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Mission Statement:

The purpose of the Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN) is to foster cooperation and communication between individual citizens and corporate and government organizations in an effort to assess and mend the environmental problems in Louisiana. LEAN's goal is the creation and maintenance of a cleaner and healthier environment for all of the inhabitants of this state.

First, i would like to wish each of you a very happy holiday season and a happy and prosperus New Year!

This past year has seen two positive and significant affirmations of LEAN's work. The first: air quality in the Baton Rouge ozone non-attainment area has continued to improve and now, for the first time, meets the state and federal requirements for the one-hour ozone standard and for levels of toxic chemicals in the air. This was always the goal of the project, but until it happened, it was never certain that this goal could be obtained. Toxic air emissions as reported in the Toxic Release Invintory (TRI) also continued to decrease and are now half of what was released in 1998, which was the first year of the project.

The second develpment has been the willingness of Louisiana's Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to resolve permitting and regulatory issues through dialogue and negotiation rather than forcing us to litigate to achieve compliance with the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act. Reaching cooperative solutions to environmental problems has also been a primary goal of LEAN. The years of forcing our state to comply with our nations environmental laws were always meant to be a means of demonstrating to DEQ that cooperative solutions to our states problems will best serve the citizens. The cooperation and the negotiations have been good and rapid resolution of problems is expected as a result.

Sincerely,

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LEAN'S State Of The Environment Review
End of 2007

Air Toxics Quality

Air quality in the Baton Rouge area continues to improve and now meets the one-hour ozone standard and state requirements for toxic chemcials. These are remarkable achievements. The driving force for these recent improvements is the looming annual fines on industrial air emissions. Fines that were brought about when LEAN won the struggle to have the Baton Rouge area declared a Severe Ozone Nonattainment Area (which it was). Once the Environmental Protection Agency was forced to follow the Clean Air Act and bump Baton Rouge up to "severe" nonattainment, the clock started ticking on industrial fines. At that point local industry became determined to clean up the air to avoid fines. As a result air quality is improving at a more rapid pace. LEAN's involvement in this project would not have been possible without the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic (and of course our own Dr. Gary Miller).

A Major Victory on Toxic Emissions

Toxic emissions are tracked through the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI), which gives the toxic emissions emitted by every industrial facility in America. The TRI data is self reported by these facilities but does provide a good baseline from which long term trends can be determined. The latest TRI data available is for the year 2005 and was released by the EPA in April of 2007. The data shows that toxic air emissions were down in the five parish Baton Rouge Ozone Nonattainment area. The 2005 data shows a reduction of three million pounds of air toxics from 2004 levels. This puts total TRI toxic chemical air emissions in the Baton Rouge area at 16.1 million pounds per year. This is a 48% decrease in toxic air emissions from 1998 when 31.1 million pounds of toxic chemicals were released into the air. Since TRI data is self reported, separate confirmation is needed to determine if these reductions are accurate. LDEQ runs a system of eight continuous ozone monitors and three air toxic monitors in the Baton Rouge area, all of which support these improvements in air quality.

Permit and Regulatory Success I: Woodside Title V Permit

The Woodside landfill air permit is being used as a test case for an important Clean Air Act issue. A fundamental aspect of the CAA is the requirement that each facility ensure it is operating within its permit. Woodside is a large municipal waste landfill that is collecting the gases from the landfill and sending them to a flare system. The flare system is permitted for a specific type and amount of toxic chemicals that can be released to the air. The problem is that Woodside has no idea what is in the collected gas and therefore no idea what is going into the air from the flare system. As a result Woodside can't tell if they are meeting the requirements of their permit. This permit was successfully challenged and revoked by Louisiana's court of appeals. We are trying to force the facility to shut down the affected portion of its operations and will challenge the new permit if it doesn't comply with the CAA.

Permit and Regulatory Success II: HON MACT Project

This is the most far reaching of our ongoing projects and has already seen two successful challenges in federal appeals court. The 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments required the use of a new control strategy for controlling hazardous air pollutants called Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT). MACT required that all chemical facilities must upgrade their pollution controls to conform to the best controls currently used by similar facilities throughout the nation. This did away with the older state-by-state standards and went to a national standard for controlling hazardous air pollutants.

