A group of Lake Charles residents assembled on a flotilla of shrimp and fishing boats last week to protest the planned construction of new liquefied natural gas terminals nearby. It took place while petroleum industry executives watched from a nearby casino where they were holding an LNG summit.
The Louisiana Bucket Brigade, a grassroots environmental organization, helped organize the protest alongside local shrimpers and fishers opposed to the expansion of new LNG export terminals in Cameron and Calcasieu parishes.
If the Federal Energy Regulatory Committee approves all the proposed gas export terminal projects in both parishes, there could be 10 such facilities in the area that currently has just three.
Venture Global, which has an existing terminal and another under construction in Cameron Parish, wants to add two more. Sempra-Cameron LNG also has a terminal and another awaiting construction in Cameron, where Commonwealth LNG has also proposed a terminal.
In Calcasieu, Driftwood LNG has a terminal under construction, and Lake Charles LNG and Magnolia LNG have terminals approved and awaiting construction.
Cameron Parish shrimper Travis Dardar, who led the flotilla, says he is fighting to protect his livelihood from companies that want to fill the fishing grounds with concrete and emit pollutants into the nearby environment.
Dardar says oil and gas activity is more catastrophic than hurricanes because wetlands cannot be replaced once concrete pads are built in their place.
The flotilla motored back and forth in front of the Golden Nugget Casino where fossil fuel industry executives from around the country gathered for the 2022 Americas LNG & Gas Summit, an annual conference and networking event. Read the full story from Louisiana Illuminator.
