Gabby Brown, gabby.brown@sierraclub.org
Lake Charles, LA — Over the weekend, residents of Southwest Louisiana experienced three industrial emergencies. A fire, reportedly caused by a lightning strike, burned from yesterday afternoon until early this morning at the Calcasieu Refining Company, an oil refinery in Lake Charles. The nearby community was evacuated and a shelter-in-place order was in effect for a 3 mile radius surrounding the Calcasieu Refining Company. The plume of black billowing smoke could be seen from 40 miles away, later revealed to be burning naphtha, a hazardous hydrocarbon that is toxic and produces toxic gasses when burned. In addition to this refinery, there are dozens of existing oil and gas and petrochemical facilities in Lake Charles. Calcasieu Refining is adjacent to the proposed Lake Charles LNG and Magnolia LNG export facilities. It is still unknown how much of any toxins were released into the air as a result of the fire.
Nearby in Cameron Parish, an electric substation fueled by liquefied fossil gas (LNG) caught on fire and imposed an evacuation order for one mile surrounding the power substation at 122 Fulton St in Cameron Louisiana. The electric grid in Cameron Parish still hasn’t been built back to what it was before Hurricane Laura, and now a number of substations like Fulton St dot the Parish and the neighboring areas. The Fulton St Substation is adjacent to several RV parks, and it appears as though most of the surrounding residents did not know that explosive LNG tanks were across the street.
These are just the latest explosions in the region. In January 2022, an explosion at the Westlake Chemical plant sent six workers to the hospital and resulted in a massive pollution event and shelter place and school lockdown. The Sasol Plant had a fire in October 2022, also resulting in a shelter in place and extreme pollution event. Residents of Cameron, south of Lake Charles have been concerned about safety at the Calcasieu Pass LNG terminal, which had to delay commercial operations due to leaks in welds in the horizontal heat recovery steam generator. During Hurricane Laura in August 2020, Biolab had a chlorine leak and fire, exposing the community to toxic fumes in the aftermath of a devastating storm.
Despite these regular emergency events, federal agencies like the Federal Emergency Regulatory Commission and the Pipeline Hazardous Materials and Safety Administration fail to enact regulations and safety measures that better protect communities like Lake Charles.
“These latest disasters are yet more reminders that Gulf Coast communities will never be safe so long as oil and gas facilities continue to operate in their backyards,” said Sierra Club Campaign Representative Roddy Hughes. “We are relieved that it appears that no one has been injured this time, but communities should not be forced to live with the constant threat of fires and explosions, not to mention the constant pollution from these facilities poisoning their air and water. It’s long past time we stopped treating Lake Charles and communities like it as sacrifice zones for the fossil fuel industry.”
Roishetta Ozane, resident of Sulphur, LA, said, "I never thought I would have to explain to my children why we had to stay inside for hours, praying for our safety. However this has become a far too often occurrence. The constant fear and uncertainty of living near refineries, petrochemical plants, and methane gas export terminals has left me emotionally and mentally drained. I just want my family to feel safe and secure in our own community. I want my children to be healthy and not worry about what they are breathing, what they are drinking and what they’re exposed to.”
“The recent disasters in Cameron and Calcasieu Parishes continue to remind us that these oil and gas refineries do not want to coexist in a healthy way with communities in the Gulf South. These events not only put our environment in jeopardy, but the health and well-being of the people who reside in these areas,” said Breon Robinson, Campaigner with Healthy Gulf.
Cynthia Robertson, Executive Director of Micah Six Eight Mission, who lives and works in Sulphur, LA said, “The stress of these toxin releasing events has on everyone living in this area causes mental and physical health problems. These add an extra layer to the burden of the elderly, chronically ill, folks with low-income, and people of color, who carry a tremendous amount of stress already on their shoulders and already suffer from poorer health. Those of us living here in an area where climate change has added to the magnitude and frequency of hurricanes add that burden also. Enough is Enough.
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.