REPORT: Deaths, Asthma, Climate Pollution Linked to Citi’s Funding of Gas Terminals

NEW YORK CITY – The lives and health of families in Texas and Louisiana are being directly impacted by Citi’s funding of nearby liquified methane gas projects (LNG), a new report released today shows. Over $36 million in health costs, two deaths, and more than 1,600 incidences of asthma symptoms per year in the region are linked to the $1.6 billion the bank has pumped into four LNG facilities in the Gulf South. The bank’s financed emissions related to these facilities is equivalent to over 6 coal plants or 6 million gasoline cars annually. 

The report, Citi: Funding Fossil-Fueled Environmental Racism in the Gulf South, quantifies the projected health impacts the facilities’ permitted air pollution could have on the region and highlights three communities in the area that are fighting back against fossil fuel development. 

“As a mother of six and resident of Southwest Louisiana, I have witnessed firsthand the devastating impacts of environmental racism,” said Roishetta Ozane, Co-Director of the Gulf South Fossil Finance Hub. “When Citi and other banks fund fossil fuels, they are complicit in the chronic health conditions that stem from these facilities’ pollution. Citi must prioritize the wellbeing of marginalized communities and stop funding the fossil fuel industry’s injustice.”

The report undermines Citi’s claims to be advancing racial equity and climate action. The bank is the biggest funder in the world of fossil fuel expansion since 2016, pumping $204 billion into new oil, gas and coal build-outs in that period. It finances projects and companies in communities of color that cause dangerous impacts both for the people living nearby and beyond. Therefore, the report concludes that Citi is perpetuating environmental racism.

“As a lifelong Port Arthurian, I’ve seen this community go from life to death due to Citi’s destruction!” Reginald Trainer, with the Port Arthur Community Action Network said. “Race plays a big part of that. I believe it and I can see it. Citi is responsible for the part it’s played in harming our community.”

The dataset showcased in the report estimates the real-world impacts related to Citi’s funding of LNG terminals that are operating and under construction in low-income and communities of color in Texas and Louisiana; specifically Cameron LNG, Corpus Christi LNG, Port Arthur LNG, and Sabine Pass LNG. This analysis estimates that by providing at least $1.6 billion in direct financing to the four LNG export terminals, Citi could be attributed with up to the following annual estimated impacts related to the facilities’ permitted air pollution:

• 2.3 premature deaths
• $36 million in health costs
• 10 cases of childhood asthma onset
• 1,654 instances of asthma symptoms
• 864 lost school days
• 65 lost work days
• 26 MMT CO2e/yr*

*equivalent to the emissions from 6.6 coal plants or 6 million gas cars in a year

If all of these facilities are constructed, over the course of an LNG terminal’s lifespan of up to 35 years, Citi could be responsible for as many as 80.5 premature deaths related to the air pollution from these projects. This does not include additional deaths if each of these terminals complete their planned expansion phases, which would increase the amount of toxic pollution unleashed on nearby communities.

“Ongoing fossil fuel extraction continues to destroy Indigenous lands all over the Global South and in communities of color here in Texas and Louisiana. CitiBank doesn’t care how many communities, sacred sites, or ecosystems they destroy as long as they make their money,” Dr. Christopher Basaldú of the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe said. “Citibank and other large financial institutions are crucial elements in perpetuating climate chaos by funding the racist projects that are deliberately sited in Indigenous communities and communities of color. Many people do not have access to health care, so the negative health impacts of proposed fossil fuel projects would sicken these communities for generations.”

In addition to the data, the report focuses attention on three communities in the Gulf South that are fighting Citi’s financing of projects in their communities; Port Arthur, Texas; the Rio Grande Valley, Texas, and St. James Parish, Louisiana. Through interviews with members of each community, the case studies highlight the human cost of living near polluting facilities and present clear cases of environmental injustice. These case studies also illustrate the courage of community leaders who stand up to corporations and their financial backers, demand accountability from politicians, and build solutions for their neighbors and families.

Citi has provided over $9 billion in financing for Enbridge from 2016 to 2023, supporting their plans to build an LNG pipeline in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. From 2001 to 2015, Citi also financed $668 million for Formosa Plastics, which is now planning the so-called “Sunshine Project” in St. James, Louisiana. The research found that Citi’s corporate-level financing for Enbridge is associated with the equivalent emissions of over 12 million gas-powered cars in a year. It also found that Formosa Plastics’ 2022 emissions are equivalent to 11 million gas-powered cars or 12.2 coal plants operating for a year. The combined estimated health impacts related to air pollution projected for the Rio Bravo Pipeline’s Compressor Station (Enbridge) and the Sunshine Project (Formosa Plastics) include 13 deaths and $203 million in health costs per year.

“Citi’s lack of regard for people, especially Black Americans, as they continue to finance petrochemicals in these communities just emphasizes their environmentally racist tendencies,” Shamell Lavigne, Chief Operating Officer of RISE St. James said. “St. James Parish has been a safe haven for me, my family and our community for generations. But Citi continues to enable companies like Formosa Plastics to pollute and harm us without accountability.”

Citi needs to end its financing of fossil fuels in the Gulf South, and beyond. The report comes after a summer of actions targeting Citi at their New York City headquarters dubbed “the Summer of Heat.” Over the course of the summer activists organized 32 actions, including 28 moments of civil disobedience with over 700 arrests in an effort to pressure Citi’s CEO, Jane Fraser, to stop financing fossil fuel projects. 

The report was released by Stand.earth, the Gulf South Fossil Finance Hub, The Vessel Project of Louisiana, Stop the Money Pipeline, Hip Hop Caucus, and Texas Campaign for the Environment Fund, in collaboration with the Port Arthur Community Action Network, the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of South Texas, and RISE St. James.

###