Louisiana

Louisiana court reinstates Formosa plant permit, but financial outlook still bleak

Published

2 years ago

January 24, 2024

Louisiana court reinstates Formosa plant permit, but financial outlook still bleak

Last week, the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court decision and reinstated a permit for Formosa’s proposed petrochemical complex in St. James Parish, located in the heart of an area commonly known as “Cancer Alley.”

The decision reverses a lower court ruling that demanded closer scrutiny of the project’s potential to cause a discriminatory health impact due to industrial air pollution saturation in an already heavily burdened African-American community.

The decision provides a go-ahead for a project that has yet to pass environmental muster at the federal level, ignores repeated warnings from Standard and Poor’s, and flies in the face of community sentiments that the siting of the chemical project is unjust. Despite all the legal machinations, however, Formosa has not issued a final investment decision (FID) that would give the corporate go-ahead for the project.

The reinstatement of the Louisiana permit has not reversed the series of negative economic factors that plague the project. An IEEFA analysis has indicated the project is financially unviable based on fundamental market factors.

The market for the products to be manufactured at the proposed facility currently remains oversupplied. On a global basis, world supply continues to outpace demand for polyethylene, polypropylene and ethyl glycols. This is likely to continue through 2030.
The oversupply is likely to continue. New projects have recently been added to the market, and at least one more is in construction. CC Polymer’s Golden Triangle project in Texas is expected to come online in 2027, adding 1 million tons to U.S. markets. Shell opened its Pennsylvania petrochemical plant in 2021, which has shown modest performance, according to recent reports.
The oversupply is not likely to be absorbed. Analysts see slow growth in North America. In the core export region (Northeast Asia and China), economic growth is expected to be slower than predicted when the plant was first planned.
Increased demand also is likely to be dampened due to sustainability impacts, demographic change and legislative mandates.
Export demand is unstable. In 2022, the United States exported 54% of the polyethylene produced. The industry’s reliance on exporting is likely to continue given the limited domestic market, with most of the exports going to China and Europe. Yet export scenarios predicated on these two arenas show instability in the medium and longer term.
Competition with recycled plastic products will reduce the market share for virgin plastics. Recycling in the United States is expected to rise by 50%, achieving an 8.7% share of the market in 2030. The recycled plastics market share is expected to increase by 26% over the next decade, to 11% of the market in 2040.
The company faces significantly higher construction costs. With rising costs also weakening prices from oversupply, the company has not offered any indication to its investors that explains how the financial structure of the facility still meets the company’s internal return targets.
Standard and Poor’s, which offered strong cautions regarding the proposed petrochemical complex in October 2021, has not altered its opinion of the project. In October 2023, the company outlook was negative on lower demand, significant debt and higher competition in the commodity markets. The opinion repeated its concern that the Louisiana project faced a negative “political and market” environment. The negative outlook did not include any proposed new spending on the facility.
Any further development action on the project is likely to trigger credit concerns like those expressed in the October 2021 opinion. Moody’s, which holds the company’s rating stable, has still indicated concerns about Formosa‘s plastic business debt levels.
Moody’s, Standard and Poor’s and Fitch each issued new climate guidance in the fourth quarter of 2023 that tightens the link between the sustainability of today’s business investments and companies’ mid-to-long-term profitability.

The financial fundamentals of this scenario have been sufficient to prompt a continued warning from Standard and Poor’s. Moody’s has taken note that rising socioeconomic inequality, political polarization and deteriorating governance threaten the otherwise strong financial outlook for the nation. The Louisiana appeals court decision can only feed the underlying stresses identified in both credit advisories.

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Louisiana

Winners announced for 40th annual Northeast Louisiana Arts Awards

Published

9 hours ago

June 28, 2026

Press Room

Winners announced for 40th annual Northeast Louisiana Arts Awards

WEST MONROE, La. (KNOE) – The Northeast Louisiana Arts Council announced the winners of the 40th Annual Northeast Louisiana Arts Awards during a ceremony held Thursday, June 25.

Winners in nine categories were revealed during the program, where top nominees in each category were also recognized. Members of the Arts Council, its board of directors, and invited guests joined friends and family in celebrating the honorees.

2026 Northeast Louisiana Arts Awards winners

Edmund Williamson Visual Artist of the Year: Stacy Thomas Medaries
Tommy Usery Performing Artist of the Year: The John L. Brown, Sr. Memorial Scholarship Band
BART (Business Art) Award: Creative Exchange
Volunteer of the Year: Jennifer Haynes
Dorothy Bassett Emerging Artist of the Year: Jari Richardson
Region 8 Arts Educator of the Year: Joni Dollar
Region 8 Higher Education Arts Educator of the Year: Emily Ezell
Literary Artist of the Year: Jamie Mayes
Community Arts Impact Award: Dr. Alicia Jones

For more information on the Northeast Louisiana Arts Council and its programs, click here.

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Louisiana

Letlow, Davis advance in Louisiana’s U.S. Senate race

Published

19 hours ago

June 28, 2026

Press Room

Letlow, Davis advance in Louisiana’s U.S. Senate race

U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow and Jamie Davis, a row-crop farmer in Tensas Parish, won their party runoffs Saturday and will now face off for Bill Cassidy’s U.S. Senate seat in November.

