The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality rescheduled a public hearing on St. Charles Clean Fuel’s proposed $4.6 billion ammonia plant for Tuesday, Dec. 17 at 6 p.m.
The hearing will take place at Harry Hurst Middle School Gymnasium in Destrehan, which can hold up to 600 people.
A fire department official shut down the Sept. 26 hearing at St. Rose Public Library after nearly 200 people showed up for the hearing. The library’s meeting room reached capacity at just 60 people.
In a Sept. 30 statement after the hearing, LDEQ said the large crowd was an attempt to hinder economic growth.
“LDEQ staff present at the event witnessed disruptive behavior from some attendees, including individuals speaking loudly before the meeting,” the LDEQ said in an Oct. 14 email. “Moreover, the room, designed for 60 people, had over 150-180 attendees, making it extremely difficult to conduct a public hearing.”
St. Rose resident Kimbrelle Eugene Kyereh, who runs the non-profit advocacy group Refined Community Empowerment, said she did not witness disruptive behavior at the meeting. She also said that she and Kimberly Terrell, an environmental scientist at Tulane Environmental Law Clinic, requested a larger venue before the Sept. 26 hearing. LDEQ denied the requests.
Kyereh said that, before the Sept. 26 hearing, she passed out flyers about the hearing to St. Rose residents. The flyers described what Kyereh says are serious health risks of the proposed plant and carbon capture storage.
In an Oct. 14 email, LDEQ said the distribution of the flyers indicated “resistance to economic development and further growth in the area.”
“There was nothing on the flyers about economic development,” Kyereh said. “And nothing on the flyers that had anything to do with opposition to economic development.”
Kyereh said she wants LDEQ to follow its mission, which is to “provide service to the people of Louisiana through comprehensive environmental protection in order to promote and protect human health, safety and welfare,” according to LDEQ’s website.
After LDEQ said the large crowd at the Sept. 26 hearing was an “organized attempt to hinder economic growth,” Tulane Environmental Law Clinic filed a motion asking LDEQ to recuse itself from the key permitting decision for the ammonia plant.
In a press release, the law clinic called LDEQ’s statement inflammatory.
“Although a public hearing for the proposed plant is pending, LDEQ’s statement strongly implied that it has already decided to grant the permit,” the clinic said.
Tulane Law Clinic filed the motion on behalf of Kyereh. Other organizations signed the motion, including Concerned Citizens of St. John the Baptist Parish, the Descendants Project, and the Green Army. The motion states these groups are entitled to an impartial decision maker in agency proceedings.
“This is especially important for LDEQ permits,” the clinic said in its press release. “As a public trustee over the environment, the agency has a duty to meaningfully weigh costs and benefits.”
