A judge has ruled that elected officials in St. James Parish broke Louisiana's open meetings law by conferring secretly with a Chinese company seeking to build a chemical plant.

The complaint, filed in 2019 by the community group RISE St. James, took five years to work through the courts.

However, on January 6, a state court ruled that parish council and planning commission members met without proper public notice with the Wanhua Chemical Group.

Sharon Lavigne. executive director of RISE St. James, said the meeting shows the level of dishonesty among local leaders.

"St. James is so corrupt until, you know, you have little hope - because we're fighting this other plant, and they voted for it to come in anyway, even though we said no," said Lavigne. "We are loaded. We are full. We can't take anymore. And for the judge to vote in our favor, that was like a miracle."

The chemical plant would have been located along a portion of the Mississippi River known as Cancer Alley.

Statistics show people in the area have a 95% greater chance of developing cancer than the average American.

Lavigne said there are more than 200 heavy industry plants along the corridor, located mostly near low-income communities of color.

She said public officials in St. James and other parishes along the river have a long history of excluding local neighborhoods from the licensing industry process.

"We have to fight so hard to breathe clean air and drink clean water, when our politicians could just tell these industries, 'No. You can't come into St. James because we are full,'" said Lavigne. "But they don't do that. For this Open Meetings Law, I feel that our own Parish Council betrayed us."

Despite being found guilty, parish officials were not fined or sanctioned for their actions - other than having to pay RISE St. James and other plaintiff's attorney's fees.

Lavigne said she was glad but still surprised at the verdict.

"I just thought the judge would rule against us," said Lavigne. "Even though we went to court, and I wasn't expecting a victory. I really wasn't because they do things under cover, and they meet with these industries without our knowledge. It's not the first one, but this is the one we caught."


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Michigan environmental groups are pushing back as Enbridge's Line 5 tunnel faces "emergency" review, potentially bypassing full scrutiny and public input.

The move comes after President Donald Trump's executive order declared a national energy emergency to fast-track infrastructure projects. Environmental groups warn a Line 5 tunnel leak threatens the Great Lakes.

Sean McBrearty, campaign coordinator for the advocacy group Oil and Water Don't Mix, believes public outcry over the past week, led the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to remove 600 emergency-designated projects, including Line 5, from its website.

"Now we don't know whether they've changed the status of those projects or the proposed status of those projects," McBrearty pointed out. "Or whether they're still doing the same thing and just attempting to hide it from the public."

The tunnel would replace lake bed pipelines beneath the Straits of Mackinac with a concrete-lined enclosure for Line 5. In a recent statement Enbridge said, in part, Michigan approved environmental permits and tunnel placement for Line 5, but after nearly five years, the project still awaits a U.S. Army Corps decision on its environmental impact.

Meanwhile, the Michigan Court of Appeals recently upheld state permits for the tunnel, allowing Enbridge to move forward. McBrearty argued Enbridge lacks tunnel-building experience, calling them "ditch diggers" and labeling Line 5 a high-risk, low-reward venture.

"This tunnel would be actually the highest pressurized tunnel in the world, if it's built," McBrearty noted. "Pressure down there is measured at seventeen atmospheres - five atmospheres is enough to kill somebody. That shouldn't be rushed through as an emergency under any circumstances."

Enbridge maintains the Line 5 tunnel enhances pipeline safety, ensures energy reliability, supports jobs, and has 70% of Michiganders' support.

The Trump administration has started dismantling the Environmental Protection Agency's office dealing with reducing environmental harms to minority and low-income communities who have faced the brunt of climate change and pollution.

More than 160 staffers in the EPA's Office of Environmental Justice and Civil Rights were put on paid administrative leave last week. More than 200 staffers work for the office, which was combined with two others in 2022.

Adrienne Hollis, vice president of environmental justice, health and community resilience and revitalization for the National Wildlife Federation, said the EPA department is just like any other office dealing with environmental protection. A specific environmental effort, she said, needs a specific office to coordinate efforts.

"Some communities may file a complaint about the fact that, given the contamination they're exposed to, there may be issues that violate the civil rights act," Hollis pointed out. "Just as the air group, you need a focal point: a place to go, a place to get information and share information."

The office was first created by former President George H.W. Bush in 1992. Since 2014, the Environmental Protection Agency has conducted more than 300 reviews of civil rights compliance, including 11 in Maryland.

On his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order working to disband environmental justice offices across the federal government. The administration has also taken down a decades-old tool to track environmental burdens across the country.

Hollis noted some of the state's most vulnerable communities will be the most negatively affected by the major rollbacks and potential shutterings.

"It's going to affect the ability of communities and advocates and activists to really focus on these specific environmental outcomes that are related to systemic racism," Hollis emphasized. "They're place-based, they're based on race, and they're exacerbated by climate change."

The administration has also paused all environmental litigation in the Justice Department. The administration has said it is following through on promises Trump made during the presidential campaign to whittle down the size of the federal government.

The Trump administration has begun to dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency's office dealing with reducing environmental harms to minority and low-income communities who have faced the brunt of climate change and pollution.

More than 160 staffers in the EPA's Office of Environmental Justice and Civil Rights were put on paid administrative leave last week. Combined with two other offices in 2022, more than 200 staffers work for the office.

Adrienne Hollis, vice president of environmental justice, health and community resilience and revitalization for the National Wildlife Federation, said the office has an important role in making sure environmental health efforts are distributed equitably.

"The Office of Environmental Justice and Civil Rights focuses on issues that affect communities and groups of people that are disproportionately impacted by environmental issues, or disproportionately impacted when rules and regulations are not followed," Hollis explained. "Or even when there are issues around site cleanup."

The office was first created by former President George H.W. Bush in 1992. Since 2014, the Environmental Protection Agency has conducted more than 300 reviews of civil rights compliance, including eight in the Commonwealth.

On his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order working to disband environmental justice offices across the federal government. The administration has taken down a decades-old tool to track environmental burdens across the country.

Hollis noted some of the Commonwealth's most vulnerable communities will be the most negatively affected by these major rollbacks - and potential shutterings.

"It's going to affect the ability of communities and advocates and activists to really focus on these specific environmental outcomes that are related to systemic racism," Hollis emphasized. "They're place-based, they're based on race, and they're exacerbated by climate change."

The administration has begun to break up the Department of Justice's Environment and Natural Resources Division. The cuts are part of the government cuts Trump promised during his campaign.