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T h u r s d ay, M ay 1, 2025
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Bill to inject health into food programs advances
New rules for solar projects debated There’s agreement on regulation, but little else
BY BLAKE PATERSON | Staff writer
STAFF PHOTOS By JAVIER GALLEGOS
A massive crowd fills the Senate Health and Welfare Committee meeting room during the discussion of SB14 by Sen. Patrick McMath, left, at the State Capitol on Wednesday. The crowd was large enough to fill an overflow room upstairs.
For much of 2021, one issue dominated Tangipahoa Parish politics: Should the parish allow a 100-megawatt solar farm to be built on 1,200 acres of farmland? And if so, under what rules? On one side, residents and farmers worried it would be an eyesore and pose a safety hazard and take up valuable agricultural land. On the other, solar developers and landowners argued that property owners should be allowed to do what they want with their land and that the project was clean and safe. After issuing a temporary moratorium, the council passed regulations requiring 50-foot vegetative barriers, among other rules. In April, the solar farm went online. But the debate left lasting scars. “We had people crying. We have, still to this day, neighbors that do not speak,” said state Rep. Kimberly Coates, R-Ponchatoula, who was a member of the Parish Council. “At the time, we were like, ‘We need the state
ä See SOLAR, page 7A
Food dyes, sugary drinks would be restricted in plan BY EMILY WOODRUFF | Staff writer A bill that proposes to bring the Make America Healthy Again movement to Louisiana went before a packed Senate Health and Welfare Committee on Wednesday, which ultimately advanced the bill out of committee and to the full Senate. The proposed law, Senate Bill 14, is part of a national effort to reshape food policy led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. MAHA’s broad agenda includes regulating soda and candy purchases under social welfare programs, removing fluoride from public water systems, rolling back pharmaceutical interventions and removing
Sen. Patrick McMath, R-Covington, speaks while presenting SB14 during a Senate Health and Welfare Committee meeting at the State Capitol on Wednesday.
ultra-processed food from schools. The end goals are to curb obesity, reduce chronic illness and restore individual autonomy in health decisions. Louisiana consistently ranks near the bottom in national health metrics, including obesity, diabetes and child well-being. Sen. Patrick McMath, a Republican from Covington who authored the bill, said he worked with the Trump administration and Kennedy to craft the measure. “This movement is taking place across the country,” said McMath, who said other states passing similar legislation have had it fast-tracked for federal
ä See HEALTH, page 7A
STAFF PHOTO By JOHN BALLANCE
A 50-megawatt, $67 million solar power farm in West Baton Rouge Parish operated by Helios Infrastructure is operational. Two solar farms are near completion in St. James Parish by D.E. Shaw Investments, which has emerged as the developer of seven of Louisiana’s 16 proposed large-scale solar farms.
500-page report at center of Mid-Barataria controversy Former governor denies Landry allegations that document hidden
ment from the Mississippi River is now at the center of a new controversy around the massive $3 billion Mid-Barataria Diversion project, until recently the centerpiece of Louisiana’s plan to restore its eroding coastline. The 500-page document, commissioned by the state’s Coastal BY ALEX LUBBEN | Staff writer Restoration and Protection AuA technical report that models thority and written by a thirdthe flow rates of water and sedi- party engineering consultant, was
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completed in June The report, one 2022. of many studies It studied speundertaken on the massive coastal cific components project, appears to of the sediment have attracted litdiversion and said that in coming tle attention in the decades, under three years since it Edwards certain scenarios, Landry was produced. dredging could be But over the needed to keep portions of the di- weekend, Gov. Jeff Landry, who has aligned himself with version operating as designed.
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Plaquemines Parish fisherman and elected officials who oppose the diversion, alleged that it was improperly kept from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers by the administration of his predecessor, John Bel Edwards. “Shockingly Governor John Bel Edwards hid reports from the (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) simply
ä See REPORT, page 6A
100TH yEAR, NO. 305