New Orleans, LA — Today, Refined Community Empowerment filed a petition for judicial review challenging the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality’s (LDEQ) decision to renew and modify International-Matex Tank Terminals’ (IMTT) Title V air permit for its St. Rose Terminal. The lawsuit asks the court to vacate the permit because LDEQ approved an expansion of the facility without conducting and documenting key air quality analyses required by state and federal law.
The permit would allow construction of a new ammonia storage and export system and more than a dozen bulk storage tanks next to communities already burdened by industrial pollution. The ammonia system would support St. Charles Clean Fuels’ planned “blue” ammonia manufacturing plant. It includes several ammonia emission sources, including four ammonia storage tanks, flares, marine and truck loading operations, and related equipment capable of transferring large volumes of ammonia for export. The 15 additional tanks would store crude oil, methanol, and other petrochemical products that emit toxic air pollutants, including benzene and n-hexane.
IMTT operates one of the largest tank storage terminals in Louisiana. This “tank farm” has expanded its operations and infrastructure, increasing the volume and variety of petroleum and chemical products stored in more than 200 tanks with a capacity to store nearly 500 million gallons of petroleum products, fuels, chemicals, and other commodities. It is located between the residential communities of Elkinsville-Freetown and Oak Lawn Ridge, just upriver from the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. Some tanks are located a few hundred feet from homes, and residents have long raised concerns about odors and air pollution from the facility. Now residents are facing another expansion.
“St. Rose residents have raised serious concerns about IMTT’s air emissions, additional storage tanks, inadequate air monitoring, and noxious fumes in our community,” said Kimbrelle Eugene Kyereh, executive director of Refined Community Empowerment. “We are challenging LDEQ’s decision because the people who live closest to this facility deserve meaningful consideration, protection, and Environmental Peace — the ability to feel safe in our homes and community.”
Refined Community Empowerment is represented by public interest attorneys at the Environmental Integrity Project and Earthjustice.
“LDEQ cannot approve a large increase in air pollution without showing that the project complies with the law,” said Corinne Van Dalen, senior attorney for Earthjustice. “The record does not contain the evidence needed to support this permit, and communities should not have to bear the consequences of an unsupported decision.”
“We are asking the Court to enforce basic safeguards that must be followed for this industrial expansion,” explained Haley Lewis, senior attorney for Environmental Integrity Project. “When a company wants to build massive petrochemical tanks next to people’s homes, they should have to follow the law.”
IMTT tank Farm near St. Rose, Louisiana, just up the Mississippi River from Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. (Satellite imagery: Google Earth, imagery dated Oct. 21, 2022 – Dec. 19, 2025)
