Case Filed vs Port Of New Orleans' $1.8-B Container Project

A south Louisiana parish is suing the Port of New Orleans to block it from building a planned $1.8 billion container facility.

Photo Insert: The lawsuit is the latest volley in a battle between politicians and residents who say the giant container port — called the Louisiana International Terminal — at Violet would disrupt life and cause environmental damage.

The St. Bernard Parish District Attorney’s Office filed the lawsuit this week in 34th Judicial District Court, the latest volley in a battle between politicians and residents who say the giant container port — called the Louisiana International Terminal — at Violet would disrupt life and cause environmental damage.

Port Nola CEO Brandy Christian called the lawsuit “preposterous” and “election-year theatrics.”

District Attorney Perry Nicosia said on Friday (Saturday, August 5, 2023, in Manila) the cooperative endeavor agreement between the St. Bernard Port Authority and Port Nola is not valid and Port Nola does not have the authority to operate a shipping facility within the borders of St. Bernard Parish, The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate reported.

“The lawsuit filed lays out the entire legislative process by which the St. Bernard Port Authority was created (and) further proves that Port Nola was stripped of all its jurisdiction in St. Bernard Parish by legislation passed in 1992 by then-Senator Sammy Nunez, then Representative Thomas Warner, and then Representative Ken Odinet,” Nicosia said.

The project has been the subject of controversy since Port Nola first announced at the end of 2020 that it had purchased 1,100 acres at Violet and agreed with St. Bernard Port to build the LIT.

Port Nola, which has argued that the downriver container facility is long overdue to allow it to compete with other Gulf South ports for big ship business, has the support of Gov. John Bel Edwards as well as regional and parish economic development agencies.

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