Published by Yahoo! News, KRVS, WWNO, Louisiana Illuminator

A bulk liquid storage facility in southeast Louisiana and a local environmental group announced Thursday they are partnering to create a neighborhood air quality monitoring system. 

International-Matex Tank Terminals plans to install four new stationary air monitors in St. Rose, Louisiana. The company’s main 216-tank storage facility is near a majority Black neighborhood in St. Rose where residents have long complained of headaches and respiratory issues they blame on toxic emissions from the premises. IMTT recently was fined for violating the federal Clean Air Act. 

The four sensors, which IMTT will spend $42,000 a year to install, operate and maintain, will become part of the Louisiana Environmental Action Network’s Community Air Monitoring Network.

LEAN’s efforts were jumpstarted in 2023 with a $500,000 grant from the EPA, which the community-based nonprofit used to deploy a fleet of mobile air monitoring vehicles along a 300-mile route between Baton Rouge and New Orleans known as “Cancer Alley” in late 2023 and early 2024.

The deal with IMTT is the first of what LEAN hopes will be a series of agreements with industry to install stationary air monitoring equipment in these heavily industrialized communities.

“We are excited to welcome IMTT into our coalition of environmentally conscientious organizations dedicated to protecting the health and quality of life of everyday people,” said MaryLee Orr, LEAN’s co-founder and executive director. “Our Community Air Monitoring Network will provide a clear, hyper-local understanding of the environment in neighborhoods, allowing us all to make informed decisions to improve lives.”

LEAN argues the state’s existing 40-monitor system is “insufficient to accurately measure air quality across Louisiana's diverse landscape where thousands of residents live intermingled with hundreds of pollution sources.”

Some St. Rose residents are fighting to stop construction of a proposed $4.6 billion blue ammonia plant that would store its liquefied ammonia on the IMTT site, where ethanol, diesel and petroleum products are already stored. That company, St. Charles Clean Fuels, says its massive blue ammonia facility will play a key role in the country’s transition from fossil fuels to cleaner energy.

“IMTT believes deeply in its responsibility to be a good neighbor, and we have demonstrated to all stakeholders, including other industry leaders, the value of listening to and collaborating with communities,” IMTT Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Carlin Conner said in a prepared statement. “Working with LEAN on the Community Air Monitoring Network is another opportunity to showcase one of the many ways that we care for the people who live and work along the Mississippi River.”

The storage facility recently failed an on-site inspection by the EPA which found that the company neglected to identify hazards that could cause accidental releases of hazardous chemicals, had failed to conduct the appropriate equipment testing and failed to maintain safe work practices.

In July, the EPA announced a consent agreement with IMTT that included a $23,568 civil penalty. The company also agreed to make $150,000 worth of upgrades “to reduce annual air emissions and unsafe pressure build-up in its storage tanks,” the EPA said.

IMTT said in its news release that community engagement is now a pillar of its strategy to help accelerate the country’s energy transition, reduce carbon emissions and invest in lower-carbon operations to combat climate change.

The company says it has spent $1.6 million in the last year to upgrade its St. Rose storage facilities to tamp down odors and minimize emissions using technology that the company says goes beyond what state and federal regulations require.

The four monitors IMTT will install will replace the temporary air monitoring station Louisiana’s Department of Energy and Environmental Quality removed from St. Rose in 2023. LDEQ did not immediately respond when asked why the agency removed the monitoring system or what its findings there were.

The joint announcement said the monitors will be positioned deep in the surrounding neighborhoods, close to homes near the IMTT storage facility. The devices will be solar-powered and account for wind speed and direction to better identify the sources of airborne compounds, officials with the company said.

Kimbrelle Eugene Kyereh, founder of local nonprofit Refined Community Empowerment, expressed concerns about the announcement, saying she and other members of her organization had not heard of the deal.

Kyereh has been leading the fight to block a blue ammonia plant proposed in St. Rose. She’s a member of the community panel IMTT consults with but was unaware of the partnership until contacted by Floodlight. (Kyereh said she was traveling out of the country this summer and may have missed discussions about the project.)

“It says the monitors will be solar powered. We have concerns that won’t be substantial enough,” she said. “Also, what type of chemicals will be monitored and tested and where are they going to put them (monitors)?”

IMTT is the first local industry to join its community air monitoring network, according to LEAN.

This year, Louisiana lawmakers passed a law implementing new standards that will prohibit data collected through community air monitoring programs like LEAN’s from being used in enforcement or regulatory actions tied to the federal Clean Air Act.

IMTT and LEAN began talks in July in response to concerns raised by local residents who were members of the company’s St. Rose community advisory panel. 

“LEAN plans to use these devices to monitor for airborne compounds that local residents have the most questions about,” Orr said. “And we hope this inaugural partnership with IMTT leads to even more cooperation between residents and companies along the lower Mississippi River that produce, store and transport a vast array of goods used around the world.”

Floodlight is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates the powerful interests stalling climate action.