$600M Grain Elevator Along Mississippi River Gets Permit Hearing

By  David Jacobs

Baton Rouge Business Report

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers scheduled a permit hearing yesterday about a $600 million grain elevator that would be built near Whitney Plantation in St. John the Baptist Parish. 

Greenfield Louisiana LLC says the project will be environmentally friendly and create about 370 permanent jobs. Opponents question the company’s pollution control measures and say the project could disturb the unmarked graves of people who were enslaved in the area. 

Greenfield says its land surveys indicate the site does not include burial grounds. 

Thursday’s hearing was to discuss emissions and whether Greenfield’s project complies with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. The company expects a decision on the permit in four-to-six weeks. 

Greenfield’s parent company, Medlock Investments, is owned by San Francisco investor Christopher Medlock James, whose Engine No. 1 investment firm garnered headlines for unseating three ExxonMobil board members last year.

The Descendants Project, a group of Louisiana slave descendants who oppose the grain elevator, were part of a delegation who traveled to Switzerland in August to meet with representatives at a United Nations event focused on racial discrimination. 

The project would need an additional permit from the corps certifying the project complies with the Clean Water Act.