A southeast Louisiana official has been accused of committing perjury for failing to reveal info associated to a controversial grain terminal within the state’s Mississippi River Chemical Hall in response to a lawsuit introduced by a distinguished native local weather activist.

St. John the Baptist Parish President Jaclyn Hotard denied in a deposition that she knew her mother-in-law may have benefited financially from parish rezoning plans to make method for a 222-acre (90-hectare) grain export facility alongside the Mississippi River.

Hotard additionally stated in courtroom filings, below oath, that no correspondence existed between her and her mother-in-law concerning the grain terminal, regardless that her mother-in-law later turned over quite a few textual content messages the place they mentioned the grain terminal and a close-by property owned by the mother-in-law’s marine transport firm, courtroom information present.

The textual content messages had been disclosed as a part of an ongoing lawsuit filed by Pleasure Banner, who alongside together with her sister, Jo Banner, efficiently led efforts to halt the $800 million grain terminal earlier this yr. It could have been constructed inside 300 ft (91 meters) of their property and near historic websites within the predominantly Black group the place they grew up.

The authorized dispute is a part of a broader conflict enjoying out in courts and public hearings, pitting officers wanting to greenlight financial growth towards grassroots group teams difficult polluting industrial enlargement within the closely industrialized 85-mile industrial hall between Baton Rouge and New Orleans typically referred to by environmental activists as “Most cancers Alley.”

“We’re residents which can be simply making an attempt to guard our properties and simply making an attempt to dwell our lives as we have now a proper to do,” Banner stated in an interview with The Related Press.

The Banner sisters gained nationwide consideration after cofounding the Descendants Venture, a company devoted to historic preservation and racial justice.

Within the textual content messages turned over as a part of Pleasure Banner’s lawsuit, Hotard, the parish president, says that she wished to “choke” Pleasure Banner and used profanities to explain her. Hotard additionally stated of the Banner sisters: “I hate these folks.”

Hotard and her legal professional, Ike Spears, didn’t reply to requests for remark after Tuesday’s submitting. Richard John Tomeny, the lawyer representing Hotard’s mother-in-law, Darla Gaudet, declined to remark.

Banner initially sued the parish in federal courtroom in December 2023 after Hotard and one other parish councilman, Michael Wright, threatened her with arrest and barred her from talking throughout a public remark interval at a November 2023 council assembly.

“In sum: a white man threatened a Black girl with prosecution and imprisonment for talking through the public remark interval of a public assembly,” Banner’s lawsuit says. It accuses the parish of violating Banner’s First Modification rights.

Wright and his lawyer didn’t reply to requests for remark. Hotard and Wright have disputed Banner’s model of occasions in courtroom filings.

On the November 2023 assembly, Banner tried to spotlight Hotard’s alleged battle of curiosity in approving a zoning change to allow the grain export facility’s building. Banner had additionally just lately filed a grievance to the Louisiana Board of Ethics towards Hotard declaring that her mother-in-law allegedly would profit financially as a result of she owned and managed a marine transport firm that had land “close to and inside” the world being rezoned.

In response to a discovery request, Hotard submitted a courtroom submitting saying “no such paperwork exist” between her and her mother-in-law discussing the property, the grain terminal or Pleasure Banner, in keeping with the current movement filed by Banner’s attorneys. Hotard additionally stated in her August deposition that she had “no concept” about her mother-in-law’s firm’s land regardless of textual content messages exhibiting Hotard and her mother-in-law had mentioned this property lower than three weeks earlier than Hotard’s deposition.

Banner’s lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial early subsequent yr.

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Brook is a corps member for The Related Press/Report for America Statehouse Information Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit nationwide service program that locations journalists in native newsrooms to report on undercovered points. Comply with Brook on the social platform X: @jack_brook96