By Anna Hrybyk, Louisiana Bucket Brigade Program Manager

Did you go outside on Sunday morning and get a whiff of burning oil and chemicals?  Did you get a headache this weekend?  I myself did not let the children out to play Sunday morning because the air in New Orleans was making me sick.

There are several sources of chemical pollution that have been reported for Sunday January 15^th:

•  Turbine oil burning from Entergy Waterford 1&2 in St. Charles parish http://alerts.skytruth.org/report/c188184c-fa8b-3587-be93-b10e58982c7d#c=LABB

•  Sodium Carbonate Peroxyhydrate leaking from a rail car in Avondale: http://www.nola.com/environment/index.ssf/2012/01/south_korean_container_has_sma.html

• Paraquat Dichloride in the air from a tank in Westwego: http://alerts.skytruth.org/report/c8488141-7e80-37e2-8438-97a02423b70c – c=rss

Keep in mind that these three accidents are chemical releases that have been reported.  In Louisiana, we are surrounded by a petrochemical industry that consistently does not report because it compromises the bottom line.

On Monday January 16^th, Dr. King’s day, folks in North Baton Rouge woke up to a release of the cancer causing chemical Vinyl Chloride from Formosa Plastics.

http://alerts.skytruth.org/report/20acecfa-1ffa-3a07-b136-9bd619ea739d – c=rss

In 2012, I urge you to pay attention to pollution in your environment.  It is not in the corporate interest to report and the state is “cozy with industry” so it is up to you and only you to report environmental crimes.  What do you see, smell, hear and feel?  Report it to our iWitness Pollution Map via text (504) 27 27 OIL, or email report@labucketbrigade.org or online at map.labucketbrigade.org.

In the spirit of Dr. King, we cannot rest until environmental injustice is overcome.

Residents for Air Neutralization: We are supporting this Shreveport based group in their goal to pressure Calumet Refining to buy their contaminated properties. In August, an unannounced EPA inspection corroborated residents’ concerns about the refinery.  EPA confirmed that Calumet has a problem with releases of hydrogen sulfide, a neurotoxin and a respiratory irritant that endangers residents and workers alike. (http://www.labucketbrigade.org/article.php?id=949)

Environmental Justice Corps: This program develops a new generation of African American leaders in the Environmental Health and Justice Movement. We graduated two Fellows in August of 2011 who worked in the areas of fundraising and public health.

Istrouma Health Partnership: Our program goal isto prevent exposure to emissions in the Istrouma neighborhood of Baton Rouge. There are 15 petrochemical plants surrounding over 55,000 people, including 30 schools and 38 daycares.  This petrochemical complex includes ExxonMobil refinery, the second largest refinery in the country.

Social Enterprise: Lenora Gobert, our first ever Social Entrepreneur, has developed two income generating plans, including one entitled Mardi Gras: Made in Louisiana. The goals of this project are to raise money for the LABB, reduce Mardi Gras’ demand for petrochemicals and spur the local economy. Details coming soon…

Membership

Money raised: 34,779

New members ($15 or more): 1,037

Doors knocked on: 21,641

Conversations held: 6,565

Oil Spill Response: To increase the accountability of the oil industry following the BP disaster. Our post spill survey of 954 households found nearly half have unusual health problems. This remains the largest face to face survey since the disaster.

Refinery Efficiency Initiative: The goal of this program is to reduce accidents at the 17 refineries around the state. We created this program in late 2007 to take advantage of a national political climate more conducive to protecting the environment. Our strategy is paying off.

Just as federal intervention has been crucial for oversight of public housing, civil rights, education and the police department, so it is that we need intervention in the realm of the environment.  As the Times Picayune headline noted in an article on December 13, 2011, “Louisiana flunks at enforcing air, water laws.” (http://www.nola.com/environment/index.ssf/2011/12/louisiana_flunks_at_enforcing.html)

January 2011 – Monthly conference calls with EPA begin. Community members from Shreveport (Residents for Air Neutralization – RAN) and Baton Rouge (Community Empowerment for Change – CEC) join the calls to provide updates about local refinery problems.

March 2011 – EPA announces that they have created a temporary staff position to engage with LABB on our Refinery Efficiency Initiative.

