Lex Talamo

alexa.talamo@shreveporttimes.com

A newly formed Shreveport environmental activist group plans to travel to Baton Rouge to protest an incoming pipeline that threatens parts of the state’s wetlands.

North Louisiana for Climate Justice — Shreveport-Bossier’s newest environmental watchdog group — was created on Friday at the Whole Foods Market in Shreveport. Currently, about a dozen members strong, the group’s first mission is to tackle the Bayou Bridge Pipeline project at a Jan. 12 public hearing in Baton Rouge.

“The purpose of this trip is to gather information and make connections with allies,” said Ron Hagar, a concerned citizen from Shreveport.

Members have different reasons for protesting the pipeline — a $670 million, 162 mile-long route that will carry an estimated 280,000 barrels of oil through 11 southern Louisiana parishes. The pipeline is backed by Energy Transfer Partners, Inc, the same company behind the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota.

That’s the reason Sonya Bratlie, one of the leaders of the group who has Native American heritage, wants to be on the front lines of the protest. In explaining why she’s against the pipeline, Bratlie referenced the rounds of rubber bullets, mace and water cannons unleashed on protesters in Cannon Ball, North Dakota in interactions with police.

“I don’t want that company because of what they did to the Natives,” Bratlie said. “I don’t want that company in Louisiana. I don’t want them to touch us.”

Several members of the group had relatives or children whose jobs are in the oil and gas industry. The proposed pipeline itself is expected to bring in at least 1,500 temporary construction jobs to surrounding regions.

But Cassie McDaniel, a Keithville resident who attended the meeting and whose son worked in the oil and gas industry, said she was willing to “go to battle” over the cause and that the focus of the issue needs to be re-framed.

“It’s not enough to bring a job in. How long are those jobs going to stay here?” she said. “When people talk about jobs, we need to refocus on whether those jobs are going to be permanent.”

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McDaniel said she wouldn’t be able to caravan down to Baton Rouge but would make a banner for the group. Other members also brainstormed how they could pitch in, including helping with coordinating rides, making posters or covering costs for T-shirts and needed supplies.

Ron Hagar and Ryan Trundle, both Shreveport residents, said they planned to leave for the public hearing on a Thursday and stay through the week.

What is the Bayou Bridge Pipeline?

The proposed Bayou Bridge pipeline is a 162-mile pipeline that would transport 280,000 barrels of crude oil from St. Charles Parish to St. James Parish. It would cross 11 parishes, 162 streams and eight watersheds, according to the company’s permit application.

The pipeline would connect oil from the far-away North Dakota to the close-at-home refineries and ports of Louisiana.

The Dakota Access Pipeline would transport oil from Bakken oil fields in North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to Illinois. Oil would then be transported to Texas, where it would run along a newly completed pipeline — also owned by Energy Transfer Partners and Sunoco — that would carry the oil to Lake Charles, where the Bayou Bridge pipeline starts, and run through the 11 parishes, including the Atchafalaya Basin.

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The existing Gulf Intracoastal Waterway connects the basin’s waterways to the Mississippi River and feeder channels that lead to the Gulf of Mexico, which then allow the shipping of oil and gasoline from coastal Louisiana, according to an U.S. Army Corps of Engineers press release.

What’s at stake?

The specific construction of the pipeline includes clearing right of way, conducting trenching operations, installing various above and below ground pipelines and using horizontal directional drilling operations. These activities would create an estimate 1,500 jobs, according to the company.

In its permit application, the company said the pipeline will improve public and environmental safety, increase America’s energy independence. It also said the project was designed “to avoid adverse impacts.”

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To make the company’s case, Perennial Environmental Services — contracted by Bayou Bridge L.L.C.— submitted information about the potential impact of the pipeline on cultural resources, the environment and people’s livelihoods.

That report shows the pipeline will run through the habitats of at least 21 federally and state-listed threatened or endangered species — including the bald eagle, pallid sturgeon and Louisiana black bear. The company says the construction will have “no effect” or is “not likely to adversely affect” any of those species.

Construction of the pipeline also will result in the permanent loss of 159 acres of wetlands, with an additional 454 acres of wetlands temporarily impacted, according to the report.

Darryl Malek-Wiley, senior organizing representative of the Environmental Justice and Community Partnership Program for the Sierra Club, said those conditions are unacceptable.

“Their permits say one thing, but they cause permanent damage to the environment,” Malek-Wiley said. “With pipelines, it’s not a question of if they’ll leak. It’s ‘when.’ We have hundreds of pipelines that leak, and it’s almost impossible to clean.”

The Atchafalaya Basin is “one of the nation’s last great river swamps,” according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and home to hardwood forests, cypress bayous, swamps and more than 45 species of mammals.

Malek-Wiley said the Sierra Club, which has been tracking pipeline accidents and leaks throughout the nation, also is concerned about the potential safety hazards of those leaks.

“One of the reasons we’re really concerned about this pipeline is because of the type of fuel pumping through. Bakken crude oil easily catches on fire,” he said. “There are safety issues.”

According to the permit application, the pipeline conforms to safety standards mandated by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline Safety Regulations.

Precautions include pressure testing each section of pipe at the manufacturing mill, a final test at 125 perfect maximum operating pressure following completion and use of “smart pigs,” or internal inspection devices that pass through the pipeline and report back details about its condition.

Concerns and questions

On record with the company’s permit application with the Department of Environmental Quality are 382 pages of public commentary and letters against the construction of the pipeline.

For Shreveport’s North Louisiana for Climate Justice, many questions remain.

“They can say pipelines are safe, but there’s documentation that shows they are not,” Bratlie told the group. “Our wetlands are disappearing. This is the beginning of saying no.”

The group concurred they had their work cut out for them.

“We’re individuals trying to fight against a system that’s increasingly moving away from the people,” Hagar said. “That’s what we’re up against.”

To get involved:

Attend the public meeting. Hosted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, the meeting will take place at 6 p.m. Jan. 12 in the Oliver Pollock Room of the Galvez Building at 602 N. 5th St in Baton Rouge.

Get Educated: The company's permit and supplemental documents are online at http://edms.deq.louisiana.gov. The AI number is 203160.

How to send comments. Contact the Regulatory Branch, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,New Orleans District, P.O. Box 60267, New Orleans, LA 70160-0267.

BY THE NUMBERS (rounded to the nearest whole number)

$670 million cost of the Bayou Bridge Pipeline project

1,500 temporary construction jobs the pipeline will create

673 streams crossed by the pipeline

454 acres of wetlands temporarily impacted

382 pages of public commentary on file against the pipeline’s construction

162 miles the pipeline will span

160 miles assessed for cultural resources

159 acres of wetlands that will sustain permanent damage

58 cubic yards of fill material deposited into wetlands and other bodies of water

24 inches of the pipeline’s inner diameter

11 parishes the pipeline will span

8 watersheds the pipeline will span

Parishes affected: Calcasieu, Jefferson Davis, Acadia, Vermilion, Lafayette, Iberia, St. Martin, Iberville, Ascension, Assumption, St. James

Sources: Permit application submitted by Bayou Bridge L.L.C. and Perennial Environmental Services