CAN THE SAINTS BEAT THE ODDS IN 2025? Rod Walker’s game-by-game predictions for the season 1C THE
ACADIANA
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T H E A C A D I A N A A D V O C AT E.C O M
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S at u r d ay, M ay 17, 2025
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Acadia eyed for $1B ‘net-zero’ refinery official but indicated talks are sive economic ecosystem to sup- are planned for 2027 through 2028. Okla.-based company plans to employ 160 asongoing. port energy companies as they ex- The company has announced simi-
BY ADAM DAIGLE
Acadiana business editor An Oklahoma-based company is looking to build a $1 billion refinery in Acadia Parish that it says would be the world’s first net-zero emissions facility and employ 160. Clean Refineries Inc. announced late Wednesday the project that it billed as one that will have no toxic emissions or detectable odors and
a “dramatically reduced” carbon footprint. It will produce marinegrade bunker fuel, high-performance asphalt and ultraclean diesel, officials said. CRI did not identify a specific location for the refinery but did indicate it would repurpose an existing petroleum terminal. Local officials in Acadia Parish and regional and state economic development officials could not verify the project
The company is eyeing a site near the Evangeline community in the western part of the parish, a source close to the deal told the Acadiana Advocate. One Acadiana President and CEO Troy Wayman said Thursday the region is equipped to support this project and his agency will work “with our local, regional and state partners to drive this opportunity forward.” “Louisiana has the comprehen-
pand and innovate to meet global demand and standards,” said Susan Bourgeois, Louisiana Economic Development secretary. “We are pleased in Clean Refineries Inc.’s interest in our state and look forward to working closely with them and our partners to advance this project.” Construction could begin this summer, company officials said, with the first production units online by late 2026. Additional phases
‘We’re very devastated’
Historic Nottoway a total loss after massive fire
lar projects in Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming in recent months. CRI would use its net-zero emissions technology for the manufacturing process to produce 20,000 barrels a day. The technology, company officials indicated, includes significantly lower temperatures and pressures which leads to faster permitting, safer operations and cleaner outputs.
ä See ACADIA, page 4A
LAFAYETTE PARISH
School Board votes to move arts academy Program would go from Comeaux High to Lafayette High
BY ASHLEY WHITE Staff writer
ing in tourists and hosting events on its manicured grounds. “It stood as both a cautionary monument and a testament to the importance of preserving history — even the painful parts — so that future generations can learn and grow from it,” Iberville Parish President Chris Daigle said in a statement Thursday. The State Fire Marshal’s Office began its investigation Friday morning. The
The visual and performing arts academy will no longer be housed at Comeaux High School but will be housed at Lafayette High starting in the fall. The Lafayette Parish School Board voted unanimously as part of its consent agenda to move the program during its May meeting. Both the performing arts and visual arts academies will move to Lafayette High. Eighth grade students in L.J. Alleman’s visual and performing arts program who declined going to Comeaux will have an opportunity to reenroll and attend the program at Lafayette High. Some rising seniors at Comeaux High will be able to work out a plan that allows them to attend Comeaux for core classes and take a shuttle to Lafayette High for their academy classes. Once Lafayette High’s enrollment is determined, additional seats may be opened for the performing and visual arts academy before the start of school, district staff personnel said. Principal Catherine Cassidy, who was tapped to lead the school last summer, said that she understood that the change would be hard,
ä See NOTTOWAY, page 4A
ä See ACADEMY, page 4A
STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK
Light smoke can be seen from a handful of active hot spots on Friday as crews remain on scene after a fire engulfed the historic Nottoway Resort on Thursday. BY HALEY MILLER Staff writer
Nottoway plantation owner Dan Dyess will consider rebuilding the Antebellumera mansion in White Castle, once home to a wealthy sugar planter and 155 enslaved people, after a structure fire Thursday razed the main house. “We’re very devastated, we’re upset, we’re sad,” Dyess said Friday. “We put a lot of time, effort and money to developing this property.”
The site will be evaluated in the next two weeks to determine the feasibility of rebuilding, he said. Staff reported the fire around 2 p.m. Thursday after spotting smoke coming from the south wing. The mansion’s remains smoldered well into Friday afternoon. The property, renamed Nottoway Resort, served as an ornate reminder of Louisiana’s brutal history of chattel slavery and divided residents over its historic and aesthetic significance. It also boosted the economy in rural Iberville Parish, bring-
10 inmates escape from Orleans jail One recaptured so far, sheriff confirms
BY JOHN SIMERMAN and MARCO CARTOLANO Staff writers
Ten inmates, including some accused of murder and other violent crimes, escaped from the Orleans Parish jail in the wee hours of Fri-
WEATHER HIGH 88 LOW 75 PAGE 6A
day morning, sparking a citywide manhunt and raising questions about security failures leading to the brazen breach. Jail officials discovered that inmates were missing during a routine head count at 8:30 a.m. Friday, Sheriff Susan Hutson said during a morning news conference. Hutson and other jail officials said investigators suspect someone inside the Sheriff’s Office
may have aided in the 1 a.m. escape. They said it appeared the men pulled a cell door off its track and a toilet from a wall, escaping through a cutout in the Sheetrock. They took a flight of stairs down and left through a door on the jail “docks,” scaling an outer wall and running across Interstate 10, the officials said.
ä See ESCAPE, page 5A
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Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson speaks about inmates escaping from Orleans Justice Center at a news conference on Friday. STAFF PHOTO By BRETT DUKE
100TH yEAR, NO. 321