May 2021 A BITTER STING For years, the Convent Refinery could send jet fuel from St. James Parish straight to airports in Atlanta, Washington, and New York City via the Bengal, Colonial, and Plantation... Chris Staudinger
February 2021 ST. JOHN MAKES, MARATHON TAKES The Marathon Garyville Refinery is a fortress of smokestacks and towers that occupies about five square miles of former sugarcane fields on the Mississippi River. Its footprint... Chris Staudinger
August 2020 RUNNING ON EMPTY In a shocking ruling that has seen almost no media attention, the Dakota Access Pipeline was ordered shut down by a federal district judge in early July. Despite the fact that the... Chris Staudinger
June 2020 ONE SIGNATURE SHORT OF FREEDOM Gloria Williams is the longest-serving incarcerated woman in Louisiana. Last July, after nearly 50 years in prison, she was finally and unanimously approved for pardon. Since... Chris Staudinger
November 2018 ROUGH SEAS IN THE ATCHAFALAYA BASIN On October 15, a wave crashed over the bow of a boat, flooding and sinking it in the Atchafalaya Basin. It was one of two small jon boats carrying activists and filmmakers who had... Chris Staudinger
October 2018 SQUEEZED OUT: ALL RISK AND NO REWARD FOR THE RESIDENTS OF ST. JAMES PARISH 5th DISTRICT The Welcome Park community center is a sturdy cinderblock building that rises about three stories out of the sugarcane fields on the west bank of St. James Parish. It’s just off... Chris Staudinger
September 2018 PIPELINE PROTESTS ROIL ATCHAFALAYA It’s August and the sugarcane has grown up to the eaves of the ranch-style houses spread across St. Martin Parish. As an elderly woman makes the long walk down a driveway to the... Chris Staudinger
July 2018 LOSING GROUND: RESIDENTS OF ST. JAMES DEMAND ANSWERS FROM THE STATE In May, community members from the town of St. James and other environmental groups fighting the Bayou Bridge Pipeline won a legal battle against the Louisiana Department of... Chris Staudinger
July 2018 BODIES ON THE LINE: A Q&A WITH ALICIA COOK Alicia Cook was one of two people arrested at an active pipeline construction site in St. James Parish on May 24. Two weeks before, a judge had issued orders to halt construction... Chris Staudinger
May 2017 LOADING MORE GUYS: SHINING A LIGHT ON GAY DATING IN THE APP AGE Strange things happen when you’re a queer child in church. One minute, the holy spirit is lighting the hair of the disciples on fire and the next, I have a sudden and... Chris Staudinger
March 2017 COLD BLOODED: LOUISIANA LAND VS. THE BAYOU BRIDGE PIPELINE On the eastern edge of the Atchafalaya Basin, the brown water of the Williams Canal was barely deep enough for a canoe, the channel narrow and full of beaver-chewed sticks. Animal... Chris Staudinger
