NEW ORLEANS– A Southeast Louisiana official has been charged with perjury for failing to disclose information related to a controversial grain terminal in the state Mississippi River Chemical Corridor in response to a lawsuit filed by a prominent local climate activist.
St. John the Baptist Parish President Jaclyn Hotard denied in a statement that she knew her mother-in-law could have benefited financially from the parish’s rezoning plans to make way for a 200-acre grain export facility along the Mississippi River.
Hotard also said in court filings, under oath, that there was no correspondence between her and her mother-in-law about the grain terminal, even though her mother-in-law later forwarded numerous text messages discussing the grain terminal and a nearby property owned by the mother-in-law’s ocean freight company, according to court documents.
The text messages were made public as part of an ongoing lawsuit filed by Joy Banner, who, along with her sister, Jo Banner, successfully led efforts to stop the $800 million grain terminal earlier this year. It would have been built within 300 feet of their property and close to historic sites in the predominantly areas Black community where they grew up.
The legal dispute is part of a broader clash play in court And public hearingswhere officials eager to give the green light for economic development are pushing back grassroots community groups challenging polluting industrial expansion in the heavily industrialized 85-mile industrial corridor between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, often dubbed “Cancer Alley” by environmentalists.
“We are residents just trying to protect our homes and just trying to live our lives as we have the right to do,” Banner said in an interview with The Associated Press.
The Banner sisters gained national attention after co-founding the Descendants Project, an organization dedicated to historic preservation and racial justice.
In the text messages turned over as part of Joy Banner’s lawsuit, Hotard, the parish president, says she wanted to “strangle” Joy Banner and used swear words to describe her. Hotard also said of the Banner sisters, “I hate these people.”
Hotard and her attorney, Ike Spears, did not respond to requests for comment after Tuesday’s filing. Richard John Tomeny, the attorney representing Hotard’s mother-in-law, Darla Gaudet, declined to comment.
Banner initially sued the parish in federal court in December 2023 after Hotard and another parish council member, Michael Wright, threatened her with arrest and barred her from speaking during a public comment period at a council meeting in November 2023.
“In short, a white man threatened a black woman with prosecution and imprisonment for speaking during the public comment period of a public meeting,” Banner’s lawsuit said. It accuses the parish of violating Banner’s First Amendment rights.
Wright and his attorney did not respond to requests for comment. Hotard and Wright have disputed Banner’s version of events in lawsuits.
During the November 2023 meeting, Banner attempted to highlight Hotard’s alleged conflict of interest in approving a zoning change to allow construction of the grain export facility. Banner also recently filed a complaint with the Louisiana Board of Ethics against Hotard, alleging that her mother-in-law stood to benefit financially because she owned and operated a marine transportation company that had land “near and within” the area being rezoned.
In response to a discovery request, Hotard filed a court filing stating that “such documents exist” between her and her mother-in-law discussing the property, the grain terminal or Joy Banner, according to the recent motion filed by Banner’s attorneys . Hotard also said in her August statement that she had “no idea” about the land owned by her mother-in-law’s business, despite text messages indicating that Hotard and her mother-in-law had discussed this property less than three weeks before Hotard’s statement.
Banner’s lawsuit will go to trial early next year.
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Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Brook on social platform X: @jack_brook96