The Port of New Orleans is moving forward with its plan to build a grain transfer facility on the Alabo St. Wharf in the Lower Ninth Ward, despite opposition from some people who live nearby.
Protestors gathered in front of the Sanchez Community Center earlier this week, where the Port held a meeting to address community concerns. Some residents see the project as a way to revitalize the Lower Ninth Ward, while others view it as a health and safety hazard.
Elliot Robinson lives a block away from the wharf and is part of a group of residents who are trying to stop the project from moving forward.
“Our aim is to have them move it to a location that's better suited,” Robinson said.
Meanwhile, Norlita Parker Wells, a long-term Lower Ninth resident, has no issue with the facility.
“ Prior to Katrina, we had infrastructure that we had port workers,” she said. “It was advantageous for the neighborhood.”
The facility will be operated by the company Sunrise Foods International and will be used to offload organic grain from barges on the Mississippi River and transfer it over to trains, according to the company. Norfolk Southern is reactivating train tracks going down Alabo Street and St. Claude.
Since residents found out about the project last year, a vocal group, now under the banner Stop the Grain Train, has organized protests against the project.
They’ve criticized the Port for not engaging the community, and many residents have concerns about grain dust polluting the air and an active train line passing through the neighborhood.
New Orleans City Council recently adopted a resolution urging the Port to find another location, following the lead of the St. Bernard City Council.
Loren Marino, the chief of staff and external affairs at the Port, said the goal of Monday’s community meeting was to provide residents with more details and address their concerns.
“We heard that information was not out there, that we were not being transparent,” Marino said. “We really wanted to make sure that we made every single effort.”
The grain
Grain dust has been associated with respiratory health issues, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Responding to that concern, Mike Corbett, executive vice president of Sunrise Foods, said the facility will be enclosed to ensure grain dust doesn’t pollute the neighborhood.
Corbett said Sunrise has invested millions of dollars in dust mitigation and collection, and plans to set up air monitoring stations and share the data it collects with the community.
He also said the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) told the company it did not need to apply and go through the process for air quality permits because its estimated emissions are so low, a miniscule amount compared to federal air quality standards, according to the company’s assessment.
However, national air quality standards are meant to be compared to the total pollution in an area, not individual facilities. According to the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic, air pollution is already rising in the area and permitting the facility could push those levels beyond accepted standards.
Given these concerns, the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic has requested that LDEQ require Sunrise to go through the air quality permitting process, including holding a public comment period and a public hearing.
The train
Because the train line that would transport grain out of the facility passes through a residential neighborhood, many people have raised concerns about traffic, noise and safety.
Patricia Mercadel, a lifelong resident of the Lower Nine, lives a block away from the train tracks. She said, as a homeowner, she is worried about property values going down.
“It’s gonna shake the foundation of your home, and next thing you know, you got cracks all in your building,” she said.
Norfolk Southern said there will be very little train activity – only one train per day during daylight hours with a maximum of ten cars. It will move at no more than 10 miles per hour with someone walking alongside it for safety. Federal mandates require the train to blow the horn when it passes.
According to Norfolk Southern, the train was last active in 2019. Resident Norlita Parker Wells remembers it running throughout her childhood.
“There's always been a train in the neighborhood,” she said. “When I was a child, the train was my alarm clock, so I have no issues.”
Garcia said the company is almost done repairing the train tracks so it can service the grain facility.
Revitalizing the Lower Nine
Neighbors who support the project hope it will bring economic benefits to the Lower Ninth Ward.
According to the Port and Sunrise, the project is expected to create 17 jobs at the facility and up to 34 other jobs in the community indirectly, as well as over 150 temporary construction jobs. The Port also estimates that it will generate more than $1 million in tax revenue for the City of New Orleans and the state in the next decade.
Cheryl Nicks, whose family has lived in the Lower Nine for five generations, doesn’t think the expected benefit to the community is large enough.
“That’s an insult,” she said of the number of jobs, adding, “ There's no guarantee that those jobs will go to anyone in the Lower Ninth Ward.”
Sunrise’s Corbett said to keep the project’s benefits local the company has hired 18 local construction vendors. The Port said it will offer more training in the community to help people get jobs in the maritime industry. Corbett also said Sunrise is committed to partnering with the community on a “revitalization project,” and was gathering ideas from residents at the meeting.
“I’m thinking about the future,” said Kira Wells, who moved to the neighborhood about a year ago. She said she thinks the Port is going to move ahead with the project anyway, so she’s more worried about whether it will take into account what residents have said at the meeting.
“Are y'all are gonna step up and take responsibility and do what's right in order to fix those concerns?” she said.
Sunrise Foods has applied for a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers to construct on Alabo Wharf. The public comment period ends on October 22. Comments can be submitted using an electronic form, by emailing Natalie.R.Page@usace.army.mil or in writing to the following address:
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District
Attention: Natalie Page
Public Notice: MVN-2007-04294-ENP
7400 Leake Avenue New Orleans, LA 70118-365
