Tagged: environment

Keeping Track Of Refinery Emissions

By Amy Jeffries

Originally published on Mon June 3, 2013 8:56 am

In its "Poisoned Places" series, NPR reports that industry here in Louisiana is emitting more smog-producing chemicals than it should and regulators aren't doing enough to curtail the pollution.

Elizabeth Shogren honed in on Exxon's Baton Rouge refinery and the smoke Almena Poray sees from the front porch of her house, a block from the refinery's south gate.

"That's something you see every day," Poray told the NPR reporter. "Sometimes it's a darker gray, sometimes it's a black smoke coming out."

Ed Overton, professor emeritus of environmental science at LSU, and Robert Berg, state regulatory advisor for Exxon talk more about what Poray is seeing and breathing from her front porch.

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3:33 pm

Thu May 30, 2013

Baton Rouge's Corroded, Overpolluting Neighbor: Exxon Mobil

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Credit John W. Poole / NPR

An evening view of the Exxon Mobil oil refinery complex in Baton Rouge, La.

Credit John W. Poole / NPR

Tonga Nolan is an attorney who lives in the Standard Heights neighborhood and is active with the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, which monitors air quality around the Baton Rouge Exxon Mobil facility.

Credit John W. Poole / NPR

Larry Alexander lives a few hundred yards from Exxon Mobil. Many of the lots around his house are vacant because Exxon bought out his neighbors over the years.

Credit John W. Poole / NPR

Anna Hrybyk (left) talks with Standard Heights neighborhood residents Terrica Hardnett (middle) and Terrell Sylvas about the current state of the EPA's investigation into the Exxon Mobil plant.

Credit John W. Poole / NPR

Tonga Nolan shows a folder of pictures from the EPA investigation into the plant, which found rusted pipes and leaks in many areas.

Credit John W. Poole / NPR

Exxon Mobil is one of several companies with operations clustered together in the same part of Baton Rouge. These plants hold their products in hundreds of large tanks like this one. Scientists have found that these tanks can be a big source of toxic pollution; when the tanks get old, they can leak fumes, especially through tops that no longer fit well.

Credit John W. Poole / NPR

An evening view of the Exxon Mobil oil refinery and petrochemical complex in Baton Rouge, La.

Credit John W. Poole / NPR

This composite image from the top of the Louisiana state capitol building shows the Exxon Mobil complex in Baton Rouge.

By Elizabeth Shogren

Originally published on Fri May 31, 2013 11:17 am

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If you stand in front of Almena and Sidney Poray's house in Baton Rouge, La., and look straight down the street, past the other houses and the shade trees, you see more than a dozen plumes of exhaust in various hues of gray and white.

"That's something you see every day, the same thing if not more," says Almena Poray. "Sometimes it's a darker gray; sometimes it's a black smoke coming out."

7:00 am

Thu May 30, 2013

Environmental Group Says Taxpayers Foot Soaring Hurricane Costs

By Eileen Fleming

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NRDC spokesman Bob Deans

Hurricane season starts Saturday. And while experts can only predict how many will hit, one group says the clean-up bill will most certainly be high.

7:45 am

Mon May 27, 2013

The Louisiana Coast: Last Call — Budgeting The River

Credit USGS

The Mississippi River basin with major tributaries and state boundaries. The width of a river indicates its mean water discharge.

By Bob Marshall

Let’s imagine it is the Spring of 2025, and Louisiana is preparing to open three diversions on the lower Mississippi so fresh water and sediment can reach wetlands struggling to stay ahead of sea level rise.

5:32 am

Fri May 24, 2013

Red Snapper Fisheries In Limbo

By Kelly Connelly

Originally published on Sat May 25, 2013 10:59 am

According to federal regulations, Louisiana’s nine-day recreational red snapper fishing season legally starts next weekend. But some fishermen have been landing snapper since the state season started in March — at the risk of also landing a ticket from federal authorities.

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The discrepancy between state and federal red snapper authorities is the subject of a bill sponsored by Sen. Bret Allain. Allain wants to put an all-out ban on red snapper, reasoning that if the fisheries are in such dire straits, maybe they shouldn’t be fished at all.

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5:28 pm

Fri May 31, 2013