May 2011 ­– As the Army Corps of Engineers prepares for the Mississippi floods, our research discovers that the state is not preparing for the inundation of thousands of waste pits with oil and toxic chemicals. (http://www.labucketbrigade.org/article.php?id=737)

June 2011 – Program Manager Anna Hrybyk provides the enforcement division with a review of the beleaguered ExxonMobil’s Chalmette Refining consent decree (thank you Tulane Environmental Law Clinic), pointing out deficiencies and missed deadlines.

July 2011 – Anna testifies before the legislative environmental committee regarding the Pearl River fish kill. She puts the accident in context: chronic failure of state oversight facilitates sloppy operations and causes accidents, not only at refineries, but at industry throughout the state.

August 2011 – Due to ongoing pressure from RAN, the EPA conducts a surprise inspection at Calumet Refinery. The findings are so devastating that the refinery manager admits non-compliance and sheepishly tells the EPA that “he knows what good looks like and recognizes that Calumet is not there.” http://www.labucketbrigade.org/downloads/Inspection%20of%20Calumet%20Specialty%20Products,%20LP%208.2011_1.pdf (p.21 )

September 2011 – Seven refineries report accidents during Tropical Storm Lee, with four of those accidents attributed to the storm. LABB renews calls for improved storm preparedness. Refineries know heavy rains happen here and should be better prepared.   (http://www.labucketbrigade.org/article.php?id=753)

October 2011 – Staff and volunteers of LABB travel to EPA headquarters in Dallas with members of Residents for Air Neutralization. Review of refinery emergency preparedness plans finds woeful documentation.

November 2011 – The annual release of our research into refinery accidents exposes that refineries had nearly an accident a day in 2010. Thank you to the United Steelworkers who released this report with CEC, RAN and LABB. (http://www.labucketbrigade.org/downloads/CGIII%20-%20Long%20Version.pdf)

The result of all of this work is to engage the EPA, especially their enforcement division. The goal is to let industry, especially the oil industry, know that we are serious in this state about upholding the law.

Thank you for making this possible.

Monday began with a bang. On my way to work I learned that Sen. David Vitter and Rep. Jeff Landry were at it again – planning to meet with officials in the regional office of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE). The news report stated that these congressmen were going to urge BSEE (which is part of the Department of the Interior and was previously the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, or BOEMRE) to relax oversight of drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Based on public statements from the congressmen, I felt sure the subject of oil industry accidents was not going to come up in their meeting. Yet it should.

Sen. David Vitter and Rep. Jeff Landry speak to the press after their push to speed up permits for drilling in the Gulf. Image from WGNO

Oil industry accidents are an epidemic in this state, not only offshore but on shore in refineries as well. The BP Oil Disaster is the worst example of problems in the industry, yet every week brings a new example. Just a few days ago, ExxonMobil’s Chalmette Refining released so many chemicals that residents on the West Bank were impacted. In usual fashion, the industry stuck its head in the sand and downplayed the problem: “The official insisted that most of the chemical release is being burned before it reaches the air” (Fox8 News). This is rarely the case, as we’ve found facilities rarely monitor combustion rates at the flare. But the bigger indicator? The news reports detailing foul air and concerned residents talking about the health effects as a result of the emissions.

With our state’s politicians – Democratic and Republican alike – ignoring these accidents and the threat to public health, the industry can utter false statements and feel confident of getting away with it. After all, they always have.

But that needs to stop. We need more oversight and enforcement, not less. According to the Coast Guard’s National Response Center, there have been 3,740 accidents in the Gulf of Mexico in the last year (September 2010-September 2011). On shore, refineries’ reports to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality detail that, since 2005, the state’s 17 refineries have averaged nine accidents a week. The bottom line is that – according to reports that come largely from the oil industry – there have been more than 4,000 oil industry accidents in Louisiana in the last 12 months.

Something is drastically wrong.

There is so much compelling evidence about why we need more oversight. The last month has seen copious justification:

• BOEMRE’s final report about the BP Oil Disaster found that BP, TransOcean and Halliburton violated seven federal regulations in the period leading up to the oil spill;
• Scientists, including LSU’s Andrew Whitehead, released findings that the cocahoe minnow, a base of the Gulf of Mexico’s food chain, has been seriously impacted by the oil spill. Does this presage the decline of our fisheries?
• The high accident rate in the Gulf of Mexico, as detailed by a report by the Riverkeeper Alliance.

Vitter and Landry, as usual, spoke about the jobs provided by the oil industry. But, also as usual, they did not address the economic cost of the industry. What about the jobs lost on the Gulf Coast because of the oil spill? Other costs include destruction of our coast, our fisheries, oyster leases and shrimping grounds as well as ongoing pollution that sends people to the hospital and keeps them home from work and school. How can a child with asthma reach her potential when the refinery next door makes her too sick to do her homework?