A federal appeals court first agreed with LEAN that the EPA must follow the seven-year update required in the Clean Air Act. It then agreed with LEAN and other co-defendents that the EPA's response in implementing the seven-year update was inadequate. This case continued to get bigger and LEAN now has the National Resources Defense Council as co-consul with the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic.

The Clean Air Act went further and stated that these MACT standards must be reviewed every seven years and updated if the best controls in the nation had improved. If the MACT standards are upgraded as a result of this review then all similar facilities must implement these new control standards. This continual upgrading of control standards for hazardous air pollution is one of the bright promises of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments and becomes especially important as California and Houston begin to implement increased control standards in order to meet the national air quality standards. As stricter controls are adapted in these areas the seven year reviews will force improvements in the MACT standards and subsequent adoption of these more stringent controls throughout the nation.

Permit and Regulatory Success III: Revocation of Eight-Hour Standard

The Clean Air Act was based on the use of a one-hour ozone standard in which ozone concentrations are averaged over a one-hour period. The Bush Administration tried to remove the nonattainment penalties and requirements of the one-hour ozone standard from the CAA. They did this by replacing the one-hour standard with an eight-hour standard which moves Baton Rouge from the "severe" non-attainment category to the "moderate" category allowing Baton Rouge to skip the penalties and requirements for failing to meet the ozone standard. LEAN sued the EPA over this issue. A federal appeals court ruled against the EPA which will have to scrap its old eight-hour ozone plan and issue new rules. LEAN will review the EPA's new rules when they become available and work to ensure that the new rules meet the requirements of the CAA. In addition, LEAN is working to force Louisiana to pay the penalties reinstituted in the court's ruling.

Permit and Regulatory Success IV: Mercury Control Requirements

Mercury contamination is a growing problem in Louisiana which now has 68 water bodies officially listed as impaired due to mercury contamination. The EPA recognizes that most of this contamination comes from industrial air emissions and it estimates that 53% of Louisiana's industrial mercury emissions are deposited in Louisiana. This problem lead to the recent MACT standards for mercury emitting industries. LEAN closely followed permitting for these industries to ensure that the proper controls will be used so that mercury emissions can be minimized. The EPA estimates that proper implementation of the MACT rules will result in a 90% reduction in mercury emissions. This year Louisiana facilities impacted by the MACT rule have agreed to implement new membrane technology that will reduce mercury emissions by 90%.

Permits and Clean Water Act Projects

General Permits for Water Discharges from Construction and Demolition Landfills. This is important as the majority of construction and demolition landfills use the general water discharge permit. In a continually improving relationship with Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), we have had two meetings on this issue. The general permit has improved after each meeting and we have only two permit changes left to implement. LEAN hopes to have these permit changes implemented in the next three months.

General Permits for Water Discharges from Light Commercial Facilities. LEAN filed an appeal of the final decision approving a general permit for Light Commercial Facilities on the basis that the permit allows discharges of pollutants into Outstanding Natural Resource Waters and that DEQ has not done sufficient analysis of environmental impacts.

Antidegradation. LEAN has been working with DEQ to bring Louisiana's water regulations in line with the anti-degradation requirments of the Clean Water Act. Significant progress is being made and two meetings with DEQ have taken place. DEQ is currently developing what we hope will be the final draft regulations.

Future Successes - Proposed Permits

Safeland Storage Angelina Tank Farm Permit to discharge into the Maurepas swamp. This proposed permit would allow a sewage treatment plant to discharge into this fragile and already impaired swamp. After submitting comments, this facility has agreed to not discharge into the swamp.

West Baton Rouge Westport Wastewater Facility This important project gave LEAN a chance to set minimum standards for water discharges. There were several errors in the proposed permit. LEAN is attempting to work with DEQ to set consistent water discharge standards that will improve and protect Louisiana's waterways and ensure that better permits are issued in the future. A resolution to this problem is currently being negotiated with DEQ and the initial response is encouraging.

Guste Island Wastewater Discharge Permit Another important development giving LEAN a chance to help set good standards for using wetlands and constructed wetlands in sewage treatment and discharges. Done correctly, this will expand and improve wetlands and also give communities and developers more options for sewage treatment. LEAN is working with DEQ to implement these processes while maintaining adequate standards.

Timber Brach II Sewage Treatment Plant Permit DEQ is trying to issue a permit to discharge into an Outstanding Natural Resource Water, the Tchefuncte River, which is also an impaired water body for mercury and fecal coliform. LEAN is attempting to work with DEQ to remove this discharge point.

