Residents of the Southeast Texas petrochemical hub of Freeport were in Tokyo this week asking Japanese financiers and government ministers to stop supporting fossil fuels.

Community groups, including the Freeport Haven Project and Climate Conversation Brazoria County met with officials from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation and government-run Nippon Export and Investment Insurance, as well as the ministries of finance and economy, trade and industry. The two banks are “negotiating loans, equity and guarantees that lower risk for Japanese banks and trading houses,” according to the South China Morning Post.

Representatives from the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Mizuho Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Bank declined to meet the group, the outlet reported. The three are the largest financiers of liquified natural gas (LNG) projects in the U.S.

Freeport is home to Freeport LNG, an export terminal that began operating in 2019 and has accumulated a record of air quality violations. In 2022, an explosion at the facility released a giant fireball and led to a months-long shutdown.

“I will never forget the day the Freeport LNG project exploded. It changed the way I look at that facility and the way I feel about the safety of my family and my community,” Gwendolyn Jones, founder of Climate Conversation Brazoria County, told the South China Morning Post.