Instead of going to BSEE to complain about oversight, our congressmen might have taken actions to serve their constituents. How about spending time with Andrew Whitehead, the LSU scientist, to learn about his findings? Or how about a visit to the BP claims facility? On the day of their myopic mission, the Times Picayune ran a story entitled “BP says claims facility is overpaying.” Did Landry and Vitter follow up on this story?

It’s bad enough that our congresspeople do not encourage oversight. What is tragic is the public cost of their misspent time.

But I am not discouraged. Common sense and the facts are on our side. So is what is right. More than 3,500 oil industry accidents and counting. I plan to keep counting.

“How did you get here?” A man bluntly asks after I tell him I’m at his doorstep to protect our community from industrial pollution. “We carpooled” I answer. He proceeds to defend our larger corporate neighbors, refineries and petrochemical facilities that line the Mississippi River. He touts the jobs and economic benefit they provide. “Don’t you think that these people are concerned about safety?” I agree in believing that they are, but talk about the need for responsibility for our greater public health. “Well, why don’t we send all of our jobs and pollution over to China?” he states while raising his voice.

I assure him that the industry is vital to Louisiana, but we should not have to bear the burden of national consumption. I tell him that the schools around ExxonMobil Baton Rouge have the worst air quality in the country. He’s mad; mad about our economy, mad about congress not doing enough, mad that I think his industry is being demonized. I’m not changing his mind tonight. I hand him a flier for our Refinery Accident Database, encouraging him to enter his zip code to see the pollution in our area as I wish him well and move on to his neighbor. I remind myself that it is people like him who strengthen my resolve in spreading our message, while others are carried with me as an inspiration.

Over in Algiers: “I was a safety inspector for Shell Norco in the late 90s. We used to open up the catalytic cracker and wash it out into the river. If you had a $50,000-a-year job, would you risk it by reporting?” I could feel that passion in his words and the dilemma of his past. I was walking to his neighbor’s house and he delivered the letter to me, “Thank you, and keep up the good work” Even though he couldn’t get involved financially, he understood the necessity of what we are doing. He and his wife wrote an articulate letter to ExxonMobil’s refinery manager, urging him to consider our children’s future in the company’s decisions.

On a hot September day in Uptown, I was explaining that the majority of refinery pollution happens during storms – hurricanes, tropical storms, even just heavy rain. The man replies with a chuckle: “I’m actually leaving for a rig tomorrow, off the coast of Trinidad.” He invites me up to his apartment while he gets his checkbook. “You think things are bad in Louisiana, you can’t imagine what happens when we get into international waters.” I thank him graciously, leaving with a handshake and a “thank you for your work” ringing in my ears.

Our membership, the people who live in refinery communities in Louisiana, is an incredible diverse group of individuals, with complicated opinions about the industry that surrounds them. These stories are just a sample of what our Community Organizers hear every day. They are a powerful testament to the importance of the work that we do that would not be possible without the support of our members. I hope you will consider getting involved today.

He threatened her job, and so I leave them both anonymous – Mr. Anonymous and Ms. Anonymous, who both provide services to children in Baton Rouge’s Istrouma community (outside the cluster of petrochemical facilities including ExxonMobil, the second largest refinery in the country). His stated fear to her was that she may “frighten families in the community” by partnering with activists, including LABB, in their research to determine the health impacts of the environmental pollution the children are exposed to daily.

Children bike through a nearly empty neighborhood along the edge of ExxonMobil's Baton Rouge refinery. The facility bought out many properties on its fenceline. Photo by Monique Verdin

That families are not already frightened is the more genuine concern.

Reports have already been released, and it is disturbing that a nationally acclaimed news source like USA Today has revealed the level of toxins in Istrouma are among the highest in the nation. Yet, local stakeholders are not driven to act. It is additionally alarming that the same article reported that of the almost 2,000 schools researched, the schools that ranked in the 1st percentile with the highest levels of exposure to pollutants are those right there in the same community. Such a reality should not only be frightening, it should effectively piss people off. More importantly, it should infuriate Mr. Anonymous in his professional capacity as a community servant to protect the safety of the children he is charged to serve.

But it didn’t, and I don’t know how he slept that night.

