Louisiana’s Community Air Monitoring Reliability Act Protects Industry while Restricting the Rights of Affected Communities

Abstract

The Community Air Monitoring Reliability Act (CAMRA) was arguably designed to prevent community acquisition and dissemination of data that can inform public actions in response to air emissions by petrochemical companies and other industries in Louisiana. Proponents of CAMRA claim to protect communities from using and disseminating “unreliable” air pollution monitoring data by requiring that criteria pollutant data be generated by Federal Reference Method or Federal Equivalence Method monitors in compliance with the National Ambient Air Quality Standards as designated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In reality, CAMRA suppresses the collection and dissemination of most air quality data collected by communities. Air quality monitors that meet CAMRA requirements are prohibitively expensive to purchase and maintain, while more affordable equipment still provides communities with reliable data for exposure and health assessments. Limiting communities’ ability to collect and use air quality monitoring data limits their ability to control the impact of air pollution exposure on their health. Moreover, the restrictions on data dissemination laid out in CAMRA constitute a suppression of the First Amendment right to Freedom of Speech by community members and their research partners. A recent lawsuit from six Louisiana community-based organizations challenges the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality on this basis. The outcome of this lawsuit will have critical ramifications for democracy in Louisiana.