Permit To Kill

Read the report: Download Permit To Kill: Potential Health and Economic Impacts from U.S. LNG Export Terminal Permitted Emissions

A new analysis from Sierra Club and Greenpeace USA shows that permitted emissions from operating and planned liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals are associated with major public health costs. Among the key findings:

• Direct air pollution from currently operating LNG export terminals is estimated to cause 60 premature deaths and $957 million in total health costs per year.¹
• If all the planned terminals and expansion projects are built, these numbers would increase to 149 premature deaths and $2.33 billion in health costs per year.
• By 2050, the same permitted air pollutants from currently operating LNG export terminals alone are slated to yield cumulative impacts of 2,020 premature deaths and $28.7 billion in total health costs, with these figures rising to 4,470 and $62.2 billion respectively in a scenario where all planned projects are built.
• There is a strong overlap between areas that are already environmentally overburdened and the counties and parishes slated to suffer the worst air pollution impacts. Moreover, at the national level, Black and Hispanic Americans (as designated by the US Census) would respectively experience air pollution from LNG terminals at 151–170% and 110–129% the rate of white Americans, if all projects slated for 2030 are built.^2,3
• If the Department of Energy (DOE) ceases to approve new LNG export applications, it would save an estimated 707 to 1,110 lives and avoid $9.88 to $15.1 billion in health costs through 2050, by comparison to a scenario where all projects are built. A policy to phase out all LNG exports, consistent with limiting warming to 1.5ºC, would save even more lives and health costs.
• This analysis does not consider the likely public health harms associated with air pollution from infrastructure upstream or downstream of LNG terminals, hazardous air pollutants such as benzene, the impacts from explosions or other emergencies, or the climate impacts of LNG’s life cycle emissions. 

This research strengthens the body of evidence showing that LNG exports are not in the public interest and must be rejected. On July 31, Sierra Club and Greenpeace USA submitted this briefing to DOE in response to DOE’s Request for Information on its Environmental Justice Strategic Plan.

Permit to Kill

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