I don’t mean that in the way the cliché is commonly intended. I genuinely mean that I don’t know how Mr. Anonymous slept that night. Unlike some of the communities he serves, maybe his home is far removed from those immediately adjacent to these toxic facilities where people go to sleep each night “ready to roll” in case of an explosion, as one community member told us. Does that allow him to assume he is immune and, therefore, he personally experiences no sense of urgency? Or maybe he does. I mean maybe, just maybe, he had behaved in the manner he felt he must in that moment. Mr. Anonymous may feel he acted to protect his job, but at home in silence with his head to his pillow and his heart to God, maybe it crushed him. Maybe, it crushed him as much as it crushed Ms. Anonymous when he reminded her just how much she liked her job.

I know this is wishful thinking.

As an organizer, I reach out to community members and power brokers. I have to gauge what their reaction will be. Will they act in fear? If they react in fear, will it be the fear that provokes one to hide their head in the sand or the fear that invokes a passion for justice? After all, whether or not one lives adjacent to a facility that emits environmental waste does not mean they are not affected by the pollutants. Didn’t Baton Rouge residents recently inhale smoke fumes from a marsh fire all the way in New Orleans for several days this past week? Why would the travel of pollutants be any different?

Perhaps, the real problem is one’s ability to believe in their own immunity of such environmental injustices. Perhaps, the real problem is that in failing to understand we truly must be “our brother’s keeper,” we forget that we ARE our brother. We are one.

Ms. Anonymous likes her job. Like most people, she needs her job. She will do what she must to keep it. It is unfortunate that she recognized the inherent gift that all people possess the ability to amass power for the protection of their families and for the betterment of their neighbors, but she was still stifled. Mr. Anonymous was more concerned about worrying parents than assisting researchers who sought to improve community health. His threat to her, though he spoke with the most pleasant smile, was very effective. Ms. Anonymous wanted to keep her job, so she agreed with him and is now silent. But the fight continues.

Others will speak. Not just for Istrouma, but for us all.

This report was compiled using reports submitted to the National Response Center. Responsible parties are required to notify the NRC within 24 hours of a chemical release, though the NRC also accepts unverified reports from bystanders. NRC reports rarely include specific details of accidents, the amount of material(s) released or follow-up information. Despite these limitations, NRC reports still represent one of the only ways the public can access timely information about accidents involving hazardous materials.

You can find more information about NRC reports here. Also, read a press release LABB sent out Sept. 8 about these accidents.

A follow-up hearing of the Louisiana State Senate Committee on Environmental Quality to discuss the August Pearl River fish kill featured state agencies, parish officials and locals, but not the culprit — Temple-Inland.

Officials from the paper mill were scheduled to appear, but contacted committee Chairman Sen. J.P. Morrell just 30 minutes before the meeting to say they would not attend. Morrell told the full crowd at the Northshore Harbor Center in Slidell that Temple-Inland had sent along a written statement, but he would not put residents through hearing him read it. He also said the committee should have served subpoenas to Temple-Inland to ensure they would show up.

Funny, a lawyer in the public comment period of the last meeting said the exact same thing!

Temple-Inland had sent a representative to the first Senate meeting Aug. 22 in Bogalusa. But according to a blog post filed by LABB’s Anna Hrybyk after that meeting, the representative had little to say besides a prepared statement. And most Senate questions were met with the response “I don’t know.”

Thankfully, the Senate committee didn’t seem to let the paper mill’s uncooperative attitude slide, and suggested to Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Peggy Hatch that her team take this into account when issuing penalties. LDEQ gave an update on its continued monitoring of the Pearl River and water quality (Everything looks good, folks! Nothing to worry about!), and said a more recent, smaller fish kill in the river was related to Tropical Storm Lee and not Temple-Inland.

That statement was met with stifled laughter and shaking heads from the crowd.

A matter of confusion between Senate committee members and LDEQ seemed to be about the “black liquor,” a byproduct of paper-making with a high pH that Temple-Inland illegally dumped into the river, which depleted oxygen and led to the fish kill. The paper mill is allowed to dump a certain amount of treated wastewater into the river, per permits with LDEQ (though St. Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis noted the facility has been operating under an expired permit for quite some time). The paper mill is not allowed to dump the “black liquor,” so it usually recycles the chemicals or stores it in the facility.

As one LDEQ official said, “The spill wasn’t part of their normal discharges.”

