Protesters speak out against World LNG & Gas Series Summit

Lake Charles, LA (KPLC) - Residents and community advocates led a protest near the Golden Nugget Casino where the World LNG & Gas Series Summit is being held.

Protesters gathered demanding federal, state and local officials to hear the community’s input and place people over profit.

“Politicians are coming to advocate for jobs in this area,” protester James Hiatt said. “We want to let them know that we want jobs, but we want alternative energy jobs. We want jobs that are sustainable.”

Hiatt, with the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, spoke against the Lake Charles LNG project saying it’s time for something to be done to help Southwest Louisiana.

“What we have is a community that’s solid but has been shaken this year by all of these storms,” Hiatt said. “We’re tired of being resilient, we’re tired of people calling us resilient. What we want is action, and what we need is for people to listen and become aware of what’s going on in this area.”

Michael Tritico, biologist and president of Restore, compares LNG to all the natural disasters that have ripped through Southwest Louisiana in the past 14 months.

“What we’ve got is proliferation of LNG and other fossil fuel industries that are not renewable,” Tritico said. “They’re depletable. They’re finite. And they have ruined our renewable resources and our climate.”

Roishetta Ozane with the Vessel Project said the transition is not something that will happen overnight.

“We don’t have a goal to shut these down overnight, but just to transition to more renewable energy, as James said earlier. And not infiltrate our waterways and our ports with even more of these facilities taking away more of our wetland,” Ozane said.

The World LNG & Gas Series Summit is happening now through Thursday at the Golden Nugget, which is expected to generate over $250,000 for Southwest Louisiana.

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