ADVOCATE THE
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M
|
M o n d ay, a p r i l 28, 2025
$2.00X
Corps pulls permit amid stalled project Officials cite uncertainty, ‘withheld’ information BY JONI HESS Staff writer
STAFF PHOTO By AIDAN McCAHILL
About 8,000 tons of wood chips and sawdust wait to be dried at Drax’s wood pellet manufacturing facility in Morehouse Parish. In Louisiana — a state currently growing 70% more trees than it harvests — foresters see the new wood pellet industry as a stabilizing force against volatile markets and a lifeline for shrinking rural communities.
La. wood pellet industry growing Controversial bioenergy business contributes more than $14B to the state’s economy yearly
BY AIDAN McCAHILL Staff writer
James Melton gazes upon his towering row of green spires, a tract of conifer forest about 20 miles south of the Arkansas border. Fifty years after receiving a small plot of timberland from his uncle, the 73-year-old veterinary surgeon now owns more than 2,000 acres across northern Louisiana. On a cloudless April day, he waxed on the merits of sustainable forestry, before giving a brief lesson on timber economics. “Does money grow on trees?” he asked. The way he looks at it, yes — just in small increments over time, like any conservative investment.
ä See CORPS, page 4A
In fact, the Louisiana forestry industry contributes more than $14 billion to the state’s economy each year, making it the largest agricultural sector in the state. But lately, margins have been thin, Melton said, and the once thriving timber market in his small town of Bastrop has shrunk to a handful of options. “I hate to see timberland that’s idle,” he said. Now, a growing renewable energy industry offers a hopeful alternative for landowners like Melton. Attracted STAFF FILE PHOTO By TRAVIS SPRADLING by vast swathes of privately owned forestland, bioenergy companies Wood fiber is formed into pellets at are building facilities in the South to
the Amite BioEnergy facility of Drax Biomass in Gloster, Miss.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has suspended a permit for the stalled Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion project, citing the uncertainty surrounding the plan and claiming Louisiana officials “deliberately withheld” information during the project’s initial evaluation process. In a letter sent Friday to the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, Corps officials said the withheld information and other factors require a reevaluation of the permit for the massive project, a centerpiece of the state’s $50 billion Coastal Master Plan. The Corps has ordered any work authorized by the permit to cease within 10 days. The state had already issued a 90-day pause on work related to the project on April 4 to prevent a further escalation in cost as Gov. Jeff Landry’s administration seeks an alternative plan. Corps officials stated in a previous letter to the state obtained by The Times-Picayune that it should have previously had information from a 2022 engineering report but that the contents would have no effect on the permit. Corps officials now say that
ä See WOOD, page 3A
STAFF FILE PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has suspended a permit for the stalled Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion project, citing the uncertainty surrounding the plan.
Doctor’s push to raise smoking taxes ends in mixed bag Kantrow wants to keep vapes, cigarettes away from kids
BY TYLER BRIDGES |Staff writer Dr. Stephen Kantrow remained in his seat as everyone else got up.
WEATHER HIGH 90 LOW 67 PAGE 10C
The House Ways and Means Committee had just completed a hearing on Tuesday where it narrowly approved a tax increase on vaping and rejected a tax hike on cigarettes. Kantrow, a pulmonologist, had come to the State Capitol from New Orleans to offer his perspective from treating smokers for 30 years, including those in their dying days.
For Kantrow, vapes present a major problem because nearly one-third of high school students in Louisiana use them. But to him, cigarettes represent the bigger public health threat — and the bigger opportunity for the public good. Yet many of the Republican committee members doubted his view that the tax increases would reduce tobacco us-
age, save lives and reduce state spending on tobacco-related costs. As he drove to Baton Rouge on Tuesday morning, he was thinking that he’d like to be a resource to lawmakers and better understand how they make decisions. But it turns out that, even before he
ä See SMOKING, page 5A
Classified .....................6C Deaths .........................7A Nation-World ................2A Comics-Puzzles .....3C-5C Living............................1C Opinion ........................8A Commentary ................9A Metro ...........................6A Sports ..........................1B
THE SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY
The 3rd Annual SU Athletic Gala
Kantrow
100TH yEAR, NO. 302
Saturday August 16th
ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT PRESENTS
GENERAL TABLE (8) $1,500 • INDIVIDUAL TICKET $200 • SILENT AUCTION • LIVE ENTERTAINMENT • 3-COURSE DINNER
GOJAGSPORTS.COM OR 225-771-3171 FOR MORE INFORMATION