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To: Elizabeth.Thornhill@la.gov, deq.publicnotices@la.gov
CC: mayor@nola.gov, arthur.walton@nola.gov, Oliver.Thomas@nola.gov, helena.moreno@nola.gov, JP.Morrell@nola.gov, bouiej@legis.la.gov, hse099@legis.la.gov, stopthegrainterminal@gmail.com
Subject: Alabo Street Terminal Project - Agency Interest (AI) No. 207623
Message:
Dear Elizabeth Thornhill,
I am writing to express our profound concern and adamant opposition to the proposed Alabo Street “Grain” Terminal project. I am also formally requesting that the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) hold a public hearing to address the significant environmental and community impacts of the Alabo Street (Grain) Terminal Application, Agency Interest (AI) No. 207623 and Permit No. 2140-00756-00. Our petition asking for “adherence to the process of notice, comment and public hearing” regarding the terminal has over 1784 signatures.
We implore the LDEQ to consider the profound and cumulative impacts this project has on the neighbors quite literally next door to this terminal. We are not simply opposed to development; we are fighting to protect our health, our homes, and our future.
Sunrise Foods and its parent company Tiryaki Agro still has yet to provide the community with the full air quality assessment and has only provided cherry picked data points that are unable to be analyzed and mean practically nothing without the full report and methods used for that report.
We, as a community, were kept in the dark about Alabo Street “Grain” Terminal until September 2024. Through obtained public records documentation we have discovered Sunrise Foods and the Port want this project to include, an additional storage shed deeper in the neighborhood, a vegetable oil deodorization facility, additional rail spurs, and eventually open wharf expansion; all aspects of which are occuring feet from residents’ homes. While the Port has claimed these additional parts are “on pause” we do not know for how long.
In addition, this grain terminal cannot function without the rehabilitation of old trolley lines which it plans to use to transport their grain. In some instances, the line is less than twenty feet from residential properties and blocks driveways as the line runs down the middle of the street. This train is meant to travel back and forth on Alabo St., on St. Claude, and through the Arabi Arts District. This project poses serious threats to the physical and mental well being for all of us, such as susceptibility to particulate grain dust inhalation, risk to hearing loss, excessive noise pollution, unsafe playing environments for our children, significant reduction of our green space, and interferes with local businesses directly affecting local economic development in multiple parishes. According to federal regulations, train horns are typically blown 4 times per crossing at a decibel level of 110, which is 20 decibels louder than deemed safe for the human ear. Yet, their rehabbed rail line will cross 27 intersections in the less than a mile it takes to get to the mainline. They do not have designated railroad guards, will have to travel those intersections twice per day, and have said that rail traffic will increase with time.
This facility is set to be operating in a community of not only working class citizens, but near our elderly and young population. The project will severely impact the quality of life for many residents who work night shifts or from home and will also affect any generational wealth built through homeownership. The cumulative impacts of the project will be insurmountable and will have long lasting, devastating effects on residents if it is allowed to proceed. We have not previously fought the ongoing use of the Alabo Street Wharf. LDEQ can be pro-industry and realize this project is inappropriate for this location.
Please help us in our request for a public hearing.
With Grit,