Scientist Who Exposed Lake's Alarming Toxic Levels Removed—'Wiping Me Out'

Newsweek

4 days ago

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A university professor who helped discover alarming data about hazardous heavy metal pollution in a Louisiana lake has been removed from the project weeks after it made newspaper headlines, saying: "It's like they are wiping me out of the picture."
Fereshteh Emami, a chemistry professor at Southeastern Louisiana University (SLU), was removed from her role as a principal investigator on the Air Products Lake Maurepas Monitoring Project on July 28, the university confirmed to Newsweek.
The project aimed to measure effects of a testing well drilled by Air Products that can inject carbon from an energy plant one mile beneath the lake's surface.
The team's paper published in Environments in November 2024 found "alarming" results, with nitrogen, phosphorus, arsenic, and lead levels exceeding safety thresholds. "I was just surprised how polluted the area is," Emami was quoted in local newspaper the Louisiana Illuminator in June. Newsweek contacted Emami via email.
SLU told Newsweek via email on Sunday it was "standard procedure to not provide reasons for discontinuation of a position or personnel issues...for privacy issues to protect the employee."
It said it welcomes public and media interest and all research "is independent of any external influence and available to the public." It added that Air Products, which has funded the research project, "has no control or influence" over it.
Newsweek contacted Air Products for comment on Wednesday.
Decaying plants are seen in the Maurepas Swamp in Ruddock, Louisiana, in 2020.
Decaying plants are seen in the Maurepas Swamp in Ruddock, Louisiana, in 2020.
Gerald Herbert/Associated Press
Why It Matters
The professor's removal from the project has led to increased scrutiny over a carbon neutralizing project beneath the lake that is linked to an estimated $8 billion hydrogen energy complex capable of powering up to three million cars daily.
What To Know
Emami told the Illuminator last week that she received notification of her removal via an email that said her continued involvement was "no longer in the best interest" of the project.
Her team, which analyzed water and sediment samples from the lake, linked the contamination primarily to industrial and agricultural pollutants from Pass Manchac and the Amite, Blind, and Tickfaw Rivers.
Emami said a university-sponsored documentary on the team's work had been canceled. The university later told Newsweek the documentary had not been canceled.
"This documentary was supposed to be about our results from the past three years ago," Emami told the Illuminator. "It's like they are wiping me out of the picture."
The university issued a statement calling the personnel change a "routine adjustment" unrelated to the scientific findings, and reaffirmed support for Emami's published work.
Louisiana lawmaker Representative Kim Coates, a Republican from Ponchatoula, told station KPLC that she had expressed her concerns over the removal to SLU president William Wainwright. "He assured us it's an HR personnel issue, and they're handling it internally, and that research is going forward," she said.
Coates has called for the US Army Corps of Engineers to complete an environmental-impact study on a proposal to inject carbon dioxide one mile beneath the lake.
According to Air Products' website, the project is designed to capture and permanently store five million tons of carbon dioxide each year. This carbon capture effort will be tied to a hydrogen energy complex capable of producing 750 million standard cubic feet of hydrogen per day. The Illuminator reported that the hydrogen manufacturing facility, located in Ascension Parish, carries a cost of $8 billion.
Air Products has stated that the facility's hydrogen output would be sufficient to power up to three million cars daily.
What People Are Saying
A spokesperson for the university told Newsweek that SLU "stands by all peer reviewed research of our esteemed scientists," has a "proven history of hiring exceptional research faculty," and is committed to current and expanded research.
They added that SLU's commitment to studying Lake Maurepas "is unwavering, regardless of what the science uncovers."
"Air Products provided funding for Southeastern to conduct extensive independent research and monitoring and has remained supportive," they said. "Air Products has no control or influence over the research, its findings, its publication or any of the researchers. That is what makes this investment in the study of Lake Maurepas unprecedented."
An SLU spokesperson told Louisiana-based station KPLC on Monday: "Dr. Emami published the paper reporting on and analyzing heavy metals in Lake Maurepas in the fall of 2024 in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. That paper was then featured in an article by the Illuminator in June of this year.
"Her findings and report were well known to the scientific community for months before this past week. There was no correlation between the paper she published, the article on that paper and its findings, and her removal from the project."
What Happens Next
Southeastern said it will be holding public forums to review current findings on the Maurepas Research Project.