Louisiana environmentalists and locals are growing increasingly concerned about certain carbon capture projects supported by President Biden’s climate initiative, as nearby Black communities grapple with already elevated cancer risks from existing chemical plants.
Donaldsonville, Louisiana, is home to several petrochemical plants and refineries, which emits massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the environment each year.
The White House and the oil industry are seeking to fast-track a project to store the emissions underground to delay climate warming with their carbon capture and storage initiative.
The Environmental Protection Agency is reportedly prepared to grant their request, but environmental justice activists – once considered Biden’s key allies – are pushing back, according to a Washington Post report.
“Don’t do it in my neighborhood. Do it where you live,” Ashley Gaignard, who voted for Biden in 2020 and started a group to preserve rural land locally, said at an EPA-hosted meeting last week in Baton Rouge.
Environmental activist are enraged at Biden’s carbon capture initiative in Louisiana, as the Environmental Protection Agency is reportedly prepared to grant their request.AP
“Right about now it’s politics over people. And I don’t think they give a damn about people,” she reportedly said.
Donaldsonville