Super Polluters

Louisiana based chemical facilities are charting well.

The "Breath to the People" report analyzed the latest batch of self-reported industrial pollution emissions data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 2018 Toxics Release Inventory. The report ranked the worst emitters by giving extra weight to the most toxic chemicals released. The analysis focused on plants within a mile of populations of at least 250 people.

In Louisiana, the Sasol Chemicals complex in Lake Charles ranked No. 2 nationally in the listing of the top 100 so-called “super polluters,” while the BASF Corp. and Shell Chemical complexes in Geismar were also in the top six.

Ranked third and sixth, respectively, the BASF and Shell facilities are located in Ascension Parish, a few miles from Dutchtown High School, the state's largest high school by student population, and the parish government-owned multiuse complex Lamar-Dixon Expo Center.

It will probably come as no surprise that each of these "super polluters" receives a generous subsidy via the state's Industrial Tax Exemption Program. Those subsidies are expected to keep rolling on in.   The ITE for BASF's recently announced expansion will cost Ascension Parish schools $43 million over the next 10 years. Shell's Geismar expansion will cost the same parish over $100 million.  Sasol was approved for an additional $10.1 million exemption last year.

Also not terribly surprising, but at least disappointing, is the Governor's decision to roll back some of the discretion he recently granted local government taxing authorities  to reject ITEs that fall under their jurisdiction.

The move tilts the Industrial Tax Exemption Program, or ITEP, back toward the state, four years after Edwards overhauled the program to give locals a vote for the first time. The Board of Commerce and Industry, which for decades approved nearly every exemption request that it voted on, can override the vote of locals if the locals reject an exemption for reasons that “conflict” with the state board’s rules.

The board voted to pass the resolution despite fierce opposition from activists and over the objection of three of 24 board members. Together Louisiana, a grassroots group that has pushed for more stringent standards for ITEP, inundated board members with emails and spoke out against the change at Friday’s meeting.

“This is a move backwards in the reform efforts that we have worked on together,” said Together Louisiana organizer Edgar Cage. “We urge you not to approve this resolution.”

Edwards’ administration said the move would only apply to instances where local officials have “rules” or standards that are at odds with the state’s rules. But virtually all standards adopted locally are different from the state’s rules, and the resolution doesn’t spell out which ones are being targeted.

Basically this means that a local city council or school board can still reject an ITE. But the state can step back in and void the rejection. John Bel isn't taking away their right to say no, he's just ensuring that it won't mean anything.

Meanwhile the new legislature is going into session in a couple of weeks. Baton Rouge State Senator Bodi White has filed a bill that would amend the state constitution to remove John Bel's or any future Governor's authority to interpret the ITEP rules one way or the other.  Presumably this would allow the legislature to void local control over these exemptions altogether thereby clearing the way for Louisiana's "super polluters" to benefit from our support indefinitely. So, you know, big things to look forward to.