As to what chemicals are in black liquor, an LDEQ official explained that sodium hydroxide is used to cook and separate wood fibers at the paper mill, which leads to the sludge waste. But LDEQ acknowledged that besides sodium hydroxide, other chemicals could have been dumped into the river with the black liquor. They are still trying to determine what other chemicals were involved.

An official from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries said that current estimates from the fish kill show more than 151,000 fish were killed, consisting of 26 species. That number included 139 paddlefish and 26 Gulf sturgeon (an endangered species). Also, more than 145,000 mussels were killed. The state has restitution values for each fish killed and higher price tags for endangered species (Gulf sturgeon is set at $2,762 per fish).

A member of the Honey Island Conservation Program disputed the accuracy of LWF’s numbers during public comment, saying she witnessed two LWF employees standing on a bank of the river that was covered in dead paddlefish. One turned to the other and said, “Do you think there’s about 40 dead paddlefish here?” The other agreed and they moved on. She said based on that encounter, she doubts LWF took a true count of dead Gulf sturgeon or any other fish.

Several Senate members agreed on that point, saying certain species may have sank to the bottom or went into holes to die.

Another matter of contention was the fact that Temple-Inland quickly went back into operation after LDEQ approved their request to begin discharging wastewater into the river again. LDEQ’s Peggy Hatch said their approval came with some requirements, including upgrades to its wastewater tanks and expanding ponds to prevent spills from leaving the facility.

St. Tammany Parish President Davis asked if these requirements took into account heavy rain events that could cause overflow of such tanks — the mill began operating again right before Tropical Storm Lee. An LDEQ official acknowledged that “I don’t think rain events were discussed. That probably should have been done.”

The fact that stormwater capacity wasn’t considered is a problem that wasn’t lost on the St. Tammany official or most of the community members in the crowd. Refineries and chemical plants in the state have long cited rain events as a frequent cause of accidents, and LABB has reported on this before, even in direct communications with LDEQ.

As Pearl River resident Sergio deRada told the committee during public comment: “It sounds like DEQ are spokespersons for the mill.”

Throughout the meeting, the news that International Paper, the largest pulp and paper maker, is buying Temple-Inland came up. Many wondered if this purchase would affect the new requirements for the mill after the spill, but Hatch said the agreed-upon infrastructure changes would stand. Sen. Morrell said at least twice that International Paper has an “impeccable” environmental record and would likely be a much better neighbor to Pearl River communities than Temple-Inland.

Time will tell.

By Benjamin Leger, Development and Communications Coordinator 

On Tuesday, Aug. 16, after the workday was over, a small group of community members sat in a meeting room of Murphy Oil USA’s office building in Chalmette, just a few blocks away from the tank farms and smoke stacks of the company’s Meraux refinery.

Boom lines a canal between Murphy Oil and the surrounding neighborhood in St. Bernard Parish in a February 2010 photo. The refinery often discharges into neighborhood canals rather than increase the plant's storm water capacity.

Several months ago, Murphy Oil went into a settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency (read more on that here) that, among other things, required monthly community meetings to update residents on equipment upgrades, emissions data and measures to reduce pollution that are required as part of the agreement.

If that already sounds boring to you, I wouldn’t disagree. As part of my job at LABB, I’ve had to gain some basic knowledge about refinery terminology – things like reportable quantities, fugitive emissions, root cause analysis and flare gas recovery systems. But I still have trouble with things like the catalytic cracking unit, scrubbers or sour water strippers. I can only imagine how the average resident feels about such language.

The meetings are hosted and facilitated by Murphy Oil personnel, meaning that you’d have to brush up on your knowledge of permit limits for sulfur dioxide, benzene, toluene and others (and their respective abbreviations) to understand much of the presentation. Add to that the monotonous tone of the proceedings and you’d be forgiven for confusing the slide on annual SO₂ flared figures from the slide about NO_x  targets of 20 ppm and 7-day averages of 55 ppm.

And as one community member noted after the meeting, that’s kind of the point. The first community meeting after the settlement saw a large attendance, and it’s decreased since then. Murphy Oil is trying to “keep it boring,” the community member said, so that residents will lose interest. This was clear as refinery representatives zipped through slides quickly, though they did stop to answer questions and provided a brief comment period at the end. Just don’t ask to have a copy of the presentation afterward, because that’s not part of the settlement agreement. “But you can take notes,” a refinery representative told me.

What was meant, at least in the settlement, as an attempt at transparency and a dialogue between the refinery and nearby residents appears crafted to slowly diminish until the refinery can say “We tried, but no one showed up.”

