Louisiana Senate Bill (SB) 35 would have required each of the 450+ petrochemical plants in the state to install monitors that alert communities when air pollution reaches unsafe levels.
But those efforts to create a public warning system was blocked May 8 by the Senate Finance Committee and its chairman, Sen. Mack “Bodi” White (R-East Baton Rouge). SB 35 had cleared the Senate Environmental Quality Committee in April.
White claimed the costs of installing/operating these monitors were likely too much for the petrochemical industry to bear.
The state Department of Environmental Quality estimates the monitors would cost an average of $18,000 over the first year.
That might cause some plants to pull up stakes and move to Texas, according White. “If you overburden them, they will leave,” he said.
SB 35's supporters urged lawmakers to consider the costs to Louisianans living near these plants. Toxic air pollution has risen in the Baton Rouge-to-New Orleans corridor harming health and property values.
Retired Army lieutenant general Russel Honore, who leads the Green Army environmental group, asked lawmakers "to think about protecting people" and not costs to the plants. “These plants are doing well. That’s why they keep coming to Louisiana.” Louisiana gives plants “beaucoup tax breaks” to draw them to the state, Honore said.
The Louisiana Industrial Tax Exemption Program has been “extraordinarily generous” to the industry, according to an Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis report. ITEP granted $23B in subsidies to 1,400 companies over a 20-year period, a 2017 study by Together Louisiana found.
Louisiana's current system for detecting air pollution spikes is limited to 44 DEQ-managed air monitors. (NOLA.com 05/09/23) Air pollution monitoring bill blocked by Senate committee | Environment | nola.com
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