AIR PRODUCTS BLUE HYDROGEN FACILITY, CARBON DIOXIDE PIPELINE, AND CARBON CAPTURE

What do a highly explosive gas, pipelines of deadly carbon dioxide, gravesites of enslaved people, and the health of a major lake have in common? The proposed Air Products facility in Ascension Parish ties them all together. Air Products is a multibillion-dollar multinational corporation that produces gasses like hydrogen, helium, and ammonia for various industrial uses. Air Products plans to build one of the country’s largest “blue” hydrogen plants near Darrow, then construct miles of pipelines to carry carbon dioxide (CO2) from the plant to Lake Maurepas, where it proposes digging wells around 5,000 feet deep to inject the carbon dioxide waste underground. The plant will also produce “blue” ammonia for the international market. The plant will be 740 acres in size, operate 24/7, and have 7 tall flares, some as high as a 20-story building. There are so many parts of this project that present dangers to human health and the environment. And this plant uses methane, also known as natural gas, which is a potent greenhouse gas and fossil fuel (you can remember that gas stoves, which use methane/natural gas, burn blue- most “blue” projects use methane gas as a starting point.) Instead of moving us forward to a truly green future, Air Products would keep us dependent on fossil fuels for decades to come.

The site where Air Products plans to construct the hydrogen facility is the former Orange Grove plantation. At one time, Orange Grove was the largest plantation in the state. One cemetery with graves of the enslaved has been identified, but there are likely more on the site. Air Products has not reached out to potential descendants about these graves, and plans to build in an area around the gravesite which likely contains more unmarked graves. This land should remain a memorial to the enslaved people who died here, and their living descendants today.  

Hydrogen has been called a fuel of the future, but producing hydrogen by starting with fossil fuels keeps us squarely in the past. The technology exists now to produce hydrogen using water as a feedstock, yet Air Products’ “blue” plant, like other “blue” production, starts out with methane, splits the hydrogen atom from the carbon in the methane using a massive amount of energy, then produces carbon dioxide (CO2) as a waste product. Catastrophic events involving hydrogen at Air Products’ own facilities illustrate the hazards associated with hydrogen. A major uncontrolled release of high-pressure hydrogen occurred at the Air Products hydrogen facility in Santa Clara, California causing a fire and explosion that shook buildings and residents at least five miles away. Closer to home, a hydrogen gas release caused a fire at an Air Products plant in Luling that injured two workers.

To transport its CO2 waste, Air Products would build a 40 mile long pipeline, passing within half a mile of Sorrento Primary School and even closer to the Orange Grove subdivision, to carry this CO2 to Lake Maurepas. The pipeline would pass so close to the Racetrac and the Cajun Village at I10 and Highway 22 that these businesses would be in the 750 foot “kill zone”- a rupture from the CO2 pipeline would result in nearly immediate death for anyone present. At its closest point, the pipeline is close enough to I10 itself that the highway is in the kill zone. Even outside of the kill zone, leaks from CO2 pipelines are serious and can result in oxygen depletion to the brain, which causes a loss of consciousness and even permanent brain damage. A leak near a highway is especially dangerous, because CO2 displaces the oxygen that internal combustion engines need to run. This means that cars will stop, and drivers will not be able to evacuate or drive away from a leak. CO2 is odorless and colorless, and many emergency departments are unprepared to handle CO2 leaks. Once the CO2 reaches Lake Maurepas, the CO2 will be used in an experimental technology called carbon capture and storage (CCS). This technology, which has not proven successful, claims to inject CO2 gas deep underground forever. But test projects worldwide have shown that the gas does not stay put for long, and CCS would have unknown effects on water quality, potential for earthquakes, and interaction with existing oil and gas wells. 

The Air Products pipeline is shown in red. It passes within 700 feet of the Cajun Village and Racetrac, and under 1000 feet from the McDonalds. At the closest point, a stretch of I10 is within the 750 foot kill zone. Map Credit: Scott Eustis at Healthy Gulf

Air Products will use some of this hydrogen to produce ammonia, which is a molecule containing hydrogen and nitrogen atoms. Ammonia is produced by using large amounts of energy to first separate nitrogen from air, then separate hydrogen from natural gas, and combine the two under high temperature and pressure. This process generates massive amounts of carbon dioxide in the process- on average, a facility emits 2.86 tons of CO2 for every ton of ammonia produced. This CO2 will also be put into pipelines to be injected under Lake Maurepas. Ammonia is stored at low temperatures under high pressure, and in the event of a power outage or refrigeration failure, the tanks can explode.  Air Products’ two ammonia tanks are only about 5,000 feet from the closet subdivisions upriver (Sugar Mill and Ascension Trace), about 2.25 miles from Sorrento Primary, and only about 1600 feet from the river road, meaning a leak or other incident could be hazardous to people driving past, not to mention close down traffic for hours. Ammonia is being treated as a zero-carbon solution, but the truth is that fossil fuels are at the very heart of all blue ammonia production. Blue ammonia and blue hydrogen are both dependent on expanding natural gas production, which causes increased methane emissions, and will require a massive buildout of pipelines carrying hazardous carbon dioxide through fenceline and rural communities. Producing ammonia from fossil fuels, then capturing and attempting to store the CO2 emissions, is not a green future. 

Despite all these hazards, Air Products has not given us enough information about how it plans to prevent serious accidents from injuring workers, communities, and ecosystems. This project endangers the lives of thousands of people, the health of fragile yet critical Lake Maurepas, and our planet. Use our comment template below to tell LDEQ that Air Products should not be allowed to construct this massive plant in Cancer Alley. You can say your comment in person at the public hearing held on Thursday, October 3rd, at the Town of Sorrento Community Center, 7471 Main Street, Sorrento, LA 70778. You can also email your comments to LDEQ at DEQ.PUBLICNOTICES@la.gov by 4:30PM on Monday, October 7th. You can write your comments in the body of the email, or attach a document. The subject should be “Comment AI Number 233211, Permit Number 0180-00231-00, Activity Number PER20220001”, and you should also include those numbers in your email itself.  

• Keep it at 3 minutes or under. You can submit longer, written comments at a later date.

• Check to determine if you live or work within 2 miles of Air Products’ facility, pipeline or fenceline at https://www.mapdevelopers.com/distance_from_to.php and entering the below coordinates as a starting point. LDEQ will sometimes let people who live close by speak first, although don’t let living farther away stop you from commenting.

• Pipeline coordinates closest to Sorrento Primary, River Ridge, and Pelican Point: 30.158578, -90.896730

• Pipeline coordinates closest to Ernest Floyd and Brittany Tower: 30.167894, -90.890435

• Pipeline coordinates closest to I10 and Highway 22: 30.167466, -90.880418

• Ammonia tank coordinates: 30.131623, -90.912181

• Be specific why you oppose the project and how it would affect you. Will the pipeline pass through your neighborhood? Do your kids attend school nearby? Do you fish in Lake Maurepas? Do you own land nearby?

• If you want to come to the microphone with a friend for support, or have someone give a comment on your behalf, both are allowed.

• LDEQ can’t answer any questions during the hearing. They may ask for clarification on something you said, but they are mostly there to listen.

Yours in Service,

Sharon Cayette Lavigne, RISE St. James, Founder & Director

Caitlion O. Hunter, RISE St. James, Research & Policy Director