Environment
After criminal charges against them are dropped, prominent Louisiana environmentalists vow to keep fighting chemical plants
Louisiana environmentalist Anne Rolfes said Monday that she’ll continue to push for a moratorium to stop more petrochemical plants from building along the Mississippi River after avoiding terrorizing charges for delivering plastic pollution to an industry lobbyist’s Baton Rouge home last year. On Friday, the East Baton Rouge District Attorney’s Office announced it would not […]
Biden picks Michigan’s Granholm for Energy, North Carolina’s Regan for EPA and New Mexico’s Haaland for Interior
President-elect Joe Biden will nominate U.S. Rep. Debra A. Haaland to lead the Interior Department, former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm to head the Energy Department and North Carolina’s top environmental regulator, Michael Regan, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, his presidential transition team said Thursday night. The selections were announced as part of the incoming […]
Gov. Edwards creates new environmental task force to study Atchafalaya Basin
Gov. John Bel Edwards on Monday signed an executive order creating the Atchafalaya River Basin Restoration and Enhancement (ARBRE) Task Force in an effort to address long-standing environmental issues in the basin and raise public awareness of those issues. “The irony of the Atchafalaya Basin is that while it is suffering from an abundance of […]
Louisiana receives coastal restoration grants
Over $5 million will go to the St. Bernard Parish government to “protect the remaining ridge through strategic armoring and reforestation” by “installing shoreline protection.” And another $1 million will go to the City of New Orleans to “conduct preliminary planning and design for living shoreline and marsh creation on the New Orleans East Landbridge, […]
School districts affected by Hurricanes Laura, Delta revise their academic calendar
The Calcasieu and Cameron parish school boards announced updated academic calendars that would extend their school year to make up for time lost due to two hurricanes and an ongoing pandemic. Students in Cameron Parish will end their school year on May 27 now, while students in Calcasieu Parish will end their school year in […]
Biden’s presidency could open doors for environmental justice in Louisiana
WASHINGTON — The incoming Biden administration is poised to bring a new focus to environmental justice—a major policy change that could have an impact in Louisiana. Community activists and some Democratic lawmakers have long sought federal protections for environmental justice. They want to give low-income communities more latitude to challenge the cumulative effects from air, […]
Louisiana climate task force holds first meeting
Louisiana’s Climate Initiatives Task Force, a body Gov. John Bel Edwards created through an Aug. 19 executive order, held its inaugural meeting at the capitol building on Monday, and its chairperson said the task force’s effort will be about “leading us away from environmental disaster and economic hardship and towards a better future for our […]
Five more parishes can apply for Hurricane Delta aid
Beauregard, Lafayette, Rapides, St. Landry and St. Martin parishes have been added to FEMA’s individual assistance program, bringing the total number of parishes impacted by Hurricane Delta where residents are eligible for aid to 10, the governor’s office announced Saturday. Delta made landfall as a Category 2 hurricane on Oct. 9 near Creole, Louisiana, about […]
Formosa Plastics permit suspended by Army Corps
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Wednesday announced through a court filing in federal court in Washington its plans to suspend its permit for a proposed 1500-acre Formosa Plastics facility in St. James Parish. The announcement came before today’s Nov. 5 filing deadline for the Corps to defend its issuance of a permit to […]
400,000 Southeast Louisiana customers still without power after Hurricane Zeta
Hurricane Zeta’s death toll increased to six in the Southeast as of 5 p.m. on Oct. 29. A man was electrocuted by a downed power line in New Orleans, another drowned in Biloxi and a man in Acworth, Georgia was killed when an oak tree fell on his home. Two people were also killed near […]
Hurricane Zeta tears through New Orleans area toppling trees and power lines
A 55-year-old man was fatally electrocuted by a downed powerline in New Orleans Wednesday evening, becoming the first known casualty of Hurricane Zeta, a rare late-October storm that quickly tore through New Orleans and the surrounding area toppling trees, downing powerlines ripping off roofs with winds of over 100 miles per hour. Another death was […]
“Zeta is literally on our doorstep,” Gov. John Bel Edwards says
“Zeta is literally on our doorstep,” Gov. John Bel Edwards said in a press conference on Wednesday. Edwards said residents in Southeast Louisiana need to “now be where you want to be as you ride the storm out and get you and your family in the best posture possible for the storm.” Edwards said, “All […]