What to know about the controversy over a cancelled grain terminal in Louisiana's Cancer Alley

NEW ORLEANS — An agricultural company made the surprise decision Tuesday to cancel a project to build a massive grain terminal in a historic Black town in Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley,” a heavily industrialized stretch of land along the Mississippi River.

The company, Greenfield Louisiana LLC, and its supporters — including Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry — blamed “special interest groups”, “plantation owners” and the Army Corps of Engineers for delaying construction on a grain export facility which would have brought jobs and development to St. John the Baptist Parish.

But community organizers and environmental advocates said the company had brought the problem on itself by attempting to install a 222-acre (90 hectare) facility in an area filled with nationally recognized historic sites and cultural spaces worthy of preservation and investment.

The Army Corps of Engineers said the company had chosen to build in the middle of an area with “environmental justice” and “cultural concerns” which required it to prove it could comply with a range of laws.

Greenfield said that its $800 million grain terminal would have generated more than 1,000 construction jobs, north of 300 permanent jobs, $300 million in state tax revenue and $1.4 million in direct state and local taxes.

The company said its facility was “expected to drive transformative social and economic benefits to the local community” and play a significant role in connecting American farmers with global markets. The facility had been designed with the potential to store 11 million tons of grain.

On its website, Greenfield features testimony from a range of parish residents pledging their support for the facility and the economic growth they believed it would bring.

St. John the Baptist Parish President Jaclyn Hotard described the company’s decision as “a devastating blow to economic development” and lamented the loss of hundreds of jobs at a “state-of-the art, eco-friendly facility.”

Greenfield’s Van Davis blamed the project’s failure to advance on “the repeated delays and goal-post moving we have faced have finally become untenable, and as a result, our local communities lost.”

The company said the Army Corps of Engineers had recently extended the deadline for the fifth time, pushing a decision on the project’s permits to March 2025.

But Army Corps of Engineers Public Affairs Specialist Matt Roe disputed Greenfield’s framing in an emailed statement.

Roe said the company had to show compliance with multiple laws, including the Clean Water Act and the National Historic Preservation Act, and that “the regulations do not set forth a prescribed timeline for the process.”

Roe said the project’s location “was in a setting with many cultural resources” and that the Corps’ review has been “timely in every respect.”

The Corps has found the project would adversely impact historic sites. Greenfield had said it would take steps to preserve any historical sites or artifacts found during construction.

Governor Jeff Landry pinned the blame on the Army Corps of Engineers for bringing “additional delays” by listening to “special interest groups and wealthy plantation owners instead of hardworking Louisianans.”

Opponents included the sisters Joyce and Jo Banner, whose nonprofit The Descendants Project has bought land in the area — including a former plantation — to protect their town’s heritage. They gained national recognition for their efforts to invest in preserving history of enslaved people and their descendants.

But they are not the only people who thought there should be more focus on finding other avenues to bring jobs and growth to the historic Black town of Wallace and the surrounding parish.

Whitney Plantation Executive Director Ashley Rogers oversees a nearby National Register Historic District which draws 80,000 visitors a year from around the world. The area surrounding the proposed grain terminal site offers two centuries of well-documented history and culture containing “huge potential” for the community to capitalize on, she added.

There is also a National Historic Landmark, Evergreen Plantation, and the Willow Grove cemetery for descendants of the formerly enslaved which would have been adjacent to the 275-foot-high grain terminal.

“There does need to be economic development,” Rogers said. “I just think it can be done in a way that doesn’t permanently destroy the heritage, the culture and the environment and ruin people’s livelihoods and homes, right?”

From Greenfield’s representatives to community activists, everyone acknowledged the fight over the project had been exhausting and brutal.

In recent months, flyers attacking local activists opposed to the grain terminal were distributed throughout the community, including images featuring racist tropes. Greenfield representatives denied the company had any connection to the flyers.

There are multiple ongoing lawsuits related to the facility filed by the Descendants Project related to zoning changes and tax exemptions for the company.

The Descendant Project co-founder Dr. Joy Banner has also sued Parish Council Chairman Michael Wright in federal court for allegedly making threats against her at a council meeting. Wright did not respond to a request for comment.

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Jack Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.