Surprise collapse of $800 MIL grain facility draws activists' praise, Landry's criticism

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The apparent collapse of an $800 million plan to build a grain export facility in the majority-Black community of Wallace along the Mississippi River drew sharp criticism from Gov. Jeff Landry, but praise from environmental justice advocates who have fought against the project for years.

The surprise announcement late Tuesday from Greenfield Louisiana LLC that it was canceling the project in St. John the Baptist Parish brought an abrupt end to the bitter fight over it. The plans had taken on wider importance, touching on tensions between economic development and environmental justice concerns in the heavily industrialized stretch along the river that activists have labeled "Cancer Alley."

Greenfield placed blame on what it called unreasonable delays by the Army Corps of Engineers in deciding on required federal permits. The Corps has defended the timeline as necessary to evaluate the project in a sensitive area.

"Despite usually approving similar projects in the region in six months' time, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has continued to modify and extend the review process for the Wallace Grain Export Facility, which filed for permits nearly three years ago," Greenfield said in a statement. "Last week, the Corps pushed back the timeline it needed to reach a decision on the project by a further six months to March 2025 — the fifth such delay in the last 18 months — reversing recent commitments to resolve the application expeditiously."

Landry, who has regularly sided with industry in such disputes and has fought against federal anti-pollution rules in certain cases, also blamed the Corps and said the withdrawal of the plans would mean a loss of future jobs.

"This grain facility would have been environmentally sound and brought hundreds of high paying jobs to St. John Parish," Landry said in a statement, adding that "it’s sad that the Corps of Engineers had additional delays with this project."

Joy Banner, an activist leader who helped spearhead opposition to the project, said "we’ve fought for three long years to save the community, way of life, and heritage we love." Banner and her sister Jo Banner are co-founders of The Descendants Project, which has sought to preserve the legacy of slaves who worked the River Parishes' plantations.

"Now the real work begins," Joy Banner said. "We look forward to working with the community to heal, preserve, and build a healthy bright future together. We want to thank our attorneys, supporters, and community members for trusting and fighting alongside us."

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According to the company, the project would have been the first new grain export hub built in the United States in decades, and would have had a capacity of 11 million tons of grain. The company said the project would have meant 1,000 construction-related jobs and more than 300 permanent jobs, in addition to an estimated $300 million in state tax revenue.

The project's permits were delayed after the Corps raised concerns that the construction project might harm the community of Wallace, a National Register Historic District, and the historically important Whitney Plantation, Evergreen Plantation, Oak Alley Plantation and the Black Willow Grove Cemetery.

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"Greenfield Louisiana LLC has proposed a project in a setting with many cultural resources and adjacent to a community with environmental justice concerns," it said in a statement. "The potential impacts to these resources require specific efforts under applicable laws and regulations."

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The National Trust for Historic Preservation, which also opposed the project, had included the West Bank of St. John Parish on its list of 11 most endangered historic places last year. It said the designation was "due to the potential construction of one of the largest grain elevators in the world within this historic cultural landscape and the substantial adverse effects that construction would have had on multiple nationally significant historic resources."

The Descendants Project had filed lawsuits against the parish council's redistricting of property for the project, contending it violated its own zoning ordinance and state law. They also argued it posed an environmental justice threat to the majority-Black community, including possible graves of enslaved people that might have been on the construction site. That lawsuit is still pending in parish court.

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The terminal project would have included 56 grain elevators and a conveyor to move grain from the 1,300-acre site to ships in the river for overseas export. Greenfield officials said the project would be using the latest pollution control methods and that its economic development benefits would outweigh other local concerns.

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