The Descendants Project

Barbara Washington, co-founder of Inclusive Louisiana, speaks with other activists at the National Press Club after meeting with White House officials about environmental discrimination on Sep. 18, 2024.

An international body asked US to fix discrimination in 'Cancer Alley.' It hasn't.

Halle Parker

Two years after an international body asked the U.S. to consider a pause on new industrial plants and protect cultural sites from heavy industry in Cancer Alley. It hasn't.

An aerial view of Wallace, La. A grain elevator planned to the left of the neighborhood pictured was canceled by the company on Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024.

Coastal Desk

Plans for controversial St. John grain elevator scrapped after years of permitting delays

Halle Parker

Greenfield Exports LLC canceled plans to build a grain elevator in St. John the Baptist Parish after a lengthy permit process with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

A drone captures an aerial view of a predominantly Black neighborhood in Wallace, Louisiana and the neighboring farmland slated for industrial development by an agricultural company.

Coastal Desk

A Louisiana judge ended a decades-old zoning ordinance in St. John. The parish wants it back.

Halle Parker

Three weeks after a state judge struck down a controversial zoning law, St. John the Baptist Parish Council is considering reinstating the same law to allow the construction of a $479 million grain elevator.

A sign opposing a proposed grain elevator in Wallace sits in front of Fee-Fo-Lay Cafe, a coffee shop owned by the founders of the Descendants Project, on Thursday, April 21, 2022.

Coastal Desk

St. John nonprofit sues Port of South Louisiana over open meetings law, tax break

Halle Parker

The Port of South Louisiana has come under fire over new allegations of violating Louisiana’s open meetings law in a lawsuit filed last week.

A view from the levee of the farmland buffering the residents of Wallace from the proposed site of a grain terminal planned by Greenfield Louisiana, LLC on Thursday, April 21, 2022.

Coastal Desk

$200M tax break for St. John grain terminal raises concerns over legality of loophole

Halle Parker

One local nonprofit has raised questions over the legitimacy – and legality – of a tax break between the Port of South Louisiana and a planned grain terminal in St. John Parish.