FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 20, 2023
Dr. Beverly Wright, Environmental Justice Activists, and Community Leaders Will Travel to Baton Rouge to Oppose Approval of Louisiana’s Flawed Application
NEW ORLEANS, LA – On Wednesday, June 21, beginning at 1:00 pm CT, Dr. Beverly Wright of Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DSCEJ) will travel with environmental justice activists and local community leaders to Baton Rouge, where the US EPA will hold the first of a three-day hearing on its draft approval of the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources’ application for authority to permit the underground injection of carbon dioxide waste.
With a record of failure and mismanagement that resulted in destroying the Bayou Corne community, harming children and adults in Grand Bois, and leaving the state littered with leaking oil and gas wells, the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) submitted a flawed application for authority to permit an entirely new category of wells for underground disposal of carbon dioxide, a hazardous substance.
The EPA’s public hearing comes at a time when a new wave of gas-burning facilities are being proposed in Louisiana communities where the majority of residents are Black, Indigenous, and poor. Plans for many of these facilities include carbon capture and storage or CCS – a risky process that involves collecting carbon dioxide from industrial waste streams and transporting it via miles of pipeline to areas targeted for injecting the carbon dioxide underground for disposal.
Last week, the Louisiana legislature attempted to tackle problems in state laws governing carbon dioxide waste injection. One of these laws significantly reduced the time of a company’s liability for operating a carbon dioxide injection well from 50 years, which is required by federal regulations, to 10 years. The recent changes to the state laws trigger another review by the EPA with the opportunity for public notice and comment.
WHAT: EPA public hearing on Louisiana’s application for authority to permit the underground injection of carbon dioxide waste
WHO: Dr. Beverly Wright, Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, environmental justice activists, and community leaders
WHERE: Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, LaBelle Hearing Room, 1st Floor, LaSalle Building, 617 North 3rd Street in Baton Rouge, LA
The event will also be live-streamed HERE.
WHEN: Wednesday, June 21, from 1 pm – 5 pm and 6 pm – 8 pm
###
About the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice
Families in the Gulf Coast deserve to live in communities that are free from deadly air and are more resilient to climate change and extreme weather. The Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DSCEJ) works to empower and engage communities to put environmental justice and equity at the center of all climate action. Led by environmental justice scholar and advocate, author, civic leader, and professor of Sociology Dr. Beverly L. Wright, the DSCEJ uses research, education, and community and student engagement to advocate for policy change, lead health and safety training for environmental careers, develop social and emotional community wellness programs, and create new and environmentally healthy opportunities for the residents of communities disproportionately impacted by historic environmental injustice.
