Currently, LDEQ appears limited in its capacities to advance justice and good governance. A 2022 study conducted by Tulane University’s Kimberly Terrell and Gianna St. Julien “found that from 2019 to 2021, LDEQ permitted industrial emissions of pollution that were 7 to 21 times higher among Black communities than in predominantly white ones” (Rose 2024). The same year, local environmental justice groups filed complaints with the EPA declaring that the LDEQ was complicit in racial discrimination under the Civil Rights Act. The EPA opened a civil rights investigation to examine permitting practices in Louisiana and began developing an agreement with LDEQ mandating investigations into current exposure to air pollutants alongside social and health vulnerability indicators. However, in June 2023, former State Attorney General and current governor Jeff Landry opened a lawsuit against the EPA, arguing that any civil rights investigation required evidence of intended discrimination before it could be allowed to proceed. In the lawsuit, “discrimination” was framed in a way that reduced racism to individual bias and behavior, thereby obfuscating the structural and systemic arrangements of racial differentiation and discrimination that have persisted over time. Following Landry’s lawsuit, the EPA investigation closed before releasing any findings or finalizing the agreement with LDEQ. This chain of events has important implications for environmental justice cases across the United States and could produce a “chilling effect”—e.i. curbing the EPA’s ability to conduct Civil Rights Act investigations in other states (Nolan 2024).
Nolan, Delaney. 2024. “The EPA Is Backing Down From Environmental Justice Cases Nationwide.” The Intercept. January 20, 2024. https://theintercept.com/2024/01/19/epa-environmental-justice-lawsuits/.
“DEQ and other state agencies have largely reduced the process to a checklist sloughed onto permit applicants, who, like Research Associates, Inc., are hardly objective about the impacts of their own proposals.” (Houck 441)
Houck, O. A. (2012). "Save ourselves: the environmental case that changed louisiana." Louisiana Law Review, 72(2), 409-442.
“DEQ does not issue enforcement actions in a timely manner to permitted facilities that violate air permit requirements. From fiscal years 2015 through 2019, the time it took DEQ to issue enforcement actions increased by 102.1%, from an average of 289 days to an average of 585 days. As a result, there is a risk that facilities may have violations that remain uncorrected for years.” (Louisiana Legislative Auditor 2021, 11)
“We also found that DEQ does not always address violations until years after the violation occurred, which further delays enforcement. “ (Louisiana Legislative Auditor 2021, 13)
"DEQ does not effectively track the penalties it has assessed and whether facilities have paid their penalties.” (Louisiana Legislative Auditor 2021, 14)
Louisiana Legislative Auditor. 2021. “Monitoring and Enforcement of Air Quality. Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality.” https://app2.lla.state.la.us/publicreports.nsf/0/bbc259a7e7a73cfa8625713b002c8e7b/$file/00001572.pdf?openelement&.7773098.
