Wearing dark blazers and serious faces, seven St. James High boys and their mentors stood before the Parish Council to praise a New York renewable power developer for financing a school leadership program that has changed their lives.
The teens and their teachers were among an array of supporters who showed up Tuesday to speak for the developer, D.E. Shaw Renewable Investments, and its proposal to build a 2,200-acre solar farm in Vacherie.
But the council, facing opposition from residents distrustful of DESRI's promises and worried what the necessary changes to the parish land-use plan could signal for the agricultural community, narrowly rejected the 360-megawatt operation after more than two years of review and debate.
The votes came after more than 2½ hours of public comment. An hour of that time was spent on reading out letters and emails from locals and regional economic development officials, mostly supporting the project and its importance for a cleaner, more sustainable future.
DESRI wanted to build the solar farm to supply Entergy Louisiana, which says the facility is needed to meet the demand for renewable power from big industrial customers that already invest billions in the region and provide jobs in St. James.
"These customers that I'm talking about consume lots and lots of electricity, need this renewable energy for them to meet their own sustainability goals and for them to be prosperous and successful in this state," Michelle Bourg, Entergy Louisiana's vice president of customer service, told the council.
A St. James High School student in the Salute leadership program and some of his fellow participants speak Tuesday, June 18, 2024, to the Parish Council about D.E. Shaw Renewable Investments. The renewable energy developer provided money for the school leadership program and students spoke about the role the program has played in giving them confidence. DESRI was seeking to build a 2,200-acre solar farm in St. James and supporters of the company showed up for a critical council vote.
The push for "energy transition" away from fossil fuels to combat climate change can be a tough sell in the rural heart of oil-and-gas country.
Boosted by federal incentives and increased market interest, solar and wind operations have encountered opposition in rural locations across the nation and state, where several parishes have adopted solar moratoria until they could pass their own rules. Some, like in Washington Parish in 2022, have resisted industrial tax breaks.
Councilman Todd Poche, a retired Entergy lineman who noted that some of his former utility colleagues support DESRI's plans, said he had to listen to the voters calling and texting to urge him to vote "no."
"I told them from the start, 'I'm going to do what the people wanted,'" he said.
The solar farm would have extended several miles from the Mississippi River into the southern reaches of Vacherie, running just west of homes and businesses along La. 20, a major corridor.
Poche was part of the majority on Tuesday that first declined, 4-3, a resolution to accept the farm with several pages of conditions and then later supported, also 4-3, another resolution denying the project altogether, largely citing concerns raised by the parish Planning Commission.
The Planning Commission had recommended denial on an 8-1 vote in late April.
Others voting against DESRI were Council Chairman Ryan Louque, and councilmen Donald Nash and Neal Poche II. Those voting for the farm and against the final measure to deny it were Anthony "A.J." Jasmin, Courtney Long and Vondra Etienne-Steib.
The meeting in Vacherie wasn't the first time DESRI has appeared before the council. In mid-2022, opposition to a 3,500-acre version of DESRI's plans led to a parishwide moratorium and the creation of a new solar ordinance.
DESRI was involved in writing the ordinance and says it reached out to residents to learn their concerns. Andrew Sumrall, DESRI's director of renewable investment, told the council Tuesday that after those efforts, he realized that he would have voted against the company's original plan had he been on the council back then.
So DESRI came back with a solar farm that was 40% smaller. It had land buffers of up to 1,000 feet deep that are larger than what the new parish rules require to cut down on visual and sound impacts and allow space for commercial development along La. 3127 and La. 20.
In a new concession announced Tuesday night, the local landowners also agreed to set aside 100 acres of unused fields for residential development.
The company also agreed to offer a $4.67 million community benefits package for local governments and promised to forgo lucrative industrial property tax exemptions, which other solar farms in Louisiana have received and DESRI had previously pursued in St. James.
DESRI says the tax benefits alone would have generated $154 million over the project's 35-year life span, including $69.5 million in the first nine years. The project would create several hundred temporary construction jobs but just a handful of permanent jobs after it is built.
The concessions, however, weren't enough to convince several residents who remained skeptical of the promised revenues over so many years. Some said they were worried about the impact on sugar cane farming and were suspicious of what they see as larger motives among "big money" interests in the energy transition.
They urged the council to stick to the parish land use plan and keep the area agricultural and residential.
Ivy Cavalier Jr. of Vacherie warned the council not to be swayed by the money being spread around that makes the project look "really interesting."
"It makes it look really delicious," he said. "What happens is, is big money interests come in and they pay us to cut our own throats because the things that are being planned are not for the people. They are to destroy agricultural land."
Several others, like Myra Simon, also of Vacherie, made less sweeping claims, arguing instead that the panels were simply in an area geared for future homes and that DESRI needed to follow the land-use plan and move to areas already marked for industry.
"The project will hurt the growth of Vacherie," Simon said.
Councilmen Louque and Nash cited the land-use plan deviation as among the reasons they opposed the solar farm.
That plan has been criticized for several years by community and environmental activists who argue it unfairly steers heavy industry, and the pollution and noise that often comes with it, into majority Black communities upriver of the Whiter community of Vacherie.
Over the past decade, rules under the plan have been key in fights over the now-built Koch Methanol plant in the community of St. James and the stalled Formosa Plastics complex proposed for Welcome.
Councilwoman Etienne-Steib alluded to those concerns in her comments about the solar project, asking what makes the farmland in Vacherie "any more fertile" than in the communities where Koch and Formosa bought land.
"But if you all want to be fair, where did we go when that farmland was being sold and when those people were being displaced?" Etienne-Steib asked. "So, let's be fair about everything here tonight. Whether it passes or not, … let's just put it all on the line right now."
The resolution to support the solar farm had provisions to lock in DESRI's financial commitments in a bid to address some critics' concerns, but they weren't enough.
DESRI officials wouldn't immediately say what their next steps would be but said they believed they had won over most residents based on the comments Tuesday.
"Public support was 10-1, and we believe the public supported the project, which we didn't see in the council's vote," said Hy Martin, DESRI's chief development officer.