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In 24hrs #HurricaneLaura is going to tear through the worlds second largest petrochemical complex. More than 750K ppl have thankfully evacuated but imagine #Laura's high wind & 10-15ft storm surges striking these.

Haunting @propublica photo essay. propublica.org/article/housto… Image
Energy industry prepare for #HurricaneLaura strike by halting operations in Texas/Louisiana coast. "Oil producers...evacuated 310 offshore facilities and shut 1.56 million barrels per day of crude output, 84% of Gulf of Mexico’s offshore production"#Laura

reuters.com/article/us-sto… ImageImage
Hurricane #Laura pointed at Port Arthur, home to the largest US gas refinery. Enticed by cheap Fracked gas, worlds chemical companies (Germany's BASF+France'sTotal, S Afr's Sasol...) set up shop there. spglobal.com/platts/en/mark… Image
#Laura intensified into a major Cat 3 hurricane overnight w landfall near Texas/Louisiana border, sparing Houston. Area dotted w refineries, Superfund sites, petchem & coal plants that aren't known for cleaning up ht @Earthjustice earthjustice.org/blog/2017-sept…
5/ Rapid intensification in the hot Atlantic basin is a signature of global warming. These destructive hurricanes really should be named after fossil fuel companies. Not #Laura but #Exxon @climatebrad
sciline.org/quick-facts/hu…
6/ Everyone goes on about climate adaptation. Take a guess how much NEW investment into O&G, petrochem, LNG export has been poured into gulf coast in last decade? >$300B

We aren't just poking the #ClimateDragon with a carbon stick but maladapting. #Laura lsu.edu/ces/publicatio… ImageImageImage
7/ In 2010s envmntlsts tried lawsuits to stop expansion of Gulf Coast LNG export terminals.
But Obama & Trump admins were hell bent on 'Energy Dominance'
Sabine Pass,full of petchem plants & largest LNG terminal, in crosshairs of #Laura's 10-20 FEET surge
theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/ne… ImageImage
8/ Why are so many refineries & boomtowns in path of #Laura? Obama admin's lifting of the crude export ban in 2015 that bought invstmt & Federal Energy regulators rubberstamping LNG export terminals on vulnerable coast. @SteveAHorn desmogblog.com/2015/11/13/oba… Image
9/ With Gulf Coast energy assets threatened by #Laura alarm bells ringing in:
Houston/Wall St/Amsterdam/London (Oil Majors)
Paris (Total)
Ludwigshafen (BASF)
Rio (Petrobras)
Johannesburg (Sasol)
Decisions made in heady days of 2010s Fracking boom bite⬇ Image
10/ Prophetic find ht @GernotWagner. What was Shell's worst fear in 1998?
"Shell envisioned scenarios in 2020 of youth-led “direct-action campaigns against [fossil energy] companies”all but predicting Greta Thunberg before her birth"
#Laura #HurricaneLaura
11/ On a devastating night for TX/Louisiana coast as a fossil-fueled #Laura intensifies into a Cat 5 hurricane, thinking of investigative reporters @insideclimate @neelaeast @lisalsong. Remember #ExxonKnew, Shell & Saudi Aramco knew insideclimatenews.org/content/Exxon-… Image
12/ Landfall. We don't have to imagine climate scenarios of 2050. We can see it happen before our eyes. We know enough to act now & stop burning billions of tons of fossilfuels before such extremes make organised human civilization impossible. #Laura
God. This petrochemical disaster is likely to be the south african energy company's Sasol's Lake Charles complex that was directly in path of #Laura's landfall
14/ In direct path of what @NHC_Atlantic warned "unsurvivable storm surge" of ten to twenty feet were 49 hazardous chemical plants & 9 petrochemical Superfund sites. One of them in Lake Charles is on fire. #Laura blog.ucsusa.org/jacob-carter/s…
15/ A virus is spreading — Stay at Home!
A hurricane is roaring — Get away to safety!
Chemicals are burning — Stay at Home!

No such thing as a natural disaster. Putting more people & property in harms way & not mitigating hazards are political choices.
Correction: its not Sasol's plant burning but Biolab, a chlorine factory. Don't know how to delete tweet but leave thread intact, so apologies for leaving it up.

Yes, pic has a casino boat that floated away in storm surge & wedged under bridge. Fumes in bkgrnd. 2020 metaphor. Image
16/ Huge relief. #Laura hit 50mi from Port Arthur & storm surge at low end of range~10ft didn't devastate miles inland as feared. Expansion of Petrochemicals in vulnerable gulf coast should have been prudently rejected in 2010s as more 🌀 will come. apnews.com/45ba32bafe5da3…
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