This story was originally published by Diffuse lighta non-profit newsroom that investigates the powerful interests blocking climate action.
In his first four weeks in office, Louisiana Republican Governor Jeff Landry has filled the ranks of state environmental jobs with fossil fuel executives.
Landry targeted the state’s climate task force for possible elimination as part of a sweeping reorganization of Louisiana’s environmental bureaucracy. The goal, according to Landry’s executive orderis to “create a better prospective business climate.”
And in his first month, Landry changed the name of the Department of Natural Resources, the state agency overseeing the fossil fuel industry, by adding the word “energy” to its title.
While the United States and other countries have pledged to move away from fossil fuelsLandry runs in the opposite direction.
Landry, who did marked climate change “a hoax,” wants to grow the oil and gas industry that supports hundreds of thousands of jobs in Louisiana. Environmentalists blame the industry for the pollution that has harmed vulnerable communities in the state and for climate change linked to increased flooding, soil loss, drought and heat waves in the Gulf Coast state.
A key indicator of where Landry is headed is the selection of Tyler Gray to lead the state’s Department of Energy and Natural Resources. Gray joins the new administration after working for Placid Refining Company for the past two years as the oil company’s corporate secretary and lobbyist.
Prior to that, Gray spent seven years with the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association, or LMOGA, his last two years serving as the lobbying group’s president. During his tenure at LMOGA, Gray helped draft the controversial 2018 law that criminalized protesting near oil and gas pipelines and construction sites.
At the time, Gray said the law was necessary as protection against individuals attempting to unlawfully interrupt the construction of pipeline projects or damage existing facilities. Greenpeace USA found such laws—enacted in 18 states—were directly linked to lobbying by the fossil fuel industry and resulted in more than 60 percent of U.S. gas and oil industry facilities being insulated from protest.
Anne Rolfes with the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, a grassroots nonprofit focused on accountability in the petrochemical industry, has a grim outlook on Gray’s tenure. Her organization was involved in many of the protests involved.
“His willingness to suppress people’s rights in favor of that industry is alarming,” Rolfes said.
“Throughout his career he has written laws that favor the oil industry over the rights of people,” she added. “But the state has never stood up against the oil industry. Under every administration there is this myopic idea of destroying our state through the oil and gas industry somehow economic development.
Neither Landry nor Gray’s office responded to multiple requests for comment.
Landry picks have oil, gas and coal tires
Gray is one of several former fossil fuel executives Landry has chosen to lead Louisiana’s environmental efforts.
Tony Alford, the former co-owner and president of a Houma-based oilfield service company that was accused of the toxic waste spill in a Montana lawsuit, is now the chairman of the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Coastal Protection. And Benjamin Bienvenu, an oil industry executive and petroleum engineer, serves as the commissioner of conservation within the Department of Energy and Natural Resources.
Landry also tapped Aurelia Giacometto to lead the state’s Department of Environmental Quality. It was reported that Giacometto, the first black woman to serve in the post, had ties to climate science skeptics when she served as head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under then-President Donald Trump. She is currently sitting on the board of a coal manufacturing company.
And Landry’s pick for the state’s new Department of Wildlife and Fisheries leader, Madison Sheahan, doesn’t have a background in wildlife — or fisheries. She takes up the post after serving as the executive director of the South Dakota Republican Party and managing Trump’s re-election campaign in that state. The agency headed by Sheahan is one of the state entities responsible for the investigation of oil spills.
At a recent press conferenceLandry said he is seeking to expand oil and gas refining in Louisiana because it is the only way to increase jobs for the middle class.
For environmentalists, these are troubling signs for a state that is the site of a boom proposed liquefied natural gas facilities and carbon capture projects which they say threatens to increase Louisiana’s already high contribution of climate-changing greenhouse gases.
At the end of January, President Joe Biden announced his administration halted approval of new liquefied natural gas export facilities to examine the need for the additional capacity and the environmental impact of such projects. The temporary delay is reported affecting five projects in Louisiana and one in Texas.
