Shell’s Lake Charles LNG team gets feet wet in Louisiana marshes

About 40 team members of the Lake Charles LNG Project, Shell’s proposed liquefaction facility on the Louisiana Gulf Coast, recently got an up-close view of the region’s wetlands by participating in a day of habitat restoration at the Sabine National Wildlife Refuge. The November 7th opportunity was identified and arranged by Shell US Social Investment through its relationships with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USF&WS). The USF&WS manages more than 500 National Wildlife Refuges, including Sabine, which at 125,000 acres is one of the largest on the Gulf Coast.

Following a two-hour bus trip from Shell’s Woodcreek campus in Houston, volunteers were greeted by TNC and USF&WS personnel at the refuge’s Nature Trail, which is located just south of refuge headquarters on Highway 27. About 40,000 visitors walk the Nature Trail every year. After a detailed information session and safety briefing – and a stretching exercise to help limber up – team members went to work cutting and piling an invasive cane species that has taken over parts of the refuge. Using loppers and saws, volunteers cleared sight lines in the cane so visitors can more easily see the birds, alligators and other wildlife that call the refuge home.

“Lake Charles aims to be the lowest-cost, most environmentally responsible LNG facility on the U.S. Gulf Coast,” said Jason Klein, Shell’s VP of Lake Charles LNG. “Our development objectives include being a good corporate neighbor. This involves limiting our impact on the region’s natural resources, which are so important to the fabric of Southwest Louisiana. The Sabine refuge is in our footprint, so in addition to learning about the refuge and doing a bit of work, we took some pride in helping make things better for future visitors.”

To learn more about The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in Louisiana and Sabine National Wildlife Refuge, please visit the links below:

• https://www.fws.gov/swlarefugecomplex/sabine/
• http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/louisiana/