Latest news with #FereshtehEmami
Newsweek
09-08-2025
- Science
- Newsweek
Scientist Who Exposed Lake's Alarming Toxic Levels Removed—'Wiping Me Out'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. 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 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.
Yahoo
19-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists find ‘alarming' levels of toxic metals, pollution in Lake Maurepas
Cypress trees remain in the wetlands and swamps of Lake Maurepas. (Wes Muller/Louisiana Illuminator) Scientists at Southeastern Louisiana University have found dangerously high levels of toxic metals and other contaminants in Lake Maurepas and have traced most of the pollution to industrial and other human activities. Led by SLU chemistry professor Fereshteh Emami, a team of researchers analyzed 400 water and sediment samples collected from multiple locations and depths in the lake from June through December 2023 and developed new methodologies to trace the origin of the pollutants, track how they spread and determine the factors that make them worse. The results were 'alarming,' according to the study, which was published in Environments in November and accepted for publication in another scientific journal, ACS Omega, this month. The analysis revealed concentrations of heavy metals and nutrients far beyond the thresholds the Environmental Protection Agency considers safe. Arsenic levels peaked at 420% above the safe limit for lakes and 6,300% over the EPA's drinking water threshold. Lead and cadmium were detected at similarly high levels averaging orders of magnitude above safe limits. Nickel, copper, and manganese concentrations were also observed above their respective safety thresholds. Heavy metal exposure is known to cause severe health problems and can be fatal to humans. 'I was just surprised how polluted the area is,' Emami said in an interview. Emami's team at Southeastern developed new methodologies that allowed them to trace the pollutants to Pass Manchac and three rivers that feed into Lake Maurepas: the Blind, Amite and Tickfaw. It indicated that industrial and agricultural activities are major sources of the pollution. The researchers also detected a spike in contaminants near Pass Manchac following the Oct. 23, 2023, 'super-fog' multi-vehicle pileup on Interstate 55, indicating that toxic chemicals from combustion vehicles are also running off into the lake. The heavy metal concentrations found in Lake Maurepas are similar to those later detected following breaks in the waste containment levees at the Atlantic Alumina (Atalco) facility in Gramercy last year. Atalco's toxic metals — which also included arsenic, cadmium and lead, among others — ended up in a public drainage system that flows into the Blind River Swamp of Lake Maurepas. Although Emami's new methodologies did not trace the pollutants to specific facilities, news of the Atalco incident brought to light a previously unknown event that aligns with their findings, at least anecdotally, Emami said. More sampling and analysis is needed deeper upstream into those rivers in order to further narrow down the sources, she said. The researchers found other contaminants in the lake, including high levels of nitrogen, phosphorus and a parameter called chemical oxygen demand, which indicates the presence of organic pollutants in water. According to the study, all three parameters were elevated at averages beyond what is considered safe. Their methodologies traced these pollutants to urban runoff and agriculture. The samples contained other toxic metals, such as mercury, at levels that were within safe limits. But the study noted they still pose a threat to humans and the environment through bioaccumulation, in which low doses of a heavy metal can amass in a living organism over time and add up to a dangerous level. 'Because of the non-biodegradable and bioaccumulative nature of these heavy metals, they could accumulate and biomagnify in fish and other aquatic animals,' the researchers wrote. 'As a result, they could enter the human body eventually through the food chain.' Emami said mercury is particularly dangerous because it easily bioaccumulates in crops and animals such as fish. Her team is conducting a follow-up study in which they are testing aquatic samples from Lake Maurepas and surrounding rivers for heavy metals and other contaminants such as polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), known as 'forever chemicals.' Corinne Gibb, a chemist who works for the environmental advocacy Louisiana Bucket Brigade and was not involved in the study, said the research very clearly points to pollution that is flowing into Lake Maurepas from other water bodies. 'What they're showing for sure is that the pollution is coming through those rivers,' Gibb said. A Louisiana refinery spilled toxic waste into the community and knew about it for months Southeastern has been monitoring Lake Maurepas since the proposal of a carbon sequestration project by Air Products & Chemicals. The company plans to use carbon capture technology to trap emissions from an $8 billion hydrogen manufacturing complex in Ascension Parish and take them by pipeline to Lake Maurepas, where Air Products will have the capacity to inject an estimated 5 million tons of CO2 per year about a mile below the lakebed. In the first half of 2023, Air Products performed seismic testing to map the geological formations under the lake. In August of that year, the company moved a large temporary drilling rig into Lake Maurepas that served as a test well for the collection of core and fluid data, which ended in early 2024. Emami's team initially suspected but were ultimately unable to link any chemical pollutants to Air Products' activity in the lake. Aside from providing a multi-million dollar funding grant, the company played no role in any aspects of the study, its design or the decision to publish the results. 'We're committed to protecting the Lake Maurepas environment and ecosystem, which is why we have supported the independent monitoring of the Lake,' Air Products spokeswoman Christina Stephens said Wednesday after learning about the SLU study's findings. 'It's important for people to understand the lake's ecosystem, and as our work progresses we will continue to operate in a safe and responsible fashion.' That still doesn't assuage concerns of some local lawmakers. Rep. Kim Coates, R-Ponchatoula, who ran for office on a platform of protecting Lake Maurepas, pointed out the study shows the baseline water quality of the lake is already deeply concerning and could be made worse with general disturbances that accompany lakebed drilling and similar industrial activities. 'Adding deep geological carbon sequestration to an ecosystem already under strain from nutrient pollution raises serious questions,' Coates said. 'Even well-intentioned projects can have unintended consequences in such a delicate and dynamic environment. Until more is known, extreme caution is not just warranted — it's essential.' SLU's study is the first of its kind to combine dynamic statistical models with water quality data to trace pollutant sources and their driving factors. This allowed Emami's team to provide a comprehensive assessment of the chemical composition of Lake Maurepas based on a wide array of data. The methodology can also be used to predict when and where pollutants will flow or migrate to other areas, she said. 'Using the models, we were looking for the origins of the pollutant sources, and I wanted to know if the pollution sources in the Blind River could [let us] predict what was gonna show up in Manchac,' Emami said. 'And it did.' Emami said Pass Manchac's significant tidal exchange between Lake Maurepas and Lake Pontchartrain has allowed her team to conclude that the water quality and levels of pollution between the two estuaries are virtually the same. Until the start of Southeastern's research, there was no ongoing public monitoring for toxic metals in Lake Maurepas. Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality spokesman Matthew Day said the public should be aware of existing fish consumption advisories, such as one issued last year for Lake Maurepas based on elevated mercury levels detected in fish tissue. However, the agency does not conduct any regular heavy metal monitoring in Lake Maurepas because it is not required under Clean Water Act obligations, Day said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