Newport Environmental Services Landfill LEAN is working to prohibit this proposed landfill that will destroy 200 acres of wetlands. These wetlands are not adequate for landfill and a landfill could substantially impact the nearby Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge, adjacent wetlands and water bodies.

Vanguard Synfuels Water Permit Intervention was filed on behalf of LEAN and Howard Charrier for judicial review of water permit for discharge of wastewater into an Outstanding Natural Resource Water.

El Dorado Pipeline Water Permit A suit was filed against the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality on behalf of LEAN which challenged ADEQ's issuance of a NPDES permit for a joint pipeline for four industrial polluters to discharge into the Ouachita River in Arkansas, which flows into Louisiana.

LEAN Battles Permit Violations

Thompson Haywoard Groundwater Remediation Comments were submitted requesting that more comprehensive remediation would require soils deeper than the original 10 foot depth remediation stipulation meet the leaching requirements toprotect the groundwater resource.The remedial action was initiated in October 2006 and completed in July 2007. The remedy was excavation under an air-tight dome and off- site disposal. The remedial action was closely monitored and information provided to the community on an ongoing basis. The final remedial action report by the responsible party is being prepared. The report will be reviewed and presented to the community. Comments from the community will be submitted to the state and federal environmental agencies.

Pruet Water Treatment and Sewage System Project LEAN is addressing the problem of substandard privately owned public water and sewer systems in northeast Louisiana. These privately owned public water/sewer systems are owned or operated by the same company and span at least five parishes. So far, 27 communities with a total population of 15,000 have sought assistance. The impacted communities are small, rural, primarily lower income communities of color which are generally under-represented and easily ignored. Letters of intent to sue have been issued.

Enervest Operating Project LEAN is suing Enervest Operating Corporation seeking the cleanup of hazardous waste released from more than 600 sites of leaking mercury meters in three northeast Louisiana Parishes.

Jefferson Parish Sewarge Suit LEAN has brought a Clean Water Act citizen suit against Jefferson Parish for violations of its water discharge permit at its Marrero waste water treatment plant. Jefferson Parish has been exceeding since 2002, and continues to exceed, discharge limits set in its permit for biological oxygen demand, total suspended solids and fecal coliform. A settlement is pending.

LEAN's Post-Katrina Projects Continue with Strong Results

Save Our Cypress Campaign LEAN and our partner Atchafalaya BASINKEEPER have been leaders in the efforts to save Louisiana's endangered cypress forests from demolition by the cypress mulch industry. Louisiana scientists estimate that 70-80% of the state's coastal cypress wetland forest, if cut, will never grow back. LEAN and our partners in the Save Our Cypress Coalition have been working aggressively to influence the three major national suppliers of cypress mulch - WalMart, Lowe's, and The Home Depot. We have pleaded our case and invited them to see the destruction for themselves. To date, our efforts have been successful in influencing WalMart to stop buying and selling cypress mulch grown in Louisiana. Our efforts are continuing with the other retailers.

Post Katrina Water and Sediment Testing On June 25, 2007 the General Accountability Office issued an investigative report to Congress (GAO-07-651)) that confirmed the testing results of the sediment and sludge that Wilma Subra conducted immediately following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and reaffirmed the conclusions that were drawn about the potential or eminent health risks that would develop from the contaminated soil and sludge remaining after the flooding. The report also held in question EPA's response in so far as communicating to the people the long term potential health hazards faced and the proper protective actions needed to be taken by the responders. Both Wilma Subra and Marylee Orr were interviewed by those compiling the data for the report, and LEAN was noted in the report. The report discussed all aspects of environmental impact and social justice issues brought about directly by hurricane Katrina and the following levee failures, and critiqued the responses by federal agencies.

Post Katrina Debris Disposal LEAN has been continuing our efforts to provide leadership and oversight on the issue of hurricane debris disposal. We have continued our efforts to close the Old Gentilly Landfill and monitor the closure process and remediation of the Chef Menteur Landfill, as well as address issues regarding the Industrial Pipe Landfill and illegal dump sites along Chef Menteur Highway. LEAN has formed a formal partnership with the Mary Queen of Vietnam Community Development Corporation to work on these three issues.