Roishetta Ozane and her children walk in a second line through the French Quarter during the “Power Up in the Gulf” event for climate justice on Nov. 3, 2023. (Minh Ha/Verite News)

When environmentalist Roishetta Ozane saw swing states begin to turn red on election night, she said she was heartbroken. Despite massive campaigning efforts in key states like Pennsylvania and Georgia, Democratic nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris was losing the race to former president and now president-elect Donald Trump.

“At first I felt sad and just kind of hopeless,” Ozane said. “Then I felt angry that so many people didn’t vote. I also felt like it was just like a punch in the gut. I feel like we had done everything, we had made sure people were educated on the issues.”

Ozane is the founder and director of the Vessel Project of Louisiana, an environmental mutual aid group based in Lake Charles. The group provides rebuilding assistance to those who have been affected by hurricanes and campaigns against the fossil fuel industry, which dominates large parts of the region and poses risks to residents through ongoing emissions and, periodically, catastrophic accidents. On the day after the election, Ozane even thought about quitting her work as an environmental advocate as she remembered Trump’s first term.

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Trump has undermined efforts to fight climate change, and in his first term rolled back more than 100 environmental rules, most of which regulated air pollution and emissions standards.

Sharon Lavigne, the founder of environmental justice group Rise St. James, said that the election was a setback. She said that clean air and water won’t be a priority for the administration, and is concerned about Trump’s pro-fossil fuel stance. Rise St. James is currently fighting to prevent Formosa Plastics from building a sprawling multi-million dollar complex in St. James Parish. The parish lies in what many call “Cancer Alley,” the industrial stretch along the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge known for high cancer rates and heavy industrial pollution from facilities near residences.

“I’m worried about them giving more power to industry to poison us,” Lavigne said. “They’re more concerned about industry than the people.”

Lavigne’s worries were echoed by other environmentalists, such as Arthur Johnson, the executive director of the Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development. He is worried that environmental justice will not be a priority for the federal government after Trump takes office in January.

“You can’t depend on public entities and public leaders to make these decisions that will benefit us,” Johnson said.

Trump announced Lee Zeldin, a former U.S. representative from New York, as his pick for the head of the EPA. Like Trump, Zeldin has a pro-energy, anti-regulation stance. While in Congress, he voted against numerous environmental protection policies, as well as the Inflation Reduction Act, which has put billions of dollars into clean energy initiatives, from solar-powered housing to urban tree planting. Trump has promised to roll back the IRA and increase fossil fuel production.

Ozane said that the federal government should create protections for the environment and frontline communities while President Joe Biden is still in office in order to make it more difficult for policies to be undone once Trump is sworn in. She said Biden should make sure communities receive IRA funds before the inauguration, ban drilling on public land and declare a climate emergency to help move funds to frontline communities.

But in the next couple of days, Ozane no longer felt hopeless as she remembered her history.

“We’ve always had to fight, especially as Black people, as people of color, as low-income people, we have always had to fight,” Ozane said. “We have always found a way to survive and thrive in our communities and the government is not who is going to save us. We are going to save ourselves.”

In the coming months, Ozane said she will organize and strategize to try to get the Biden administration to fulfill some of her environmental protection goals. Ozane and other Louisiana environmentalists are poised to increase community outreach and form networks that will help them protect themselves, with or without support from the federal government. Johnson said his organization will have more conversations about their work to broaden its impact.

“But we can’t just sit back and wait and say, ‘Let’s see what they’re going to do and then let’s act,’ because then we’re reacting,” Johnson said. “And my point is that we have to not react, but we have to act.”

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This article first appeared on Verite News and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Associated Press

RUSTON, La. (AP) — Daniel Batcho scored 38 points as Louisiana Tech beat Mississippi College 105-67 on Monday night.

Batcho added eight rebounds for the Bulldogs (4-0). Kaden Cooper added 15 points and eight rebounds. Amaree Abram scored 13.

Odis Carter finished with 17 points and two steals for the Choctaws. JJ Harris added 16 points and four assists. Tyree Bracey had 14 points and two steals.

Louisiana Tech took the lead 19 seconds into the game and did not give it up. Batcho led his team in scoring with 12 points in the first half to help put them up 46-36 at the break.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

The Louisiana Senate approved two bills Monday that would partially restore lawmakers’ ability to delay certain court proceedings when it conflicts with their legislative schedule. 

The measures come after the state Supreme Court declared a similar law unconstitutional that applied to legislators who are attorneys. 

No senators voted against Senate Bill 7 by Sen. Jay Luneau, D-Alexandria, or Senate Bill 9 by Sen. Greg Miller, R-Norco. The proposal will go next before a House committee. Luneau and Miller are attorneys who supported each other’s bills in the hopes that one would make it through the entire legislative process. 

The proposals are a narrower version of what the Supreme Court struck down. They apply to attorney-lawmakers who might need to delay court proceedings due to legislative duties and when legislators are personally party to a court proceeding.  

If either of the bills pass, they would override guidance the Supreme Court issued. 

Both bills include safeguards that did not exist in the original law, including allowing opposing counsel to challenge a legislator’s request for a delay and excluding certain types of court proceedings. 

Cases involving child custody, domestic violence and protective orders are among the types of hearings for which legislators cannot seek delays. 

If either proposal becomes law, a judge could deny the request for a delay if it’s determined the attorney-legislator was seeking it for an “improper” purpose or if the opposing party would suffer “substantial and immediate harm” if the delay is granted.

The Supreme Court threw out the original continuance law in response to a case involving law partners Sen. Alan Seabaugh, R-Shreveport, and Rep. Michael Melerine, R-Shreveport, during a personal injury case.. Their opposing counsel argued that the lawmakers had held up a case for years through legislative continuances. 

Seabaugh was not present for the vote on either bill or for the committee hearing on the bill last week.