On the plus side, the meeting did offer some information about a new air monitoring system that was recently installed to the northwest of Murphy Oil. Residents can see hourly readings for hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide and particulate matter from the monitor at venturadrivemonitor.com.

As a guide: the EPA sets health limits for exposure to certain chemicals. Sulfur dioxide (measured in the monitor data as parts per million) should not exceed a 24-hour average of 0.14 ppm. For particulate matter-10, the limit is 150 micrograms per cubic meter (micrograms/m3) for a 24-hour average. Louisiana currently has no standard limit for hydrogen sulfide, though other states do because of the chronic human health risk. Occupational Health & Safety explains the health effects associated with various levels of exposure to hydrogen sulfide.

Kudos go to Concerned Citizens Around Murphy, the grassroots community group that’s been heavily involved in the settlement process and the subsequent meetings — they’ve also done their part to publicize the meetings in local media. They are the ones who call the refinery, the EPA and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality whenever there’s an odor or chemicals floating down the canal between their homes and the refinery. They are the ones whose advocating for reduced emissions and improvements to the community led to the settlement. They are on the front lines when accidents happen at Murphy, and the refinery would do right to keep them engaged.

In our work at LABB, we recognize the challenge of understanding confusing refinery data that’s faced by fenceline neighbors who often have no connections to the facility. They know they don’t want pollution in their neighborhood, and they know the facilities aren’t always doing what they are supposed to, but they don’t have the training or the information to combat this. That’s why LABB trains residents to take their own air samples and understand the results. We are constantly in communities sharing refinery accident data in ways they can understand.

And refineries like Murphy Oil should be doing the same if they want to be considered a good neighbor.

Anna Hrybyk is the program manager for LABB.

In my previous job, I worked in India to build community capacity to prepare for and respond to disasters like tsunamis, hurricanes, flooding and drought. What happened with the Temple-Inland paper mill in Bogalusa was a disaster – a man-made chemical emergency and a serious threat to public and environmental health. The paper mill dumped hundreds of millions of gallons of wood pulp sludge into the Pearl River, a state wildlife treasure, killing hundreds of thousands of fish, millions of mussels, turtles and the endangered Gulf sturgeon.

LABB was asked to testify to the State Senate Committee on Environmental Quality on August 22 in Bogalusa. My testimony was last after the following cast of the Pearl River chemical disaster:

• Secretary Peggy Hatch, Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality
• Department of Health and Hospitals, Office of Public Health
• Department of Wildlife and Fisheries
• Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness
• St. Tammany Parish President
• Washington Parish President
• Bogalusa City Mayor
• Temple-Inland Bogalusa Paper Mill
• Paul Orr, Louisiana Environmental Action Network/Lower Mississippi River Keeper

Dead fish are seen floating in the Pearl River. Photo from the Times-Picayune

Though we are not currently working with communities close to the Temple-Inland paper mill, there are several issues in this incident that highlight the dangerous lack of preparedness for chemical emergencies in this state – something our organization is committed to addressing.

We deal with disasters like this one frequently. Refinery accidents alone average 10 per week statewide. This does not count paper mills or chemical plants. Reports to the National Response Center for hazardous industry throughout the state average 100-200 per month (click here for an example of an NRC report from last week).

We have been analyzing trends in these accidents since 2005 (refinery reports are uploaded to our Refinery Accident Database) and we consistently see wastewater and chemical releases to nearby bodies of water, particularly during rainstorms. Residents in St. Bernard joke “Cloudy with a chance of oil,” because of the frequency of stinky petrochemical waste from Chalmette Refining or Murphy Oil spilling over into neighborhood canals and ditches where children fish and play whenever there’s a downpour. When I presented our analysis (taken from the Common Ground report) to the St. Bernard Emergency Planning Commission on June 27, the response from commission chairman and St. Bernard Fire Chief Thomas Stone was less than comforting for a person who was supposed to ensure our public health and safety during emergencies. He told me and the commission: “Well, I guess we will have to ban rainstorms, then.”  No, you have to plan for them.

According to the written notification on the wood pulp sludge spill from Temple-Inland to LDEQ dated Aug. 14, the “black liquor” was released into the Pearl River in the early morning of Aug. 9. The facility failed to provide any initial verbal or written notification about this release, which is against the law. If a person knowingly let oil into the water, the Coast Guard would handcuff them and place them under arrest.

