Gulf Coast Residents Tell Department of Energy: Environmental Justice Requires Action Beyond Performative “Roadshows”

TX/LA Coast - Today, Department of Energy’s (DOE) officials convened a listening session in Lake Charles, Louisiana, closing out the DOE’s second stop on its “Energy Justice to the People Roadshow” that included Lake Charles and Port Arthur. Yesterday, Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm joined a listening session in Port Arthur, Texas. The DOE describes this Roadshow as a series of stakeholder dialogues aimed at engaging local residents, municipal governments, and fossil fuel industry representatives in conversations ranging from funding opportunities for frontline communities, energy security, and environmental justice. Frontline leaders from across the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast joined these sessions to tell DOE officials directly that the agency must take more meaningful action beyond listening tours in order to achieve real environmental justice.

The agenda for Lake Charles included opening statements from three prominent local residents and community activists Roishetta Ozane (Vessel Project), James Hiatt (For a Better Bayou), and Lois Malvo (Mossville Community Advocate). This was followed by a commitment from Shalanda Baker, Director of the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity for the DOE, to environmental and energy justice. Community members provided comments and raised questions regarding  hurricane preparedness and other high priorities during the following listening session and Q&A.

The afternoon included presentations from DOE, Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and Calcasieu Parish officials regarding programs ranging from renewable energy to HUD’s “Green and Resilient Retrofit Program” to funding opportunities. The event concluded with a panel discussion with Roishetta Ozane, James Hiatt, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 6 Administrator Earthea Nance, and Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter.

Within the last two years, frontline communities met several leaders from environmental regulatory agencies conducting their own “environmental justice listening tours,” such as the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Administrator Michael Regan, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Chairman Richard Glick and Commissioner Willie Philips. Many community members expressed similar frustrations and concerns that listening tours, while necessary, are only performative as the agencies continue to act against the communities’ wellbeing and exacerbate systemic environmental racism.

The purpose of DOE’s trip is to talk to the public about opportunities to participate in programs the DOE says will benefit Gulf communities. This includes various funds being made available through the Inflation Reduction Act and other bills. While these opportunities may provide some support, community leaders in Lake Charles argue that what the region needs is government agencies that will put people over profits. The DOE continues to approve exports of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) to other countries, arguing that doing so passes the agency's public interest determination. Frontline community members from the region, including many participants in the Roadshow, sent a letter last October calling on DOE to update its guidance for approving gas exports.

In May 2023, the Energy Information Agency published a report concluding in part that exporting methane (i.e. natural gas) results in higher domestic prices for U.S. families and businesses. Environmental and energy experts and Gulf frontline leaders continue to point out that higher domestic energy prices are not in the public’s interest. Similarly, LNG export terminals along the Gulf coast adversely impact the region’s wetlands and wildlife, and pollutes the air and water that local communities need for their survival.

"Despite their rhetoric about caring for environmental justice communities, the Department of Energy, Secretary Granholm, and the entire Biden administration have consistently failed to follow through on their promises. Their actions demonstrate a lack of commitment to the well-being of these communities. We cannot continue to rely on false hope, empty promises, and solutions that do not address the needs of those who are most vulnerable. It is time for real change and meaningful action to address the urgent climate emergency we are facing,” said Roishetta Ozane, founder of the Vessel Project of Louisiana. “This roadshow does not need to be another dog and pony show, but a catalyst for change. We need green spaces, green jobs, clean air and clean water here in Southwest Louisiana. Yes rebates, tax incentives and induction stoves are a start but when will a line in the sand be drawn to show that this administration is not favoring the side of industry and doing their dirty work for them.”

“Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana deserve clean energy and safe, reliable jobs”, . We are fed up with federal agencies making the same terrible decisions that put our communities and our children in harm's way,” said Breon Robinson, Coastal Organizer for Southwest Louisiana and Southeast Texas with Healthy Gulf. This should not be news to the DOE or any other agency. We have demanded that our health and safety take priority over polluting corporate profits for decades, and we continue to make these demands. We don’t need LNG or CCS. These are just more fossil fuel projects presented to us like opportunities and solutions, but we know better. We know the science, and we know how industry development goes. These polluting facilities get massive tax breaks, and what will we get in return? More pollution and more chemical leaks and explosions. We don’t want any more false promises. Invest in our future, invest in our health, and take our concerns seriously. Don’t just bring us roadshows, bring us clean water and clean air.”

“This should be the beginning of long-term, community-informed investments in Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana. These two regions have been used and sacrificed by the fossil fuel industry and our extractive economy and continually ignored by our public officials. The right to healthy air, clean water, and an environment safe from fossil fuel disasters shouldn’t have to be debated in public forums,” said Roddy Hughes, Campaign Representative for Sierra Club’s Beyond Dirty Fuels Campaign. “And it shouldn’t have to take years of cumbersome bureaucratic processes to prove to out-of-state officials that we need systemic change. I hope that the DOE will honor their commitments and promises to environmental justice for the Gulf Coast, and we will continue to hold them accountable to their word.”