MODESTE - A lawsuit filed in the 19th JDC alleges that the state of Louisiana entered into a Cooperative Endeavor Agreement with Hyundai for a planned Ascension Parish facility without it being approved by the state's bond commission.

Louisiana Bucket Brigade, Rural Roots Louisiana and a pastor filed a petition that aims to get a judicial ruling regarding the CEA. The judicial ruling would determine if the CEA should have been submitted to the State Bond Commission for approval and make it subject to public notice requirements under the Louisiana Constitution.

The proposed Hyundai Steel facility would be located in Modeste in Ascension Parish. Officials say the plant is scheduled for completion by 2029. Hyundai projects it will create 1,300 permanent jobs, 4,800 peak construction jobs, and 4,100 indirect jobs in the area.

According to Louisiana Economic Development, the $5.8 billion facility will be located on 1,700 acres of sugarcane fields in the RiverPlex MegaPark industrial center. The lawsuit says that over $1 billion in tax exemptions and over 200 million in public funds have been committed for infrastructure, which includes a CO2 pipeline and carbon capture.

The lawsuit alleges that the state agreed to spend up to $100 million to buy land for Hyundai and up to $100 million more to reimburse the company for construction and infrastructure costs. It adds that the state also agreed to build an overpass, modify La. 1 and construct a rail extension at no cost to Hyundai.

A representative from Hyundai sent an email to LED, calling the arrangement "free land and infrastructure," the lawsuit alleges. 

In the 2025 deal, Hyundai would lease the state-owned land for $1 per year for up to 99 years. The company could then buy the land for $99 after 32 years.

The petition adds that the agreement with Hyundai also includes a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes arrangement that would save Hyundai an estimated $1.2 billion over 32 years. During that time, Hyundai would make smaller lease payments totaling $553 million in place of paying property taxes.

The group that filed the lawsuit says they requested records about the deal from the parish, but were denied.

Plaintiffs allege that when a public request was filed, the State Bond Commission did not approve it with public notice, which is required by state law for all agreements.

"We were never even consulted about this plan," Twila Collins, a Modeste resident and Rural Roots member whose home is in the middle of the proposed complex, said. "Money is flowing, and dump trucks are already rolling all day and night. We have had to fight just to understand when and how huge companies are being allowed to threaten our homes and our heritage using our own tax dollars."

The plaintiffs also want the CEA nullified and voided, saying that state procedures were not followed, therefore making it invalid.

The three parties that oppose the CEA also filed another lawsuit against the Port of South Louisiana. In this suit, they are seeking a judicial determination on whether the Port was legally required to publish notice in the official journal of the State regarding a preliminary authorization to issue up to $400 million in revenue bonds and $40 millions in bonds. 

"It appears that Louisiana Economic Development and the Port of South Louisiana either don’t know the law or are ignoring the law," Ashley Gaignard, President of Rural Roots Louisiana, said. "The failure to take the most basic legal steps when so much public money is involved raises questions about the state of Louisiana’s competence to manage such a huge project with complex financing."

A third lawsuit was also filed that alleges the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers neglected to protect the burial sites of enslaved people from adverse effects due to Hyundai construction. The lawsuit seeks judicial action to stop activity at the site, as well as to require that the cemetery be located and a plan be made to preserve and protect it.

"In pushing through this industrial expansion, the state of Louisiana and the Army Corps of Engineers have disregarded basic steps mandated by law," Pastor Harry Joseph of Mt. Triumph Baptist Church said. "I don’t think the state or the federal government thought about the graves of our ancestors or any of the cultural and historic heritage and resources of Modeste, Donaldsonville, and West Ascension Parish. The government is neglecting the graves of people who were enslaved there and threatening the future of these historic communities."

WBRZ has reached out to officials at Hyundai and LED.