Louisiana
A plan to build one of Louisiana’s biggest solar farms was rejected. Lawsuits have now been filed.
The rejection of a plan to build one of Louisiana’s largest solar farms in St. James Parish has drawn lawsuits from the developer and a land company that allege local officials acted in defiance of “objective evidence” and the public will in denying the 2,200-acre complex.
In two separate suits, the New York-based developer, D.E. Shaw Renewable Investments, and the Vacherie-based land company, Ten-R Company Inc., have asked state district judges in St. James to overturn the Parish Council’s decision last month to deny the 360-megawatt solar farm.
The dispute highlights the difficulty in building out large solar farms as energy companies seek to expand renewable power sources. The burning of coal or oil and gas for electricity is an important contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, which cause climate change.
SJ Louisiana Solar LLC project would have been built in the Vacherie area on sugar cane land along La. 20 and River Road and sold power to Entergy Louisiana. Entergy officials have said they wanted the solar power to meet demand from its industrial customers, but the large facility sparked local and official opposition.
That opposition stemmed from fears about noise and fires as well as worries about aesthetics and the loss of sugar cane land along the Mississippi River. Some also noted the site has industrial development potential and that the solar facility had promised few permanent jobs.
After more than two years of review and revision — including a moratorium to allow the council to develop a solar ordinance — DESRI came back with a scaled-down version of its earlier plans that was designed under the new parish solar ordinance.
Those provisions included sizeable setbacks that cut into the space for solar panels, as well as perimeter fencing and vegetative screens behind roads and homes to block the view of the panels, the suit claims. The company also alleged concerns about noise were mitigated and fears over fires and land contamination were overstated or false.
But, on June 18, in a 4-3 vote after more than two and a half hours of public discussion and council debate, the Parish Council denied the revised plan, which still would have been one of the largest solar farms in the state.
In the two suits brought Wednesday in Convent, SJ Louisiana Solar, which is a subsidiary of DESRI, and Ten-R allege the Parish Council acted arbitrarily and capriciously when it backed the Planning Commission’s recommendation to deny the project.
“The council’s denial of petitioner’s application constitutes an irrational abuse of power,” the DESRI subsidiary’s lawsuit alleges.
Victor J. Franckiewicz Jr., a parish planning attorney, said the lawsuits were not unexpected.
“We’re going to have to look at it in detail. I’m sure the parish will respond,” he said on Friday.
Council members who voted against the solar complex last month said they were responding to the public will, but the DESRI subsidiary argued that, in the council meeting and in an earlier planning commission meeting, public sentiment was decidedly in its favor, including from a host of letters, some unsigned or with illegible names, read out-loud by council officials.
In the suit, the DESRI subsidiary also argued the parish went against the Planning Commission and council’s own reasoning five years ago when they approved a far smaller DESRI solar facility, now built in the parish, without buffer lands because of its “benign nature” and “inconsequential impacts.”
The DESRI subsidiary also noted in its suit that the Louisiana Public Service Commission, in 2021, had found that the earlier version of its proposed complex, which then called for 300-megawatts of electricity, served the public interest and that the solar farm promised $141.3 million in tax revenue over its lifetime.
The company also detailed what it says were its efforts to tailor its plans to address public concerns and its decision to pass on lucrative property tax exemptions. It suggested that the complex would have no air emissions and less impact than currently allowed agricultural and residential uses.
“The council’s decision is not supported by any objective evidence in the record,” SJ Louisiana Solar, the DESRI subsidiary, alleges.
The subsidiary and the landowner, however, were seeking a project on land not designated for solar farms but for agriculture and future homes. The company and landowner, as parish officials have noted, needed an exception to those designated land uses to allow the solar farm.
Franckiewicz, the parish lawyer, has said previously that means the decision remained in the discretion of the Parish Council and was not a use by right.
In the court papers, the DESRI subsidiary pointed out, however, that no parish land use designation allows solar farms and that the council did not follow its solar ordinance consultant’s recommendation to make solar farms permitted activities in industrial and agricultural land uses.
In the DESRI subsidiary’s and the landowner’s suits, they allege some council members who voted on the project had possible conflicts of interest; DESRI also added some on the planning commission had conflicts too.
The suits don’t name the officials nor the source of the alleged conflicts.
The suit brought by SJ Louisiana Solar, the DESRI subsidiary, has been assigned to 23rd Judicial District Judge Keyojuan Gant-Turner. The suit from Ten-R has been assigned to Chief District Judge Jason Verdigets.
Louisiana ranks among the top 10 most affordable states to retire, according to a new study from Retirement Living, a national journal of retirement research.