LDEQ did not arrive on the scene to sample the water until Aug. 14, five days after the wood pulp sludge was dumped into the river. They also sampled at the site of the release, when most of the “black liquor” and dead fish had already moved downstream. As to be expected, they did not find any chemicals of concern.

Even though the facility submitted a letter to LDEQ on Aug. 14 describing the sequence of events, the public still does not know how much black liquor was released and what chemicals the black liquor contained. Why is this important? If we knew how much of what chemicals were released, we could choose an appropriate sampling regimen that would test for chemicals actually released (not just what we assume) with appropriate detection limits and we could design public health advisories that were protective. The LDEQ tested for 31 Volatile Organic Compounds but Temple-Inland’s wastewater permit also reports approximately 20 more chemicals, including phenols and base acid compounds like naphthalene, which are much more toxic and bioaccumulate in seafood.

For chemical emergency responders and concerned citizens, the 24-hour notification of a release is the only method we have for understanding what chemicals we are exposed to and how much. This is problematic for a number of reasons:

1. If the facility does not choose to report an incident, then the public has no way of knowing until they get sick or notice the effects on their surrounding area. Without accurate information, you cannot protect yourself or your family from being exposed to chemicals.
2. The 24-hour notifications, when they do happen, often give very little information on substance released, quantity released and the cause of the release. I have seen way too many reports that state “unknown substance released of an unknown quantity for an unknown cause.” How then can this information even be useful for effective emergency response?
3. 24 hours is still too much time between when the chemicals were released and when the public should know about it. Acute health effects from chemical exposure can certainly be experienced within 24 hours.
4. This lag time can lead to a lack of information or misinformation where there should be a public health advisory. Because the LDEQ and DHH did not inform the public until Aug. 15 about the fish advisory, there were media reports talking about the concerns of local residents collecting the dead fish and taking them home! This is exactly the kind of situation you want to avoid in a chemical emergency.
5. The lack of information from the facility can lead to chemical exposure among those hired to clean up the fish kill. If no one knows what exactly was released and how much, then there is little concern for using Personal Protective Equipment in clean up efforts.

We are completely dependent on the facilities for providing information about when something has been released, what it is and how much was released. This is problematic because their interest is more concerned about their profit margin than in protecting public health. In our experience and in the Temple-Inland accident, it is the citizen report based on observation that instigates an investigation not full disclosure by the company.

This is exactly what happened with the Temple-Inland disaster. The company did not notify the authorities. Residents on the river noticed the foam, foul smell and dead marine life and called the media. The media called the state. The media called the state senators. No one knew anything and we still don’t.

Our review of parish-level emergency response plans where there are petrochemical facilities has pointed out some serious gaps in planning that, if addressed, could lead to improved chemical emergency response:

• LEPC plans do not include community representation or involvement in response activities.
• LEPC plans do not include local environmental monitoring plans, so parish officials and residents have to wait for the LDEQ to perform sampling. This could take days.
• LEPC plans do not detail how they will notify the public in the case of a chemical release.
• LEPC plans make it difficult to know the locations of hazardous facilities in the parish and the names and numbers of individuals at those facilities to contact if they spot a problem.

The parish LEPCs can improve its planning and response in the following ways:

1. Involve residents in chemical emergency response planning because they know where the most vulnerable areas are and
2. Train residents in environmental monitoring and sampling because they are often the first people on the scene after an environmental crime has been committed and are the best people, if well trained, to document the pollution. Residents can assist with early warning and emergency notification of other residents.

For LDEQ:

1. We suggest perimeter/fenceline air and water monitoring to ensure that industry is adhering to permit limits and not in violation of the Clean Air or Clean Water Act.
2. Permit limits need to consider public health impacts using health surveys after petrochemical accidents. Work in partnership with the DHH, the Poison Control Centers and local community-based organizations.
3. Involve community groups in compliance and enforcement investigations. Good police rely heavily on community tips and the neighborhood watch. Residents can provide accurate information on the facilities’ accidents that cross the fenceline. Trust the public.

The hearing on Aug. 22 served to reassure me that Sen. J.P Morrell (District 3, which includes New Orleans) is actively trying to protect public health by scrutinizing the government agencies’ response to this disaster. He stated numerous times, “We never want this to happen again.” He was firm in his reproach of a number of state agencies, including those who are usually off the hook during chemical emergencies, such as the Departments of Health and Emergency Preparedness. He was especially firm with LDEQ, which was refreshing. LDEQ holds the keys to keeping industry in check and consistently is weak on protecting public health from toxic chemicals. The agency misses a lot of the warning signs leading up to catastrophic disasters like this one.

