A coalition of Louisianans who have harvested shellfish for generations says global investment bankers are responsible for the environmental damage caused by the liquefied natural-gas industry. They says LNG development over the past two decades has all but destroyed their ability to make a living in Southwest Louisiana.

Robyn Thigpen, executive director of Fishermen Involved in Sustaining Our Heritage (FISH), said thousands of families are losing their way of life.

"It's destroying our coastline. It's destroying the commercial fishing industry," she said. "We are fisherfolk: shrimpers, oystermen, crabbers who have worked these Louisiana coastal waters for generations."

Thigpen said a large group of major banks, including U.S. investors such such as J.P. Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have invested billions of dollars in LNG facilities throughout Louisiana.

Trade groups claim that terminals support more than 220,000 jobs, help make the United States energy independent and contribute $44 billion dollars to the Gross Domestic Product.

Despite the economic benefits, Thigpen said, LNG development is a major risk. She pointed to the Venture Global project in 2025, where a dredging spill killed approximately 11 million oysters on a floating farm.

"They have destroyed critical infrastructure and fragile ecosystems. The wetlands are being destroyed every single day that these places are allowed to keep extracting there," she said. "It's running multi-generational fishing families off of the water."

FISH helped get the company behind the Venture Global spill to accept responsibility for causing the disaster. However, Thigpen said FISH is still fighting with company officials to settle with the company that sustained the loss.

Source: Public News Service