Say NO
to Industry in the Heart
of Our Community
The safety, health, and prosperity of our Lower 9th Ward community are under attack.
International conglomerate Sunrise Foods International is attempting to repurpose and expand Alabo Street Wharf for use as a grain terminal. This plan would bring heavy industrial activity into our neighborhood, and would involve reactivating nearly two miles of long-unused freight rail lines running along the St. Claude neutral ground in Arabi and down the middle of Alabo Street through the heart of Holy Cross.
What would this mean for people who live here? This project would:
- Introduce damaging grain dust to the neighborhood, which is known to cause chronic respiratory disease
- Activate 24 separate rail crossings along St. Claude and Alabo Street, with daily freight trains running through the neighborhood
- Decrease residential property values by up to $15 million
- Eliminate a half-mile of levee access, and cut off pedestrian access between Arabi and Holy Cross
- Involve extensive construction and the addition of nine new freight rail lines on top of our levee system from Delery St to Andry St
- Lead to population loss and deplete the local economy while offering no benefit to the neighborhood
This project’s sponsors have gone to great lengths to conceal it from the public and are now moving quickly in an attempt to break ground before residents have had an opportunity to get informed, organize, and fight back against this invasion of our community.
Norfolk Southern has already begun to rehabilitate the tracks running down the St. Claude neutral ground and is attempting to complete work by the end of December 2024. After that, Sunrise Foods International would be able to begin the wharf expansion. They aim to start delivering grain by June 2025.
There’s still time to stop this project and protect our community – but we need to act quickly, and we need your help. Please explore this website to learn more about Sunrise’s plans for our neighborhood and consider whether there’s a way you could contribute to the effort to stop them with a financial donation, by volunteering some of your time, and/or signing our petition.
This industrial development brings no benefit to our community, and, if successful, would harm residents for years. NOW is the time for us to come together and stop Sunrise Foods International and Port NOLA’s plan for the grain terminal before it starts!
In the News
New Orleans City Council urges state lawmakers to study controversial grain terminal – Times-Picayune 1/10/25
Were New Orleans port leaders transparent about planned grain terminal? A judge will decide – Times-Picayune, 1/3/25
New Orleans residents file lawsuit over planned grain terminal in Holy Cross – Times-Picayune, 12/31/24
Port NOLA confirms two new phases to Lower 9th Ward terminal project – WVUE, 12/20/24
Alabo Wharf deal gets slippery – The Lens, 12/20/24
New Orleans residents plead case against grain terminal to new Port CEO – Times-Picayune, 12/20/24
Tensions explode at a Port of New Orleans meeting – WDSU, 12/19/24
New Orleans residents go against the ‘grain train’ and terminal proposed for their neighborhood – Louisiana Illuminator, 12/6/24
In New Orleans, residents cry foul as grain terminal plans move forward – Times-Picayune, 12/6/24
Grain Terminal in the Lower 9: ‘It’s not going to be good for us.’ – The Lens, 11/1/24
Proposed Grain Terminal at Alabo Street Wharf Has Residents Reeling – Big Easy Magazine, 9/27/24