Louisiana is overrun with refineries and chemical plants. They all seem to be running for being the most polluted title. But in the top 20, who is the winner?
An LSU professor has identified the Top 20 Louisiana industrial plants responsible for carbon dioxide emissions, the main greenhouse gas that changes the world’s climate, leading to hotter temperatures, higher seas and more intense storms. Topping the list is the CF Industries nitrogen fertilizer manufacturing complex at Donaldsonville, with 8 million tons of carbon dioxide in 2019. The list does not include about 2 million tons of nitrogen oxide gases, another greenhouse gas, released by the plant. No 2. is ExxonMobil’s Baton Rouge oil refinery, with about 6 million tons of carbon. The inventory was compiled by David Dismukes, executive director of LSU’s Center for Energy Studies, who will present his findings on Thursday to Gov. John Bel Edwards’ Climate Initiatives Task Force. Dismukes says Louisiana emitted almost 217 metric tons of greenhouse gases in 2018, and that industry accounts for 62% of it.
nola.com
Now that we have a winner, what is the use of this data? How cna it be used to effect change?
Using Dismukes’ figure as a baseline, the task force is to determine how to eliminate or capture and store all of Louisiana’s emissions by 2050. The 2018 totals are the latest available for all emissions. Dismukes produced the list of plants based on carbon dioxide emissions data reported by the company to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2019.
So, what is the distribution of the greenhouse gasses? In 2018:
US Louisiana
Agriculture 10% 3%
Industry 22% 62%
Electric generation 27% 13%
Transportation 28% 20%
Sixty-two percent in industry shows why we have to focus on industry. Now, whio are the top 20?
We have a long way to go and the efforts that will be made require our support.
