Louisiana DEQ accused of bias in favor of power plant proposal | Environment

A consortium of community and environmental organizations has formally asked the state Department of Environmental Quality to withdraw from the air permitting process for a controversial chemical manufacturing and carbon capture facility planned for St. Charles Parish.

In their motion, the organizations said public statements made by the agency after a canceled public hearing on Sept. 26 showed the agency had already decided whether to grant the permit, which was a violation of state law pointed out that this had not yet happened and that an additional public hearing would be scheduled.

St. Charles Clean Fuels' proposed $4.6 billion “blue” ammonia plant would be located on land owned by New Orleans-based International-Matex Tank Terminals and would build the storage tanks needed to accommodate it of the liquefied ammonia are required before transport.

The project is located approximately half a mile from Elkinsville Freetown's historic majority-black St. Rose neighborhood.

The Sept. 26 public meeting at the St. Rose Public Library about the facility's air permit was canceled by the St. Rose Fire Department because the 60-person meeting hall was too small for the overflow crowd.

According to the motion to dismiss, the 60 seats in the library were quickly filled before the hearing began and DEQ officers stopped ushering people inside.

With the rest of the library building closed, a line of people formed in the parking lot surrounding the building, and people in the room called on the DEQ to postpone the hearing so more people could attend.

According to the filing, DEQ officials then told people they could submit written comments to the agency to request a second public hearing, but could not guarantee that one would take place.

“Therefore, most people stayed and waited for the hearing to begin,” the filing states. DEQ officers then allowed more people into the room, bringing the number inside to 150 to 200.

Then the meeting began and individuals were told they had four minutes to speak. But after only three members of the public commented, Ronnie Francis, an official with the St. Rose Fire Department, said the number of people in the room would have to be reduced to the 60-person capacity or the hearing would have to be canceled.

DEQ Hearing Officer Mike Daniels, a member of the agency's legal department, had since called DEQ Secretary Aurelia Giacometto, according to the filing. It said Giacometto had approved adjourning the hearing and that the agency would postpone it and extend the official public comment period for approval beyond the Sept. 30 deadline.

On Sept. 30, DEQ's communications office sent a statement to The Times-Picayune and The Advocate answering questions about the cancellation and postponement of the meeting.

“The events of September 26 were unacceptable,” the statement said.

“The disruption at the St. Charles Clean Fuels air permitting meeting was an organized attempt to impede economic growth and prosperity for the state and local communities,” the statement said.

“We are working on rescheduling the meeting to a later date. While we welcome public comments and questions, it is important to maintain a peaceful atmosphere during the proceedings to ensure the safety of our staff and participants.”

DEQ officials did not respond to a request for comment on the denial request.

According to the filing, the agency's statements “called the events at the hearing 'unacceptable' and suggested that the hearing on 26 LDEQ is 'biased or biased' in favor of the St. Charles power plant application and against the citizen groups.”

“LDEQ cannot decide to issue this authorization until it receives public comment, but their statement reflects that they have done just that,” said JR Greenwalt, a Tulane student attorney who helped draft the contributed to the application in a press release announcing its submission.

“The concerned residents of the St. Rose community duly appeared to attend the LDEQ public hearing,” Rev. Art Blue, an Elkinsville native who attended the hearing, said in the news release. “I can assure you. There will be more residents present at the next scheduled public hearing.”

“Establishing an ammonia plant in our neighborhood would definitely hinder our growth and the growth of our children and grandchildren,” Malcolm Darensbourg, a St. Rose resident, said in the news release.

The filing also notes that Kimbrelle Eugene Kyereh of Refined Community Empowerment sent the agency an email on Sept. 20 asking that the hearing be moved to Albert Cammon Middle School, where there are enough There would have been room for the crowd. On September 25, a day before the hearing, Kyereh sent a second email asking whether the meeting would be postponed.

Denise Roderick of the DEQ Office of Public Participation responded the same day that the hearing would be held at the library without explanation.

The proposed ammonia plant is considered a “blue” manufacturing process because it uses carbon capture and permanent underground storage to remove more than 90% of carbon emissions rather than releasing them into the air. So-called “green” ammonia plants use chemicals that produce no carbon emissions.

The motion to dismiss was filed Friday by the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic on behalf of Refined Community Empowerment Inc., Gaynell Ellis, the Sierra Club, Concerned Citizens of St. John, Green Army and the Descendants Project.

According to Lisa Jordan, director of the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic, applications asking DEQ to withdraw from its own permitting process are rare and have not been filed in the last 25 years.

Previous examples included one involving DEQ bias in favor of a proposed Shintech chemical plant in St. James Parish in 1997, and two alleged agency biases against waste companies in the Baton Rouge area in 1985 and in Iberia Parish in 1991, she said.