The Louisiana Bucket Brigade filed a lawsuit against the City of New Orleans and the River District Neighborhood Investors Subdistrict yesterday, alleging that the City Council hastily greenlit the project’s tax break via an illegal approval process. The suit explains how the project’s agreement raises the tax burden on New Orleans citizens while exempting Shell Oil Company from $21.6 million in property taxes, despite its failure to meet public benefit requirements.

“Shell has ravaged our coast and polluted communities throughout Louisiana,” said Anne Rolfes, director of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade. “Meanwhile, our schools are vastly underfunded, and the beautiful children of this city can’t reach their potential because their education is subpar. There is no way we should give a behemoth like Shell a tax break at the expense of a city in such dire need. As one of the most destructive petrochemical companies in our state, we cannot give Shell another handout at the expense of Louisianans.”

The River District Neighborhood project – a proposed $1 billion development planned for a 47-acre area next to the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center featuring offices, retail, and the new regional headquarters for the Shell Oil Company – was pushed through without adhering to the legally required timeline and without public input under false pretenses that, if denied, Shell would leave New Orleans. As the agreement stands, the project would increase taxes on citizens in surrounding areas while offering Shell a decades-long, multi-million dollar tax break. Additionally, the agreement does not ensure the creation of any permanent jobs or affordable housing units as part of the development, failing to fulfill the public benefit requirements associated with the tax break.

“Projects that will have decades-long impacts on New Orleanians should be approved with full transparency and accountability, and involve ample time for public input. In fact, our laws require such a process,” said William Most of Most & Associates who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, “if City Council does not act to rescind the agreement, courts will step in.”

About Louisiana Bucket Brigade

The Louisiana Bucket Brigade collaborates with communities on the fenceline of polluting industry in Louisiana, engaging in grassroots action to hasten the transition from fossil fuels. Visit labucketbrigade.org for more information.