In southwest Louisiana, James Hiatt nonetheless considers the Calcasieu River to be sacred fishing grounds. 

However for many years, Hiatt and different locals have been instructed that they will get sick from the seafood they catch within the river, which accommodates mercury and different toxins. As rising numbers of Liquified Pure Fuel (LNG) terminals stand up alongside the river, locals concern that the contamination may worsen quickly.

Although group anglers have relied on the river for generations to offer meals for his or her dinner tables, the Louisiana Division of Environmental High quality (LDEQ) advises residents to restrict fish and shellfish consumption to not more than two meals per 30 days. The division additionally warns towards swimming, water sports activities and phone with backside sediments of the Calcasieu, due to the pollution there.

Hiatt, founder and government director of For a Higher Bayou, believed that the Calcasieu River’s longtime dire situations – together with the incursion of extra petrochemical services alongside its banks – merited a high spot on this yr’s “most endangered rivers” checklist, compiled by the nonprofit American Rivers.

The nationwide conservation group agreed, naming the Calcasieu because the ninth most endangered river within the nation for 2025 due to its historic and persevering with air pollution. “Removed from having the ability to assist the colourful communities and native economies of Louisiana, the Calcasieu itself is on life assist,” mentioned Chantel Dominguez, director of group campaigns and engagement for American Rivers. 

And it may worsen, Dominguez warned. “With a variety of new chemical services already deliberate alongside the river and its estuary, any additional unchecked air pollution with out present and common sense security requirements in place threatens to compound the issues past restore,” she mentioned. 

Those that stay and work close to the river really feel that very same urgency. “At present, the wetlands alongside the Calcasieu are among the many most biologically important but closely polluted areas within the nation,” mentioned Alyssa Portaro, founder and director of the nonprofit Habitat Restoration Mission, which works to assist contaminated communities get better, in southwestern Louisiana. 

Collectively, Habitat Restoration Mission and For a Higher Bayou proposed the Calcasieu to American Rivers.

The way forward for the Calcasieu River and its adjoining communities relies on a “dedication to cease the continuing assault of lethal dioxins and different poisonous chemical substances,” Portaro mentioned. Dioxins are extremely poisonous, long-lasting pollution that may trigger most cancers, issues with replica and growth, harm to the immune system, and interference with hormones. 

For many years, chemical crops and refineries have dumped wastewater, together with dioxins and different poisonous chemical substances, instantly into the river. The Westlake Eagle US 2 Lake Charles plastics plant is likely one of the nation’s main dischargers of dioxins into waterways, in response to Environmental Safety Company (EPA) information. 

American Rivers creates the annual Endangered Rivers checklist primarily based on considerations about present regulatory actions. The Mississippi River topped this yr’s checklist due to federal cuts to flood-relief assist regardless of rising threats of extreme climate. 

In its report on the Calcasieu, American Rivers encourages the EPA so as to add limits for poisonous pollution like dioxins, benzene and heavy metals, because the federal company works on a two-year overview and replace to expertise requirements that might affect water-pollution requirements.

Alongside Louisiana’s coast, LNG exports have turn out to be a dominant and rising trade. This month, Enterprise International started exporting contractual deliveries to its long-term prospects from its first LNG terminal, Calcasieu Go, considered one of two huge LNG services at present working on the Calcasieu River, which connects to the Gulf of Mexico by way of a deep, native delivery channel.

Fishermen have chronicled shrimp inhabitants losses since Calcasieu Go started producing LNG in 2022. It’s unclear whether or not the losses stem from the development of the 423-acre web site or whether or not river life is affected by spills, contamination or different air pollution. However one thing occurred, Hiatt mentioned.

“We are able to’t say definitively that these LNGs have wrecked the ecosystem and are the explanation there are not any shrimp developing the river,” mentioned Hiatt. “It’s all circumstantial proof that they put this factor proper on the mouth of the river in 2022 and since then the catch has been horrible and gone down yearly.”

In March, U.S. Secretary of Vitality Chris Wright authorised an LNG export authorization for Enterprise International to construct CP2, a second terminal alongside the already overcrowded Calcasieu River. A 3rd Calcasieu Go terminal can be within the growth part.

However even because the U.S. races to approve permits beneath President Trump’s Nationwide Vitality Emergency, a significant LNG importer has severed enterprise relationships. China, one of many largest consumers of U.S. LNG, stopped imports in April amid an escalating commerce conflict between the 2 international locations. 

In Louisiana, questions on air pollution from LNG terminals are compounded by considerations of employee security within the petrochemical trade. In March, the Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE) closed 11 subject places of work of the U.S. Occupational Security and Well being Administration (OSHA), together with Louisiana’s workplace in Baton Rouge. 

New analysis has additionally confirmed a typical grievance from predominantly Black communities that sometimes encompass petrochemical crops—whereas bearing the brunt of air pollution, individuals of shade are usually not seeing promised employment. A current examine led by Tulane College discovered that inequity within the U.S. petrochemical trade is very pronounced in Louisiana, the place individuals of shade had been underrepresented in each high- and low-paying jobs at chemical crops and refineries.

Consequently, the over-burdened communities of southwest Louisiana see little profit from the burst of latest trade, which is drastically altering a beloved panorama.

Lake Charles itself exists due to the Calcasieu River, Hiatt emphasised. “It’s not due to oil extraction. [The town exists] due to this freshwater supply with a connection to the Gulf of Mexico.” 

And lengthy earlier than the services got here to Calcasieu, there was the water, the interconnected bayous and marshes the place fish and wildlife thrived and supported business fisherpeople, who took their catches to market and in addition spent leisure time alongside the river, fishing, boating, and swimming with their households.

”The port and the individuals who use this river name it a ship channel,” mentioned Hiatt. “However it’s greater than only a option to facilitate the motion of products. It’s the lifeblood of this space.”

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