Researchers analyzed each state’s housing costs, living expenses and tax friendliness to compile the ranking. Louisiana, they say, is the eighth most affordable state for retirees.
In Louisiana, the median monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment is $932, the median home sale price is $255,000, monthly grocery spend per capita is $272, the average price per gallon of regular gas is $4, the average Medicare Advantage monthly premium is $13.35 and the average effective property tax rate is 0.55%.
West Virginia is the most affordable state to retire, followed by Mississippi, Alabama, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Louisiana, Indiana and Kansas. Researchers describe the South as “the sweet spot for an affordable retirement.”
The most expensive state to retire, meanwhile, is California, followed by Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Utah, New York and Minnesota.
Read Retirement Living’s full report here.
BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – With hurricane season approaching, the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority is bringing the community together to prepare before a storm forms.
“We can’t stop disasters from happening. We can’t stop hurricanes from happening. But what we can do is equip our communities with the resources that they need to prepare for these storms ahead of time,” said Jayda Morris, CPRA outreach manager.
The agency hosted an event featuring interactive storm simulations and a full model of the Mississippi River.
“If you do it now, like on a sunny day like today, you’re ready to go for the rest of the season,” Jay Grymes said.
El Niño may reduce storms, but Louisiana still at risk
State Climatologist Jay Grymes said an El Niño pattern may reduce the number of storms in the Atlantic but warned against a false sense of security.
“In those 25 years, Louisiana, some part of the state has been impacted by 29 storms. That’s one a year, regardless of El Niño. So that should tell you something,” Grymes said.
He said the bigger concern is storms that can form in the Gulf with little warning.
“If we’re going to get a storm, it very possibly could be one that bubbles up in the Gulf and doesn’t give us five or seven days to track it coming our way. It gives us 40 hours to get ready for a landfall. So it’s imperative that you go ahead and do it now,” Grymes said.
Preparation goes beyond stocking water
Preparing now includes walking through yards, checking trees, and knowing whether everyone in the family can survive two weeks without power.
PhD students with the LSU College of the Coast and Environment gave the community a virtual reality experience that puts users inside a storm.
“If they wear the goggles or play with the Apple Vision Pro, they can understand how high will the flood be, and they can know how dangerous is the hurricane scenario,” said Yixuan Wang.
The VR simulation uses real historical data to show users what compound flooding looks like in New Orleans and surrounding areas. The goal is to make the science real for people who can’t picture what a flood map means.
“It’s just to let you understand the environment. We will add the audios, the different sound of the wind and the storm. And you can see how tense of the rainfall around you,” Wang said.
Organizers said the event is about making sure that when a storm threatens the area, families already know their plan.
Information from the event is available on CPRA’s website. Hurricane season runs through Nov. 30.
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BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – Louisiana homeowners can get financial help to upgrade their roofs and ensure they can better stand up to strong storms.
According to the Louisiana Department of Insurance, registration for next Louisiana Fortify Homes Program lottery opens at 8 a.m. on Monday, June 1. The registration period will stay open through 5 p.m. on Friday, June 19.
Under the latest round of the program, 3,000 grants of up to $10,000 will go out. After applying, homeowners will get placed into a lottery and will be randomly selected.
There are many specific benefits of having a roof upgraded through the Louisiana Fortify Homes Program. Officials said the roofs have stronger shingles that can protect against hail up to two inches wide, sealed roof decks to help prevent water damage, and stronger edges to keep wind from getting underneath.
Homeowners with a fortified roof can also get a certificate to receive a discount on insurance premiums.
“At the end of the day, this program is about more than just roofs,” said Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple. “It is about protecting families, it is about strengthening communities, and it is about putting Louisiana in a stronger position—both physically and economically—to face the challenges ahead.”
Only people living in Ascension Parish, Livingston Parish, Assumption Parish, Tangipahoa Parish, Acadia Parish, Calcasieu Parish, Cameron Parish, Iberia Parish, Jefferson Parish, Jefferson Davis Parish, Lafayette Parish, Lafourche Parish, Orleans Parish, Plaquemines Parish, St. Bernard Parish, St. Charles Parish, St. James Parish, St. John the Baptist Parish, St. Martin Parish, St. Mary Parish, St. Tammany Parish, Terrebonne Parish, and Vermilion Parish are eligible to apply for the latest round of the program.
People living in a newly built home, mobile home, or condominium are not qualified.
For a detailed list of eligibility requirements, click here.
If a person registered for the program previously, he or she must do so again. The person will also need to provide the following information:
- A homestead exemption on the primary residence.
- A policy of insurance that provides wind coverage for the primary residence.
- A flood insurance policy on the primary residence if it is in a special flood hazard area.
For more information about applying, click here.
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