Two years after Hurricane Ida hit Louisiana’s coast, the catastrophic damage it caused to homes and infrastructure remains unrepaired in many parts of southeast Louisiana. Despite the slow progress, especially when it comes to home repairs, the Federal Emergency Management Agency recently notified residents that it will soon dramatically increase the cost of the temporary […]
Category: Environment
Posted inEnvironment
Nonprofit floats stormwater fee to shore up drainage system costs
The city’s needs require a new approach that prioritizes equity, the group argues.
Posted inEnvironment
Mississippi River shipping infrastructure is aging. Who should pay for the repairs?
Around 175 million tons of freight travels on the Mississippi River each year, and from the river’s headwaters to southern Illinois, a series of locks and dams guide barges through the journey. Traffic is only increasing, but the locks and dams have aged far past their life expectancy. Even functioning properly, they slow barges down, […]
Posted inOpinion
Our children are too precious for us to give up and go home
There are a lot of injustices that come with living in an area surrounded by polluting plants. Knowing that the air is constantly being poisoned and causing your children to develop health problems is a major one. Living with the fear that major fires and explosions will happen is another. But realizing that the folks […]
Posted inEnvironment
Report: Maps show Louisiana plants disproportionately located near Black communities
Thirty years ago, a report called out Louisiana’s petrochemical industry for building plants in areas with a large Black population. On Monday, a new update to the report found that little had changed, and new plants in the state’s chemical corridor are still disproportionately planned near Black communities, according to an analysis by a New […]
Posted inEnvironment
Petrochemical industry in Louisiana plans a ‘defense’ amid growing opposition
After residents of America’s ‘Cancer Alley’ in Louisiana put a national spotlight on their fight for a healthy environment, the state’s economic interests and petrochemical giants are backing the creation of a new “sustainability council” to counter grassroots activists, documents show. In recent years, the activists have successfully fought construction of two multibillion-dollar plastics facilities […]
Posted inEnvironment
Offshore wind workforce a weak link in plan to build out renewables
A national push toward offshore wind energy could create thousands of well-paying domestic jobs in Louisiana and elsewhere, according to clean energy advocates and President Joe Biden, who wants to establish 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030. But it’s unlikely there will be enough trained and certified workers to fill those positions, and […]
Posted inEnvironment
Oil sprayed on neighborhood from S&WB plant for second time
Residents living across Spruce Street from the Sewerage and Water Board’s Carrollton Power Plant found their homes and property coated in oily residue over the weekend of April 8-9 — for the second time in just over a year. The pattern and distribution mimic a 2022 venting of lubrication oil from the exhaust stack of […]
Posted inEnvironment
Mississippi River basin should be getting more USDA conservation funding, report says
A new report from the Environmental Working Group, an environmental and health nonprofit, argues that the Mississippi River basin is not receiving enough conservation funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is one of the department’s largest conservation programs and helps farmers integrate conservation practices, such as cover cropping and […]
Posted inEnvironment
Nonprofit: Greenfield owes $200 million in property taxes for grain elevator project
A nonprofit opposed to the construction of a grain elevator in St. John the Baptist Parish sued the company behind the project, Greenfield Louisiana, along with the parish’s tax assessor, arguing Greenfield is being shielded from $209 million in property taxes. The Descendants Project, founded by twin sister Jo and Joy Banner, said in a […]