Louisiana's GHGs are trending in the wrong direction

By Emily Sandstrom, AAE Intern

In June the Alliance gave public comment to the Louisiana Climate Initiatives Task Force (CITF) following a presentation on some hypothetical pathways to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Louisiana. 

If all permitted and permit pending facilities in Louisiana listed are built, it would add 125 Million Metric Tons Per Year CO2e.

*CO2e = Carbon Dioxide Equivalent, which includes emissions from other greenhouse gasses like methane, weighted according to their impact. 

The CF Industries fertilizer plant in Donaldsonville, pictured here, is currently Louisiana’s largest emitter of CO2e.​ Photo credit.

​In our comments to the CITF we used a few numbers, including the prior GHG inventories conducted for the state. Here they are along with earlier inventory data.

In 1997 the inventory said: net 217 Million Metric Tons Per Year CO2e (gross 240,060 MMTPY)
In 2010 the inventory said: net 215  Million Metric Tons Per Year CO2e (gross 227.66 MMTPY)
In current assumptions are: net 217 Million Metric Tons Per Year CO2e (unknown gross, full inventory not yet complete)

​The Environmental Integrity Project maps oil and gas infrastructure that is permitted and in development across the country,  with data pulled from permitting agencies.  You can find it at this link: EIP Emissions Increase Database (last updated 05/03/2021). 

Here are the numbers for Louisiana according to the most recent data:

If all permitted and permit pending facilities in Louisiana listed are built, it would add 125 Million Metric Tons Per Year CO2e
If all Louisiana pipelines in development listed in this database are built it would add another 838 Thousand Metric Tons per Year CO2e

However, as you’ll see the database captures some projects in development that do not provide any CO2e (or any other emissions for that matter), including large plastics and fertilizer expansions, which are known to be large CO2e polluters. Louisiana’s largest emitter is currently CF Industries fertilizer plant in Donaldsonville. 

Additionally, the Alliance  is aware of other large CO2e emitting projects that are in development. For one example a new proposed power plant in Plaquemine, Iberville Parish, that is permitted (but not yet built) to emit an additional 2.570 Million Metric Tons per Year CO2e, but this is not included in the EIP emissions database, as it is not part of the Oil/Gas/Plastics industry. 

The additional build out of well over 128 Million Metric Tons of CO2e per year from NEW facilities in Louisiana would mean we blow past any serious climate goals in the state. These numbers and facilities must be included in our inventories and planning for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, or halted altogether. If added to the assumed 2021 emissions (217 MMTPY CO2e), those additional facilities bring us up to at least 345 Million Metric Tons of CO2e annually.

​

Newly Permitted/Permit pending Industrial Facilities