Then the moment we were all waiting for – the Temple-Inland paper mill representative took the stand. The poor man was grinding his teeth and sweating. He read his two-minute prepared statement that made it sound like they had broken no laws and waited for questions.

The senators had plenty of questions:

Q.  “How much was released and what was in it?”
A.  “I do not know.”
Q.  “What are you permitted to release and how much over was this particular upset?
A.  “I do not know.”
Q.  “Why didn’t your company notify any of the agencies on Aug. 9 when the release occurred?”
A.  “I do not know.”
Q.  “What kinds of management protocols are you going to change and what kinds of retrofits are you going to make to your facility in order to get the plant permitted to open again?”
A.  “I do not know.”

Temple-Inland sent their fall guy and would admit nothing. Sen. Morrell then joked that perhaps he could say nothing because we all signed affidavits before entering the proceedings, we were all under oath to tell the truth. A lawyer in the public comment period advised that the committee serve subpoenas to those responsible at Temple-Inland for the next hearing. The senate committee then moved to hold a second hearing in Slidell.

By Anne Rolfes, founding director of Louisiana Bucket Brigade.

In June of 2010, as BP’s oil gushed into the Gulf of Mexico, I was invited to testify before what seemed to me an obscure congressional committee, the Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife. I accepted the invitation with the philosophy that you should do such things when asked, even if you suspect your words will end up in a bureaucratic black hole of do-nothingness. On the day of my testimony, I addressed two congresspeople and 19 empty seats. 

Of the 21 committee members, only Baton Rouge Rep. Bill Cassidy and the committee chair were present. Rep. Charles Boustany, the representative from Louisiana’s 7th district (including Lafayette, my hometown), was not on the committee but did make a guest appearance. He did not listen but instead made a statement that went something like this: The oil industry and the seafood industry/environment have coexisted peacefully for 50 years. His message was clear: the BP Oil Spill was an anomaly.

The funny thing about Boustany’s statement is that it was almost exactly like Cassidy’s statement. They read what seemed to be a script. It’s as if someone were writing their lines. And guess what – someone probably was. In this case the someone is a trade group that lobbies on behalf of the oil industry:  the American Petroleum Institute, the Mid Continental Oil and Gas Association and similar organizations. When the oil industry needs defending, they don’t need to speak. Just write lines and hand it to a congressperson. Or even a senator.

What else can explain the coincidence of numbers that Sen. Mary Landrieu used in defending the oil industry? My colleague Benjamin Leger investigated the suspiciously low numbers she used to refer to accidents in the Gulf of Mexico over the last 60 years. The number she has provided repeatedly in public statements is just 175,813 barrels, just one barrel off the number on an American Petroleum Institute’s report on oil spills in the Gulf. The number seemed suspiciously low to us since federal figures show a different picture, to the tune of 471,721 barrels of oil spilled in the Gulf since the 1950s. Add to this the quantity of accidents in the Gulf of Mexico reported to the National Response Center – in 2009 alone there were more than 3,600 accidents.

Sen. Landrieu is not just spewing the oil industry’s rhetoric; she is actively defending the industry, just as Cassidy and Boustany read from a script to defend big oil.

This script about the safety of the industry is fiction. Those of us who live here pay the price of industry operations in the form of illnesses from pollution and destroyed homes and livelihoods (just ask fishermen impacted by the BP Oil Spill). Yes, the industry provides jobs, but this does not mean that we should ignore the problems that they also provide.

Pollution destroys property value. So do the floodwaters that now reach our homes thanks to the oil industry’s carving up of the wetlands (see an NPR story on that issue here). There is no better example of these externalized costs than refinery accidents. Refineries’ own reports show that, since 2005, Louisiana’s 17 refineries have averaged 10 accidents a week. Poor maintenance and equipment failure is a cause of 25% of these accidents.

Refineries are simply not investing in employees and equipment. Instead they pocket profits while we pay the price. Drive by ExxonMobil’s Chalmette Refining and see for yourself. Rust abounds on this refinery whose parent company made more than $30 billion dollars in 2010 (yet dodged taxes).

These billions of dollars in profit are influential, and keep our congresspeople and senators singing the oil company’s tune. How long are we going to stand for this?