Cassidy, one of seven Republican senators who voted to remove President Donald Trump from office after the January 6th insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in 2021, came in third during the Republican primary in May.

Letlow, who received backing from both Trump and Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, nearly won the primary outright with 45% of the vote. While heavily favored, Letlow lost ground in the runoff to Louisiana Treasurer John Fleming, but still won with at least 57% of the vote.

The Associated Press called the race for Letlow shortly before 9 p.m.

“President Trump, thank you for encouraging me to get into this race, thank you for your endorsement, Louisiana loves you,” Letlow said in her victory speech. The second person she thanked was Landry. Trump later congratulated Letlow on Truth Social.

Davis captured 80% of the vote in the Democratic runoff over New Orleans businessman Gary Crockett. He led in every parish.

“ I’ve always been raised and trained that if you do the work, you should reap a harvest,” Davis said in his victory speech. “I didn’t know what the harvest was going to be, but I knew that we would reap a harvest, and it just happened to be a win to go to the United States Senate.”

Like Letlow, Davis almost captured enough votes in the May 16th primary to win with 47%. His initial runoff opponent, Nick Albares, ended his campaign in late May.

History will be made regardless of the outcome in November.

Davis’ victory Saturday made him the first Black U.S. Senate finalist in Louisiana since Reconstruction.

Letlow is the first Republican woman to represent Louisiana in the U.S. House. If she wins in November, she would be the second woman elected from Louisiana to the U.S. Senate and the first Republican. Democrat Mary Landrieu served in the Senate from 1997 until 2014.

A hotly contested Republican race

The biggest issue Letlow and Fleming, conservative Republicans, appeared to differ on was carbon sequestration: the process of capturing and storing carbon dioxide underground.

Fleming completely opposes projects in the state, while Letlow said she trusts Gov. Jeff Landry to decide what’s best and support his moratorium on new permits.

“If a project is not safe, not transparent, and does not have local buy-in, it should not move forward,” Letlow said.

Fleming, who is MAGA-aligned, said his campaign relied on “grassroots support” and was endorsed by eight parish-level Republican committees and four regional assemblies.

“It’s been a tough year-and-a-half campaigning, but I asked for this,” Fleming said in his concession speech. “I felt that the Lord led me this way. It didn’t turn out as we had hoped, but that’s OK.

“This is a very healthy process, what we have in Democracy, where we battle it out, tough it out and hopefully we get the best.”

Letlow’s platform

Letlow’s political career began in 2020 after her husband, Luke, who had just been elected to the U.S. House, died from complications from COVID-19.

She ran for his seat in a special election, won and later used her platform to encourage people to get vaccinated against the infectious disease.

Letlow, a mother of two who worked in higher education administration before entering politics, has become an increasingly vocal supporter of Trump and of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic.

Her campaign received more than $1 million from the MAHA PAC, a political group affiliated with Kennedy.

Letlow said her proudest legislative accomplishment is a Parents’ Bill of Rights she passed in the House in 2023, which stalled in the Senate.

“The bill gives parents greater transparency into curriculum, school budgets, and what is happening in their children’s classrooms,” Letlow said. “It puts families back in charge and protects children from political agendas that don’t belong in schools.”

She said her top three priorities, if elected to the U.S. Senate, will be border security and public safety, growing Louisiana’s economy and education, including school choice and parents’ rights.

Davis’ platform

Davis, a former Tensas Parish Police Juror, is running on a platform of affordability, healthcare, opportunity and upholding voting rights.

He said he took it personally when Gov. Jeff Landry canceled the congressional race where mail-in ballots had already been cast. The Democratic candidate also attended legislative committee hearings to oppose the 5-1 Republican-favored congressional voting map that the legislature eventually passed and the governor signed into law for use in the November election.

“A national ban on gerrymandering is one of the top things for me, because we need to get past this power grab that’s happening all over the nation. It needs to end so that America can just focus on the issues and not power grabs,” said Davis.

The third-generation farmer said he’ll work toward a new Farm Bill with crop insurance reform.

“So farmers can just have the opportunity to grow a crop, be able to sell it on an open market for a fair price and be able to make an honest living,” said Davis.

The 55-year-old grandfather said he’ll defend Medicaid, strengthen rural hospitals at risk of closing, focus on lowering prescription drug costs and protect Social Security and Medicare and the subsidies that keep premiums affordable.

He also supports a woman’s right to choose when it comes to abortion.

On immigration, Davis said he’s in favor of securing the border but also wants to give immigrants a simple path to citizenship.

Davis has the endorsements of the Louisiana Democratic Party, Congressman Troy Carter, New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno, former opponent Nick Albares and Indivisible groups across the state.

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Louisiana

Louisiana State Games boxing comes to West Monroe

Published

1 day ago

June 27, 2026

Press Room

Louisiana State Games boxing comes to West Monroe

WEST MONROE, La. (KNOE) – The City of West Monroe announced the 2026 Louisiana State Games are coming to West Monroe this weekend, with athletes from across the state set to compete at The Rec at 7th Square.

According to officials matches begin at 6 p.m. Saturday and continue at 1 p.m. Sunday. Spectators are invited to attend and support the boxers.