A new report reveals the dark reality of the expansion of liquefied natural gas (LNG). According to a recent article published in the Guardian, LNG exports are linked to a jump in premature deaths and are responsible for nearly $1 billion in annual health costs.
What's happening?
Greenpeace and the Sierra Club released a new report to the U.S. Department of Energy detailing the impact of LNG and quantifying the health risks of LNG terminals on surrounding communities. The findings underscore the link between air pollution from LNG export terminals and 60 premature deaths each year.
When natural gas is cooled down to a liquid state, it becomes liquefied natural gas, making it easier to transport and store. While liquefied natural gas is used to generate electricity in homes and processed to make plastic and petrochemical products, it releases harmful pollutants into the atmosphere that pose a serious health risk.
After evaluating current LNG export terminals, the analysis found that those terminals alone will result in 2,020 premature deaths and $28.7 billion in health costs by 2050, per the Guardian. However, the analysis found that these numbers are far worse under a full buildout scenario, with 4,470 premature deaths and $62.2 billion in health costs.
"We found those numbers stunning," Andres Chang, a senior research specialist at Greenpeace who co-authored the study, told the Guardian.
Why is the new LNG report important?
Transport & Environment reports that liquefied natural gas is primarily made up of harmful pollutants, which enter the atmosphere and contribute to the planet's rising global temperatures. As a result, it poses a serious threat to the environment and also to public health.
When harmful pollutants enter the atmosphere, they reduce air quality and cause respiratory complications in vulnerable populations.
"We often hear about the LNG buildout impacting climate, which, of course, is true and devastating," Johanna Heureaux-Torres, an energy campaigns analyst for the Sierra Club and co-author of the report, told the Guardian. "But there's also public health ramifications, often for communities who are already overburdened."
What's being done about LNG pollution?
The research linking LNG export terminals to severe health risks is already substantial, according to the Guardian. Now, advocates are speaking out against LNG exports with the goal of stopping future LNG export terminals.
By denouncing pending LNG export applications, federal regulators could save an estimated 707 to 1,110 lives, per the Guardian report.
"Every regulatory agency that has the responsibility and the directive to protect people and communities? They have got to start actually doing that," James Hiatt, director of the environmental justice group For a Better Bayou, told the Guardian.
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