WHEN: Tuesday, September 29, 2026, 10am CT / 11am ET

WHERE: Zoom. Register here. (Recording and materials will be shared after the session.)

WHAT: On September 22, Ascension Parish government released some of the non-disclosure agreements that it has withheld for a year and that were the subject of a December 2025 lawsuit. Now that certain records have been released, two Cooperative Endeavor Agreements (CEAs) between Ascension Parish and Hyundai Steel, the anchor tenant of the proposed RiverPlex MegaPark industrialization on the West Bank of Ascension Parish, are expected to be voted on by the Ascension Parish Council soon. 

This briefing will:

• Explain the terms of the two CEA’s, the public financing they give to Hyundai, and what they will cost Louisiana taxpayers.
• Detail the pending public records litigation and provide new information about Ascension Parish’s violation of public record laws and use of NDA’s.
• Discuss what this project means for the communities on the West Bank of Ascension Parish.

WHO: 

• William Most, Managing Attorney, Most and Associates, New Orleans
• Pam Spees, Senior Staff Attorney, Center for Constitutional Rights
• Ashley Gaignard, President, Rural Roots Louisiana
• Anne Rolfes, Director, Louisiana Bucket Brigade (Moderator)

WHY: These two CEAs are part of a larger incentive package that commits hundreds of millions of dollars in public resources plus billions in bond financing and tax exemptions to support a private industrial project through direct payments to Hyundai Steel, tax exemptions, bond financing, and capital outlay for required infrastructure. Despite this massive commitment of public funds, there has been no public accounting of the costs of the project in its entirety. The project would industrialize the West Bank and decimate the historic community of Modeste and ultimately Donaldsonville.

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