Louisiana’s ‘Sacrifice Zone’
Landry’s moves were not unexpected, advocates say, given his previous actions as state attorney general and his combative attitude toward environmental justice.
Gray’s appointment is “disappointing but not surprising,” said Jackson Voss, climate policy coordinator for the Alliance for Affordable Energy.
“Unfortunately, from our perspective, the history of the [Louisiana] Department of Natural Resources has always been very deeply connected to the oil and gas industry,” said Voss. “In some ways, that helps us because there’s not going to be a lot of surprises about where Secretary Gray will line up on certain issues.”
In his youngest report, Human Rights Watch highlighted the environmental damage and health-related issues the oil and gas industry is accused of inflicting on predominantly black communities in the southeast Louisiana corridor known as Cancer Alley. The group is asking state leaders to phase out fossil fuel production and to halt any new developments or expansions of existing fossil fuel and petrochemical facilities.
Author Antonia Juhasz interviewed dozens of residents living in Cancer Alley who talked about miscarriages, high-risk pregnancies, infertility, respiratory problems and a host of other health impacts in their communities. They attribute the ailments to years of pollution and hazardous emissions from the high concentration of polluting industries, especially in southern Louisiana.
“The fossil fuel and petrochemical industry has created a ‘sacrifice zone’ in Louisiana,” Juhasz, senior fossil fuel researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in a prepared statement. “The failure of state and federal authorities to properly regulate the industry has serious consequences for residents of Cancer Alley.”
Landry aims for oil and gas limits
As the state’s attorney general, Landry pushed lawsuits against restrictions that the Biden administration tried to implement on foreign oil lease sales and the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline.
He also sued over the Environmental Protection Agency’s effort to better regulate emissions from oil and gas facilities in Cancer Alley.
A Trump-appointed federal district court judge in western Louisiana recently sided with Landry on that lawsuit. U.S. District Judge James Cain said in his opinion that the federal agency’s enhanced oversight of proposed projects in Cancer Alley communities exceeded its powers and that it “imposes an undue financial burden on the state.”
As attorney general, so does Landry subpoenaed to obtain correspondence between EPA, environmentalists and certain journalists.
As governor, Landry opposed Biden’s climate initiatives, including the pressure to increase the production of electric vehicles. And Landry claimed that promoting renewable energy in Louisiana, including solar and wind, will force the state to “energy poverty.”
Oil and Gas Association welcomes appointment
Landry’s choice of Gray was praised by the president of the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association. In a prepared statement, Mike Moncla praised Gray for knowing their industry “backwards and forwards.”
“This appointment signals the dawn of a new era for our state’s oil and gas industry,” Moncla wrote. “We know he will be an incredible asset to our industry.”
At LMOGA, Gray also pushed back against any efforts to limit offshore drilling and domestic energy production to reduce planet-warming emissions. Gray said the country needs “sound, science-based policies” and solutions to address climate change that also promote “domestic energy development” while not stifling the state’s economy and labor market.
LMOGA is a strong supporter of carbon capture and sequestration. The agency Gray now leads recently received primary regulatory oversight from the federal government for the wells used to pump carbon dioxide underground for permanent storage.
The technology is touted as the solution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but debates are ongoing about its safety and effectiveness.
Environmentalists argue that carbon capture and storage is just a ploy to extend the life of the fossil fuel industry instead of switching to cleaner energy sources like wind and solar. They lack confidence in the state’s ability to properly permit carbon capture projects with Gray at the helm.
“With Gray’s appointment and then an already severely underfunded and understaffed agency, it feels very much like they will pass those permits along instead of really evaluating them one by one,” said Angelle Bradford, a spokeswoman for the Delta Division. said of the Sierra. Club. “It’s again the usual good-guy mentality where we put people in positions that not only won’t follow the rules, but create rules that make it harder for the other side, which is us.”
She added, “Louisiana is not taking the climate crisis seriously.”
