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T u e s d ay, au g u s T 26, 2025
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Lafayette may keep coal plant running
Officials looking to cash in on high energy demand from AI, data centers BY CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writer
Lafayette officials and their partners in a coal-fired electric generating plant northwest of Alexandria are considering extending its life beyond the scheduled 2027 closure date to increase reliability and possibly cash in on the increasing demand for electricity
from data centers and artificial intelligence. The Lafayette Public Power Authority, a component unit of Lafayette Consolidated Government created to generate, buy and sell electric power to the Lafayette Utilities System and others, is 50% owner of the Rodemacher II plant in Boyce. Cleco, the operator, owns 30%, and the Louisiana Energy and
Power Authority, which includes Lafayette and other cities, owns 20%. The owners planned to retire Rodemacher II by the end of 2027 because federal environmental rules are tightening on the use of coal. Converting the plant to burn natural gas and to comply with Effluent Limit Guidelines for handling coal ash would be costly.
Based on the market four to five years ago, Lafayette Utilities System Director Jeffrey Stewart said, it would cost too much to convert Rodemacher II, so it was decided to retire the plant. To make up for electricity Lafayette would lose with closing Rodemacher, officials decided to build a new generating plant in Lafayette to replace the old Bonin
plant on Walker Road. But eight to 10 months ago, Stewart said, the energy market changed. As old generating units were retired, less electricity became available. Cleco approached him about not shutting down Rodemacher II. Meanwhile, the timeline for replacing the Bonin plant was delayed because of the high demand from utilities looking to buy
ä See COAL, page 4A
Residents can return, but pollution remains
Amid cleanup after Tangipahoa plant explosion, authorities say danger has passed
STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD
A boom helps stop oil and residue from a Friday explosion at Smitty’s Supply from floating down the Tangipahoa River on Monday. BY DAVID J. MITCHELL, WILLIE SWETT and MARCO CARTOLANO
River and into Lake Pontchartrain, with around 5,900 feet of boom deployed in total. Soot still covered areas of the town and the air smelled of oil and grease. Staff writers Gov. Jeff Landry traveled to nearby Three days after a lubricants plant in Amite to meet with local officials in the Roseland blew up and turned into a rag- aftermath of the fire, which covered ing fire, forcing nearly 1,000 people to around 20 acres. There have been no inflee, local officials eased a 1-mile evacu- juries or deaths from the incident, and ation zone as firefighters brought the the State Fire Marshal along with the blaze nearly completely under control. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms Crews also worked Monday to keep and Explosives will investigate the oily residue from Smitty’s Supply Inc. cause, which remained unclear. “From what I have been told, from from flowing down the Tangipahoa
what I can see, there really is no imminent danger to any life or property, other than we have to clean up a big mess,” Landry said at a news conference on Monday afternoon in Amite. Asked about health concerns from people who swim and fish in the Tangipahoa River, Landry said, “What we’ve seen so far does not indicate there is any danger or immediate danger to wildlife or human health.” While oily substances and soot still covered much of the surrounding area, life slowly began returning to normal
in the small rural town in Tangipahoa Parish. Some residents who evacuated started returning home and the Roseland Montessori School planned to reopen Tuesday. The evacuation, initially extending to a mile radius, was reduced to a more compact area closest to the plant on Monday, though sections of major highways through the town remained closed, including U.S. 51. The blaze was 98% contained on
ä See POLLUTION, page 6A
N.O. lizards carry record lead levels Study finds concentrations that would kill humans
sity study published this month. Despite lead concentrations that would kill humans and other animals, the reptiles thrive, darting across fences and blending into the city’s leafy yards. What started out as an effort to asBY EMILY WOODRUFF sess the impact on animals of high levStaff writer els of lead in New Orleans took a turn when the scientists discovered just The brown lizards scampering on how high the levels are, shocking the New Orleans porches and sunning researchers so much they repeated the themselves on sidewalks should be initial test, thinking there might have been a mistake. dead by any other standard. STAFF FILE PHOTO By By CHRIS GRANGER “I don’t think anyone would have asThat’s because the Cuban brown A new Tulane University study has found the Cuban brown anoles live with the highest blood lead sumed lizards would be rockstar heavy anoles in New Orleans live with the highest blood-lead levels levels ever documented in a verte- metal-tolerant animals, but here we brate, according to a Tulane Univer- are,” said Alex Gunderson, assistant ever documented in a vertebrate.
WEATHER HIGH 94 LOW 72 PAGE 6A
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professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Tulane and a co-author of the study. The study, published in Environmental Research, found that lizards caught across the city averaged nearly 1,000 micrograms per deciliter of lead in their blood, with one animal topping 3,000. By comparison, health effects in people appear well below 100, and there is no safe level of exposure. In a person, the levels of lead the lizards would mean they were “probably dead,” said Gunderson. Lead is a potent neurotoxin that damages brains,
ä See LIZARDS, page 4A
101ST yEAR, NO. 57