Big Oil has their sights set on the Gulf Coast. Louisiana residents are already feeling the effects of oil and gas infrastructure — from toxic air, to poisoned fish, to extremely high rates of cancer. But nevertheless, companies are looking to expand liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals in the area. And the banks that we store our money in could be complicit.
Watch the NowThis feature of Healthy Gulf’s new documentary “Defend SWLA” on the impacts of LNG expansion in the Gulf below:
View the full documentary and learn more at: healthygulf.org/defendswla
From Healthy Gulf:
Directed by Micheal Esealuka, shot by Zen Omi and Zach Kanzler, sound by Jazz Franklin, edited by Zach Kanzler
Produced by Frontline Media Network in partnership with Healthy Gulf.
Overflight photos courtesy of SouthWings.
This mini documentary features four frontline leaders from Southwest Louisiana as they call out the big US banks financing the world’s largest buildout of LNG (liquefied natural gas) exports, now underway in their backyard. Nearly twenty new gas export terminals and expansions are planned across the US Gulf South. The majority of these facilities would be concentrated between Port Arthur and Lake Charles.
Fueled by the petrochemical industry, the climate crisis has hit Southwest Louisiana hard: since 2020 they’ve faced two major hurricanes, a deep freeze, and floods. Money is the oxygen that fans the flames of climate chaos, and frontline leaders like those featured in “Defend SWLA” have increasingly taken aim at Wall Street for its role in bankrolling unchecked fossil fuel expansion.
In the six years since the Paris Climate Agreement was signed, four US banks – JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Citibank – have provided 25% of all fossil fuel financing globally.* Stopping the flow of money to fossil fuels is one of the most important ways to address the climate emergency.
*Source: Banking on Climate Chaos, 2022 Report.