretch. ![]() WWNO Plaquemines Parish Sheriff Jerry Turlich and staff members talk with contractors working to drain an 18-mile stretch of the parish that experienced prolonged flooding after levees were overtopped by Hurricane Ida on September 2, 2022. The lawsuit also noted that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates that sea levels will rise another 1.5 to 2 feet off Louisiana’s coast by 2050 – the project’s minimum life span. Had the storm taken a different track, the groups said the maximum water height could have reached 37 feet – 11 feet higher than the planned levees. A private research firm, Atmospheric and Environmental Research, crafted the modeling using satellite technology, according to the lawsuit. ![]() The surge might have peaked about foot higher at 27 feet when combined with wave height. The modeling – completed after Ida’s submerged the site – suggested that had the plant already been built, the 26-foot-high levees planned by the company might have been overtopped by the Category 4 storm’s surge, according to the group's lawsuit. In 2020, the rationale was amended to state that the site was located at least five feet above sea level and wouldn’t have a significant impact on coastal waters. When the state first exempted Plaquemines LNG from a coastal use permit in 2019, it cited the planned storm protection levee as one of the reasons, according to the lawsuit. ![]() In August, the three environmental groups – the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, the Sierra Club and Healthy Gulf – petitioned the Department of Natural Resources to reconsider its decision, citing new computer modeling about the area’s storm surge risk. The plant is among more than a dozen LNG export terminals proposed in Louisiana, which has made the state at the epicenter of the fossil fuel industry's push to increase natural gas exports across the globe. It's also expected to create 250 local jobs. If completed, the LNG plant would export up to 20 million metric tonnes of natural gas per year by ship to other countries. In August 2019, Louisiana’s Department of Natural Resources determined that Venture Global LNG – a natural gas export company headquartered in Virginia – didn’t need a coastal use permit to construct a new $13.2 billion export plant called Plaquemines LNG.Ĭurrently under construction, the plant will span nearly a square mile of land about 20 miles south of New Orleans near the Myrtle Grove community – an area that was flooded during Hurricane Ida for weeks. Conversely, officials have touted LNG projects as a boon for the state and local economy. The groups fear the plant’s current site leaves it highly susceptible to flooding from hurricanes, which could lead to pollution in surrounding areas. Several environmental groups are suing Louisiana over its three-year-old decision to allow a 630-acre liquefied natural gas plant to move forward in Plaquemines Parish without a key coastal permit. ![]()
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