University of Montana Environmental Studies Professor Robin Saha Teams Up With the “Grandfather of Environmental Justice,” Dr. Robert Bullard, on New Climate Justice Report
Environmental Studies' professor and program director Robin Saha is the lead author of a new report released today that examines the social, environmental, economic, and health impacts of liquefied natural gas (LNG) development in the Gulf Coast region.
The report, Liquefying the Gulf; A Cumulative Impact Assessment of LNG Building in Louisiana and Texas, was prepared with the Robert D. Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice at Texas Southern University.
“If existing planned LNG development goes through, it is estimated to release the equivalent emissions of about 20 Willow oil projects in Alaska,” says Professor Saha. He adds that, “Our report shows that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, while rubber stamping one LNG export facility after another, fails to assess environmental justice concerns, massive climate impacts, and serious risks of catastrophic failure posed by LNG buildout.”
Liquefying the Gulf Coast documents how siting decisions for LNG export facilities are rooted in systemic racism that harms people of color communities—ones that are already overburdened from decades of pollution and ecological destruction from petrochemical and oil and gas industries.
Included in the report is an analysis of how LNG development pollutes groundwater, destroys wetlands, degrades air quality, emits harmful carcinogens, harms wildlife, and threatens the Louisiana fishing industry, valued at $367 million in 2021.
The report provides recommendations to government and regulatory agencies, including prioritizing community input, improving environmental justice analyses, completing a comprehensive climate assessment of LNG, updating safety standards, and continuing the Biden Administration's pause on new LNG development indefinitely. Download the report at the University of Montana's Mansfield Library and the Bullard Center’s websites.