On Tuesday, May 7th The Lens and Hip Hop Caucus will present an Environmental Justice Media Roundtable focussing on Louisiana Climate Change. The event, Environmental Forum: Sharing Our Stories, will feature local media outlets and community activists. Each panelist will share an environmental story that is important to their community and how they did this […]
Posted inBehind The Lens
Behind the Lens episode 235: ‘One step behind Exxon’ News Update
This week on Behind The Lens, Sara Sneath on a Louisiana law that allows carbon capture well sites to remain unknown under a “trade secret” exception and Nick Chrastil on state legislation that could cut food stamps for thousands.
Posted inOpinion
Needed: a grid for the future
When the power goes out, it shuts down the economy and potentially costs lives. And while we can’t control the weather, better-planned transmission lines can help ensure that power outages happen less frequently and are less costly when they do occur. What we need is a buildout of regional transmission lines across our state and […]
Posted inEnvironment
LSU’s fossil-fuel partnerships
At Louisiana’s flagship university, oil companies can influence research and coursework for a price. One critic described the industry votes on research agendas, as described in the boilerplate document, as “an egregious violation of academic freedom.”
Posted inEnvironment
Where Was Exxon Planning to Inject CO2 in Louisiana? It’s a Trade Secret.
Two dozen carbon capture projects are proposed in Louisiana — but where is a bit of a mystery. A 2021 state law regulating carbon capture includes a provision allowing companies to claim a wide range of project information — including location — as trade secrets.
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Thousands of food-stamp recipients may face stricter work requirements
In Louisiana, one of the nation’s most impoverished states, recipients could easily lose food stamps through the work-requirement red tape, advocates say. The sponsoring legislator says that “work provides lasting value we can give back to our families, our community, and God.”
Posted inBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens episode 234: ‘Rabble-rousing at the Big Green’
La’Shance Perry on St. John Parish’s vote on rezoning for Greenfield. Delaney Dryfoos on Gov. Landry’s Task Force for Sewerage and Water Board. And Katy Reckdahl on union organizing at Tulane University.
Posted inEnvironment
Greenfield wins in St. John, for the moment
After the parish council granted heavy-industrial zoning to Greenfield Louisiana for its grain terminal, Greenfield’s legal counsel thanked supporters for enduring a lengthy legal back-and-forth. But the Banner sisters, founders of The Descendants Project, pledged that the battle would continue.
Posted inEvents
Join us April 18 for a new event: Breaking Bread, Breaking News
New Orleans and South Louisiana have a rich tradition of gathering, and food plays a major part in bringing people together. When people gather and eat, they inevitably talk about the issues of the day. For many people that means what is happening in their own backyards. Local news as it were.
Posted inOpinion
There’s healing to be done in New Orleans, say descendants of Homer Plessy and John H. Ferguson
At the top edge of the Bywater, where Royal Street crosses the railroad tracks, a plaque marks a moment that changed our nation’s history. A shoemaker named Homer Plessy was arrested here in 1892 for sitting in a passenger railcar designated for “whites.” The arrest was planned; Plessy’s friends, the Citizens Committee, called ahead to […]